He might have to present it to himself, as he is hosting the ceremony next month. He will vie with Billy Connolly, Kathy Burke and John Bird and John Fortune for best light-entertainment performance. Parkinson has been nominated for a Bafta award once before, for the controversial spoof participation programme Ghost Watch. "I think I got the nomination for best actor, and I was playing myself," he said. Others in the running for awards, to be made on 9 May, are Thora Hird, Francesca Annis, Natasha Little and Joanna Lumley for best actress.Best-actor contenders are Robert Carlyle, Tom Courtenay, Albert Finney and Timothy Spall. The soap category, included for the first time, will be fought out between Brookside, Coronation Street, EastEnders and Hollyoaks.Parkinson left impartiality aside when asked who he wanted to win. "It would be unfair to say, but I have great regard for Thora Hird. She is one of the great faces of British theatre, and it would be wonderful if she won an award." Dame Thora, 87, has already picked up awards from the Royal Television Society for her performance in Talking Heads: Waiting for the Telegram on BBC2.Parkinson said: "There has been an astonishing number of BBC nominations.

They have something like 77 people mentioned, which is quite extraordinary when you think about it. That is a point we might consider when the debate about the licence fee comes up. The BBC is still an extraordinary factory for producing quality television." His show has always appeared on the BBC.The BBC's Vanity Fair has been nominated for best actress (Natasha Little) and best drama serial.. THE FATHER of a policewoman who was stabbed to death by a paranoid schizophrenic called yesterday for the creation of a national database of dangerous mentally-ill people, as a damning report into his daughter's death criticised police, health and social services. Sidney Mackay made a scathing attack on the lack ofcommunication between police and social services which led to his daughter Nina being fatally wounded as she tried to arrest community care patient Magdi Elgizouli in October 1997. Mr Mackay, himself a former police chief superintendent, said that his daughter's death would become "another statistic" unless the system for dealing with dangerous mentally ill people was radically overhauled. He said: "The system wants to be re-organised root and branch Community Care as we know it is window-dressing. It doesn't exist."PC Mackay, 25, died after she smashed through the front door of a flat in east London with a hydraulic ram.

Elgizouliwas waiting on the other side of the door and plunged a 7in (17cm) kitchen knife into her chest up to the hilt.The report was produced by a team led by Ken Dixon, the former directior of social services director in Camden. Speaking at its publication, Mr Mackay pointed out that 43 similar reports had been published since the introduction of community care in 1992. "There should be a central database on these individuals throughout the country," he said.Nina's mother, Patricia, said the shortcomings of the community care system had caused "a committed, courageous policewoman and a dearly- loved daughter" to pay "far too high a price" for doing her job. The Dixon report concluded that her death was both "predictable" and "preventable".The report was highly critical of the way professionals had allowed Elgizouli's condition to deteriorate after switching his medication to self-administered tablets, which he rarely took. Friends and relatives of Elgizouli had witnessed "clear signs of his disturbance" but their views were "marginalised" by the professionals.Westminster Social Services was also criticised for placing him in bed and breakfast hotels outside the borough, leading to a further deterioration in his condition. Yesterday Bill Roots, the chief executive of Westminster city council, said that "around 100" mentally ill people were still housed by the authority in bed and breakfasts outside the borough.Elgizouli, who is now held in a top-security special hospital, was praised by the Dixon team for the help he gave to the inquiry He said he was "deeply sorry" for what had happened.. ANGRY NATIONALIST SDLP leaders last night condemned David Trimble and Gerry Adams for blocking progress on the peace talks, but warned: "We will not let the peace process crash." Seamus Mallon, giving vent to the frustration over months of delay, spoke after more than five hours of talks at Downing Street between Tony Blair, Bertie Ahern and the Ulster party leaders. Crisis talks are to be reconvened early next week, but yesterday there was no sign of compromise by either Sinn Fein or the Ulster Unionistsover the refusal by Mr Trimble, the first minister in the new Assembly, to appoint an executive containing Mr Adams until the IRA starts decommissioning its arms.Downing Street appeared to concede for the first time last night that the Hillsborough Declaration - agreed by Mr Blair and Mr Ahern - was now a dead letter.