The television presenters Ant and Dec, whose shows were tainted by the recent phone voting scandals, have been snubbed by their peers at the British Comedy Awards.

But it remains unclear whether the event, with presenter Jonathan Ross and star guests including the former Chelsea football club manager José Mourinho, will actually be screened.

Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have not secured a nomination despite winning a prize for the past four years. An investigation into their shows, including Saturday Night Takeaway, uncovered a series of viewer deceptions. The duo apologised but said they knew nothing of them.

The awards themselves were caught up in the phone vote scandals. It emerged that in 2005, viewers were urged to take part in a premium-rate vote after an award had already been presented, during a time-delayed portion of the show. ITV asked Olswang, the law firm, to investigate the affair and announced that it was suspending its broadcast of the awards, which have run on the network for 17 years.

The Times understands that about £14,000 worth of votes were affected. Olswang is investigating whether the award should have gone to Catherine Tate instead of the named winners, Ant and Dec.

The Comedy Awards will take place on December 5, Michael Hurll, the producer, confirmed. But the event can be shown only on ITV, since it has an exclusive contract for the event. The comedian Jack Dee, a nominee, said it would be unfair for ITV to ban the show, which regularly attracts five million viewers, when Blue Peter and The X Factor, which also admitted phone vote problems, have been kept on screen.

“Why should this show get punished for a pretty small misdemeanour by comparison?” he asked at the nominations launch. “It would be a real shame for me personally as I have a chance of winning an award this year.” Mr Hurll said he was confident that ITV would relent and screen the show, which will not include a phone vote.

The absence of Ant and Dec, however, has created space for new comedy talent. The BBC Three show Gavin & Stacey leads with seven nominations, with its stars James Corden, Mathew Horne, Joanna Page and Ruth Jones up for acting awards. The tale of a Welsh girl’s and an Essex boy’s rocky route to love, the series was written by Corden, who previously appeared in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, in partnership with Jones.

The nominees were chosen by a panel including producers, agents and comics. Mr Hurll said: “The British Comedy Awards are like Britney Spears getting out of a taxi. You don’t know what you are going to see, but it’s probably going to be a bit more unpleasant than you ever expected.”

ITV said the awards could still be screened. A spokeswoman said: “We are waiting for the Olswang report and then a decision will be made.”

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