A BBC2 drama chronicling the last 18 months in the life of newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell has been nominated for an International Emmy award.

Actor David Suchet was shortlisted last night in the performance category for his role as the larger-than-life Mirror Group owner, who died in mysterious circumstances after apparently falling from his yacht in Tenerife in November 1991.

Maxwell, which was broadcast by the BBC in May last year, explored the Daily Mirror proprietor’s obsessive rivalry with Rupert Murdoch and the worsening conditions that prompted him to steal hundreds of millions of pounds from the Mirror Group pension fund.