Funeral parlour drama series Six Feet Under leads the race for the 2002 Prime Time Emmy Awards, the most coveted television awards in the US.

The quirky series picked up 23 nominations for the awards, including outstanding drama.

Close behind is last year's big Emmy winner, White House drama The West Wing, with 21 nods, also including one for best drama.

Martin Sheen stars in The West Wing

Other contenders in the top category of best drama are CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, long-running legal series Law and Order and 24.

Six Feet Under has taken viewers by storm since it began in 2001.

The black comedy series centres around the members of a dysfunctional Pasadena family that runs an independent funeral parlour.

The West Wing, starring Martin Sheen, has had continued success since it began in 1999.

Last year it picked up 18 nominations and eventually won the best drama award for the second year in a row.

Actors

This year, Sheen received a nod for best actor in a drama series for his role as the US president.

He faces competition from 24's star Kiefer Sutherland and Michael Chiklis from The Shield.

Emmy nods

Six Feet Under 23 The West Wing 21 Band of Brothers 19 Will & Grace 13 Friends 11 The Gathering Storm 9

Meanwhile, Six Feet Under co-stars Michael C Hall and Peter Krause will compete against each other.

Vying for best actress in a drama series are Jennifer Garner in Alias, Amy Brenneman for Judging Amy, Rachel Griffiths for Six Feet Under and Allison Janney, for The West Wing.

The title of best actor in a comedy will be fought out between Bernie Mac for the Bernie Mac Show, Everybody Loves Raymond's Ray Romano, Kelsey Grammer from Frasier and Friends co-stars Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry.

Competing for best actress in a comedy are Patricia Heaton for Everybody Loves Raymond and Jennifer Aniston from Friends.

Sex and the City won best comedy series last year

They will do battle with Sex and the City's star Sarah Jessica Parker and Debra Messing from Will and Grace.

All four series are also competitors in the best comedy series category.

Overall, Will and Grace is the most nominated comedy with 13 bids, followed by Everybody Loves Raymond and Friends with 11.

UK hopes

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks's World War II collaboration, Band of Brothers, is among the leading nominees with 19 mentions, including best miniseries.

In that category it is up against Antarctic adventure Shackleton. The Channel 4 drama is just one of several UK productions and actors to win Emmy recognition.

Finney transformed himself for The Gathering Storm

Overall, the UK picked up some two dozen nominations, and British actors lead the race for best actor in a miniseries or movie.

Albert Finney's portrayal of Winston Churchill in The Gathering Storm is up against Kenneth Branagh for Shackleton, and Sir Michael Gambon as President Lyndon Johnson in Path To War.

The Gathering Storm is the most nominated UK production with eight nods, including those for casting, costumes and writing.

Kiefer Sutherland is nominated for 24

The nominations were announced in Los Angeles by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

There are 86 categories with 433 separate nominations.

The 54th Emmy Awards will take place on 22 September.

Last year's event was postponed twice in the wake of fears sparked by the terror attacks of 11 September.