Three Emmy nominations for The Bible

History Channel's hit miniseries The Bible has been nominated for an impressive three Emmy Awards.  

The show, which pulled in a massive 13 million viewers for its first episode, is up for an "Outstanding Miniseries or Movie" award.

Other shows vying for the accolade are FX Network's "American Horror Story: Asylum", HBO's "Behind the Candelabra", HBO's "Phil Spector", USA's "Political Animals", and Sundance Channel's "Top of the Lake".

The Bible is also up for an award in the "Outstanding Sound Editing" and "Outstanding Sound Mixing" categories.  

The show was produced by husband and wife team Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.  It is due to air in the UK on Channel 5 in the autumn.

The Bible quickly became the top-selling TV miniseries when it was released on DVD, shifting 525,000 units in a single week.  

NBC recently announced a sequel, to be produced again by Burnett.   The tentative title for the next series is AD: Beyond the Bible.  This time around, the series will follow events after the death of Jesus.