Audio - BBC Audio Drama Awards 2016

The winners of the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2016 have been announced...

John Hurt, June Whitfield and Alfred Molina were among those awarded at the ceremony which recognises the cultural significance, range and originality of audio drama - on air as well as online - and credits the creativity of the actors, writers, producers, sound designers and others who work within the field.

Prize-givers at the ceremony included Ruth Jones, Fenella Woolgar, playwright Mike Bartlett and Downton Abbey star Paul Copley.

Lenny Henry, who hosted the event, said: “I’m honoured to have once again presented the BBC Audio Drama Awards, which showcase outstanding work by a diverse group of talented writers and creators. We should be proud of the range of excellence that the industry attracts and produces, and it’s great that this year’s awards include both classic plays and innovative dramas reflecting modern Britain. Long may it continue!”

John Hurt, who received the Outstanding Contribution Award for his roles in Radio 4’s War And Peace and Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell, as well as many previous credits, said: “I like working in radio drama because one is using what is fast becoming the actors' forgotten weapon - the voice.”

June Whitfield, who was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for over 70 years in radio drama and comedy, said: “I’m absolutely delighted to have received this lifetime achievement award. It really does feel like a lifetime - I first worked for BBC Radio in the 1940s! Thank you so much BBC for this much appreciated award.”

The BBC once again joined with The Society of Authors and The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain in presenting two well-established awards for writing, the Imison Award for Best Radio Drama Script by a New Writer and the Tinniswood Radio Drama Award for Best Radio Drama Script.

All finalists were judged by a team of industry experts including Indira Varma, Roy Williams, Daniel Evans, Hattie Morahan, Rachel Joyce and Ruth Jones – and the ceremony featured a performance from band, The Dodge Brothers, featuring presenter Mark Kermode.

Listeners will be able to hear some of the winning audio dramas again on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4, including Cuttin’ It, Fugue State and Reluctant Persuaders starting from Wednesday 10th February.

2016 sees the fifth year of the Audio Drama Awards which, in 2015, saw Scottish actor and comedian, Stanley Baxter, take home a Lifetime Achievement Award to mark his 75th year in radio; author Neil Gaiman awarded Outstanding Contribution Award for his commitment to audio drama with adaptations of Good Omens and Neverwhere; and Sir Ian McKellen win Best Actor.

Full list of winners

Best Audio Drama (Adaptation)

The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov, dramatized by Lucy Catherine, producer Sasha Yevtushenko

Best Audio Drama (Original Single)

Cuttin’ It, by Charlene James, producer Jessica Brown

Best Audio Drama (Series or Serial)

Children in Need: D for Dexter, by Amanda Whittington, producer Mary Ward-Lowery

Best Actor in an Audio Drama

Alfred Molina in A View from the Bridge

Best Actress in an Audio Drama

Monica Dolan in Vincent in Brixton

Best Supporting Actor or Actress in an Audio Drama

Susan Wokoma in Three Strong Women

Best Debut Performance in an Audio Drama

Karen Bartke in My Name Is…

Best Use of Sound in an Audio Drama

Fugue State, sound by Julian Simpson and David Thomas, producer Karen Rose

Best Scripted Comedy Drama

In and Out of the Kitchen, by Justin Edwards, producer Sam Michell

Best Scripted Comedy with a Live Audience

Reluctant Persuaders Ep 3, by Edward Rowett, producer Gordon Kennedy

Best Online Only Audio Drama

The Kindness of Time, by Deirdre Burton and Tom Davis, producer Rosie Boulton

Imison Award for Best Radio Drama Script by a New Writer

30 Eggs by Eoin O’Connor

(Judges: Ruth Brandon, Christopher William Hill, Marcy Kahan, Annette Kobak, Michelle Lipton, John Taylor, Jane Thynne, Elizabeth-Anne Wheal, Stephen Wyatt and Mike Walker)

Tinniswood Radio Drama Award for Best Radio Drama Script

Fugue State by Julian Simpson

(Judges: Mike Bartlett, Rachel Joyce and Nell Leyshon for the Society of Authors and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain)

Both writing awards were presented by award-winning playwright Mike Bartlett.

Outstanding Contribution

John Hurt

Lifetime Achievement

June Whitfield

Image - BBC