Audio Drama Awards 2019
Awards for radio plays broadcast between Oct 2017 and end-Oct 2018.
The BBC Audio Drama Awards celebrate the range, originality and quality of audio drama on air and online, and give recognition to the creativity of actors, writers, producers, sound designers and others who work in the genre. This is the eighth year of the Audio Drama Awards. The Imison and Tinniswood shortlists are also shown below.
The event was introduced by James Purnell, Director of Radio and Education at the BBC. James noted that the Awards are the highlight of the calendar for Radio Drama. BBC radio plays are famous around the world for their enormous range and for the way they can affect our lives. Radio drama takes you on a trip around your emotions, around the world, making you think about a huge variety of human experience. The plays by the finalists covered the turmoil caused to a woman's life by her pregnancy, two sisters living at the end of the world, a woman searching for her father's ashes, a painting by Holbein, authentic voices from the First World War, Das Kapital in an imaginative new setting and the rescue of a very unusual tree from destruction. Infinite variety from the wonderful BBC drama department.
The BBC would like even more people to know about the plays it broadcasts1. The new BBC Sounds app is making more plays available for longer, and next year, all of the entries will be on there for people to hear.
James wished good luck to all of the finalists, and then handed over to M.C. for the evening, Tracy-Ann Oberman. This was her second year as host.
Tracy-Ann thanked the Jay Rayner Quartet for their music, which saw us into the theatre and which was to punctuate the award ceremony for the next 60 minutes. She reminded us that we were in the Radio Theatre to celebrate radio drama and the people who make it. The output was consistently brilliant and the BBC was by far the biggest commissioner of radio plays in the world. Two new categories of award had been introduced this year: Best Director, and Best European Radio Drama. This was a welcome development; the skills required by the best directors were many and varied. There was also a growing awareness of much excellent radio drama coming from Europe and elsewhere, particularly as podcasts, including a large number from America.
The Awards, listed below, were then presented.
About halfway through the presentations was shown a short audio collage of the wit and wisdom of Jeremy Hardy, who had died only a few days earlier, aged only 57. He was much loved by friends and colleagues, and will be sorely missed by all at the BBC.
ADA SHORTLISTS, FINALISTS* and **WINNERS**:
Best Original Single Drama ...presented by Louise Jameson
*19 Weeks by Emily Steel, producer Helen Perry, BBC Cymru Wales
All of the Beauty in the World by Eve Steel, producer Gary Brown, BBC Radio Drama North
*The Chosen One by Avi Garvi, producers Nadir Khan and John Dryden, Goldhawk Productions
*County Lines by Amelia Bullmore, producer Mary Peate, BBC Radio Drama London **WINNER**
Holbein’s Skull by Martyn Wade, producer Tracy Neale, BBC Radio Drama London
The Trials of CB King by David Morley, producer Marc Beeby, BBC Radio Drama London
Best Original Series or Serial ...presented by Arthur Darvill
*Stone by Martin Jameson, Richard Monks, Cath Staincliffe, Alex Ganley, Vivienne Harvey, producers Nadia Molinari and Gary Brown, BBC Radio Drama North
Subterranean Homesick Blues by A L Kennedy, producer Sally Avens, BBC Radio Drama London
*Tommies by Avin Shah, producers David Hunter, Jonquil Panting and Jonathan Ruffle, BBC Radio Drama London
* The Truth about Hawaii by Oliver Emanuel, producer Kirsty Williams, BBC Scotland**WINNER**
The Unforgiven by Barbara Machin, producer Allegra McIlroy, BBC Northern Ireland
The Wilsons Save the World by Marcus Brigstocke and Sarah Morgan, producer Julia McKenzie, BBC Studios
Best Adaptation ...presented by Ruth Jones
The Art of Foot-binding by Danielle McLauglin, producer Kevin Brew, RTÉ Ireland
Based on a True Story by Delphine de Vigan, adapted by Claudine Toutoungi, producer Gemma Jenkins, BBC Radio Drama London
*Das Kapital by Karl Marx, adapted by Sarah Woods, producer James Robinson, BBC Cymru Wales commended
*The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, adapted by Linda Marshall Griffiths, producer Nadia Molinari, BBC Radio Drama North
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter, adapted by Lucy Catherine, producer Sasha Yevtushenko, BBC Cymru Wales
*A Tale of Two Cities: Aleppo and London by Charles Dickens, adapted by Ayeesha Menon, producers Gill Parry, Polly Thomas, Emma Hearn, Goldhawk Productions **WINNER**
Best Actor ...presented by Emma Fielding
*Liam Brennan, Five Days Which Changed Everything, director Kirsty Williams, BBC Scotland
*Jasper Britton, A Month of Maureen – Three Journeys, director Marion Nancarrow, BBC Radio Drama
Derek Jacobi, The War Master 1.1 Beneath the Viscoid, director Scott Handcock, Big Finish Productions
George McKay, The Glass Menagerie, director Sasha Yevtushenko, BBC Radio Drama London
David Tennant, Wild Honey, director Clive Brill, Brill Productions
*David Threlfall, Spike and the Elfin Oak, director Gemma Jenkins, BBC Radio Drama London **WINNER**
Best Actress ...presented by Anthony Head
*Sudha Bhuchar, My Son the Doctor, director Jonquil Panting, BBC Radio Drama London
Jessie Buckley, The Effect, director, Abigail le Fleming, BBC Radio Drama London
Mandeep Dhillon, Freezing to Death (And How to Avoid It), director Alison Crawford, BBC Bristol
Jo Martin, The Interrogation, director Mary Peate, BBC Radio Drama London
*Eve Myles, 19 Weeks, director Helen Perry, BBC Cymru Wales **WINNER**
*Sydney Wade, D for Dexter, director Mary Ward-Lowery, BBC Bristol commended
Best Director ...presented by Paul Reece
Ewa Banaszkiewicz and Mateus Dymek, The King of the Flat White As Narrated by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Warsaw Pact Ltd
*Steve Bond and *Judith Kampfner, Shadowbahn, Corporation for Independent Media commended
*Abigail le Fleming, The Effect, BBC Radio Drama London **WINNER**
*Peter Kavanagh, The Wild Duck, BBC Radio Drama London
Shan Ng, Tiger Girls, Sparklab Productions
Best Debut Performance ...presented by Neil Dudgeon
Salvatore D’Aquilla, Operation Crucible, director Toby Swift, BBC Radio Drama London
*Karlo Diaz, The Beast, directors Nicolas Jackson and Steve Bond, Afonica
*Daisy Head, Henry James: the Golden Bowl, director Nadia Molinari, BBC Radio Drama North **WINNER**
Yolanda Mercy, Quarter Life Crisis, director Caroline Raphael, Dora Productions
Rebekah Murrell, The Gift, director David Hunter, BBC Radio Drama London
*Georgia Scholes, Billy Homeless Dies at the End, director Boz Temple-Morris, Holy Mountain
Best Use of Sound ...presented by Marcy Kahan
Anansi Boys, sound by Wilfredo Acosta, producer Allegra McIlroy, BBC Northern Ireland
*The Beast, sound by Steve Bond, producers Nicolas Jackson and Steve Bond, Afonica
*Henry James: the Turn of the Screw, sound by Steve Brooke and John Benton, producer Nadia Molinari, BBC Radio Drama North **WINNER**
The Quanderhorn Xperimentations, sound by Alisdair MacGregor, producer Andrew Marshall, Absolutely Productions
*Unmade Movies: Dennis Potter’s The White Hotel, sound by Wilfredo Acosta, producers Laurence Bowen and Peter Ettedgui, Dancing Ledge
A Taxi Stops, sound by Rikke Houd and Mike Woolley, producer Rikke Houd, Falling Tree
Best Scripted Comedy (Longform) ...presented by John Culshaw
Ability by Lee Ridley and Katherine Jakeways, producer Jane Berthoud, Funny Bones
*Bridget Christie’s Utopia by Bridget Christie, producers Simon Nicholls and Alison Vernon-Smith, BBC Studios
Mae Martin’s Guide to 21st Century Addiction by Mae Martin, producer Alexandra Smith, BBC Studios
Plum House by Ben Cottam and Paul McKenna, producers Sarah Cartwright and Paul Schlesinger, Hat Trick Productions
*Robert Newman’s Total Eclipse of Descartes by Rob Newman, producer John Whitehall, Hat Trick Productions **WINNER**
*Tim Key’s Late-Night Poetry Programme by Tim Key, producer James Robinson, BBC Cymru Wales
Best Scripted Comedy (Sketch Show) ...presented by James Cartwright
*Agendum by Jason Hazeley & Joel Morris, producer David Tyler, Pozzitive
*Dead Ringers by Nev Fountain, Tom Jamieson, Laurence Howarth, Ed Amsden, Tom Coles, Sarah Campbell, James Bugg, Max Davis, Sarah Gibbs, Alex Hardy, Laura Major and Lewis Cook, producer Bill Dare, BBC Studios
*John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme by John Finnemore, producer Ed Morrish, BBC Studios **WINNER**
Lucy Porter in the Family Way by Lucy Porter, producer Gordon Kennedy, Absolutely Productions
Newsjack by the great British public, producers Adnan Ahmed and Suzy Grant, BBC Studios
Sketchtopia by Kai Samra, Ling Low, Bilal Zafar, Lizzie Bates, Anna Emerson, Elizabeth Caproni, Sarah Gibbs, Luke Manning and Paul G Raymond, producer Gus Beattie, Gusman Productions
Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones by Milton Jones, James Cary and Dan Evans, producer David Tyler, Pozzitive
Best Podcast or Online Audio Drama ...presented by Nicola Walker
*ATA Girl by Gemma Page, Victoria Saxton, Helen Goldwyn and Jane Slavin, producer Helen Goldwyn, Big Finish Productions commended
Blind Terror – The Gods of Frost by Guy Adams, producer Scott Handcock, Big Finish Productions
Blood on Satan’s Claw by Robert Wynne-Simmons, adapted by Mark Morris, producer Simon Barnard, Bafflegab Productions
Double Bubble by Carl Cattermole, producer Katie Bilboa, Prison Radio Association
*Red Moon written and produced by Robert Valentine, The Wireless Theatre Company **WINNER**
*Tracks: Strata by Matthew Broughton, producer James Robinson, BBC commended
Best European Drama ...presented by Alison Hindell
100 Songs by Roland Schimmelpfennig, producer Manfred Hess, SWR/ARD Germany
*The Confession by Fyodor Dostoevsky, adapted by Doina Papp, producer Ilinca Stihi, Radio Romania
The Cremator by Ladislav Fuks, adapted by Lenka Veverková, producer Zuzana Vojtíšková, Czech Radio
The Day It Rained 449 Franz Klammers by Mathias Cavelty, producer Reto Ott, SRF Swiss Radio and Television
July 22nd: How Could It Happen? by Mathias Calmeyer, producer Oystein Kjennerud, NRK Norway
* Munch and Munch – Diptych by Jasna Mesaric, producer Katja Šimunic, HRT Croatian Radio**WINNER**
*Wrapped by Tracy Martin, producer Kevin Reynolds, RTÉ Ireland
Imison Award Finalists ...presented by Sarah Woods
*Ian Billings for Spike and the Elfin Oak, producer Gemma Jenkins, BBC Radio Drama London, BBC Radio 4
*Carl Cattermole for Double Bubble, producer Andrew Wilkie, National Prison Radio
*Lulu Raczka for Of a Lifetime, producers Polly Thomas and Eloise Whitmore, Naked Productions, BBC Radio 3 **WINNER**
Tinniswood Award Finalists ...presented by Sarah Woods
*Oliver Emanuel for When the Pips Stop, producer Kirsty Williams, BBC Scotland, BBC Radio 4 **WINNER**
*Vivienne Harvey for Playing Dead, producer Nadia Molinari, BBC Radio Drama North, BBC Radio 4
*Martyn Wade for Holbein’s Skull, producer Tracey Neale, BBC Radio Drama London, BBC Radio 4
Outstanding Contribution to Radio Drama ...presented by James Purnell
This award was given to the entire production team of the WW1 series 'Home Front'. This has been, over four years, a tremendous contribution in telling an important part of our history, It consisted of 617 episodes, used 500 actors and there were 6 regular members of the production team. Jessica Dromgoole spoke briefly on behalf of the whole team, singling out no individuals but praising the efforts made by all of the contributors.
Finally there was a round of applause for the outgoing Radio 4 controller, Gwyneth Williams, and with that, the 2019 Audio Drama Awards ended.
NOTES
1A correspondent writes - 'If the BBC is truly interested in promoting radio drama, why are radio plays never mentioned on Radio 4's main Arts programme, Front Row?'
