The BBC Audio Drama Awards is an awards ceremony created by BBC Radio to recognise excellence in the radio industry, in particular in audio dramas. The inaugural awards were presented in 2012 and the ceremony hosted at the BBC Radio Theatre, Broadcasting House where it has remained ever since.
The awards were first announced with an invitation for entries on 24 October 2011, and the shortlisted nominees revealed on 10 January 2012. The inaugural ceremony took place on 29 January 2012 and proved hugely successful. Prior to this, there was no official awards ceremony to recognise audio dramas; the Sony Radio Academy Awards mainly encompassed radio shows and presenters while the Richard Imison Award (for best original script by a new writer) and Tinniswood Award (for best audio drama script of the year) were awarded separately. The Imison and Tinniswood Awards are now incorporated into the Audio Drama Awards, the former administered by the Society of Authors and the latter by both the Society of Authors and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.
Nominations and judges Although nominations are dominated by the BBC's in-house arts-oriented stations, particularly BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4, entries are open to all makers of audio drama world-wide.
The judges include personalities from both the radio, acting and theatre industry and the literary world. Notable judges have included British dramatist Nell Leyshon, American novelist Stephen Wright, performance historian Viv Gardner, English actor Robert Bathurst, long-time producer and Director-General of the BBC Lord Hall, comedian Alexei Sayle, actress Imogen Stubbs and Royal Shakespeare Company associate director Rupert Goold.
Winners
2025 +14th annual awards – Host: Miles JuppAwardWinnerOther finalistsOutstanding Contribution Bill Dare Central IntelligenceBest Original Single DramaThe Invitation by Katherine Chandler Producer: John Norton (BBC Audio Wales & West) Commendation: Franz and Felice by Ed Harris Producer: Sasha Yevtushenko (BBC Studios Audio London)
Nearly Light by Kit Withington Producer: Jelena Budimir (Naked Productions)Best Original Series or SerialLife Lines by Al Smith Producer: Sally Avens (BBC Studios Audio London) for BBC Radio 4 Central Intelligence by Greg Haddrick, Felicity Packard and Maryam Master Producers: John Scott Dryden, Emma Hearn and Jeremy Fox (Goldhawk Productions)
Money Gone by Ed Sellek Producers: Eloise Whitmore and Tony Churnside (Naked Productions)Best AdaptationTam O’Shanter by Robert Burns Adapted by Gary McNair Producer: Kirsty Williams (BBC Audio Scotland) Commendation: Love and Information by Caryl Churchill Producers: Mary Peate and Jessica Dromgoole (Hooley Productions) for BBC Radio 4) Antigone by Jean Anouilh Adapted and produced by Pauline Harris (BBC Studios Audio London)Best ActorSean Bean (Antigone) Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Unsinkable) Wil Johnson (Talawa Stories)Best ActressCecilia Appiah (Oleanna) Commendation: Michelle Fairley (Hello, I Appear to Have Killed My Husband) Commendation: Kate O’Flynn (Spores)Best Comedy PerformanceRosie Cavaliero (The Train at Platform 4) Heath McIvor (Randy Feltface’s Destruction Manual) Frank Skinner (Do Gooders)The Marc Beeby Award for Best Debut PerformanceMae Munuo (Tribe of Two) Bel Odawa (A Grain of Wheat) Emma Leah Golding (Almonds and Raisins)Best Sitcom or Comedy DramaRum Punch by Travis Jay Producer: Daisy Knight Call Jonathan Pie – The American Dream Part 2 by Tom Walker with Daniel Abelson and Will Franken Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith (Yada-Yada Audio Productions) Crybabies Present… Bagbeard by Michael Clarke, James Gault and Ed Jones Producer: Joe Nunnery (Boffola Pictures)Best Stand Up or Sketch ComedyJaney Godley: the C Bomb Series 2 by Janey Godley with Ashley Storrie Producer: Richard Melvin (Dabster Productions) for BBC Radio 4 Commendation: Munya Chawawa’s Election Doom Scroll by Munya Chawawa, Matthew Crosby, James Farmer, and Joe McArdle Producers: Jo Maney and Ben Wicks (Expectation TV) for BBC Radio 4 Mark Steel’s in Town by Mark Steel and Pete Sinclair Producer: Carl Cooper (BBC Studios Audio)Best Use of SoundRestless Dreams, sound by Eloise Whitmore Producers: Eloise Whitmore and Polly Thomas (Naked Productions) for BBC Radio 4Best European DramaThe Fall of Lapinville by Benjamin Abitan Producer: Chloé Asous-Plunian for Arte Radio, France Night Flights by Philippe Verkinderen Producer: Grietkin Deroo, Minds Meet & VRT Max Belgium The Sister of Job by Marta Rebzda Producer: Beata Jankowska, Polish Radio TheatreBest Podcast Audio DramaThe Skies Are Watching, written and produced by Jon Frechette and Todd Luoto (Goldhawk Productions) for BBC Radio 4 Commendation: Central Intelligence by Greg Haddrick Producers: John Scott Dryden and Emma Hearn (Goldhawk Productions) Executive producer: Howard Stringer and Jeremy Fox, for BBC Radio Doctor Who – the Eleventh Doctor Chronicles by Georgia Cook, Max Kashevsky and Alfie Shaw Producer: Alfie Shaw, Big Finish ProductionsImison AwardTether by Isley Lynn Produced by Fay Lomas (BBC Audio Wales and West) for BBC Radio 4 Tribe of Two by Malaika Kegode Producers: Jesse Fox and Nicolas Jackson (Afonica Productions) The Mini-Break by Chloe Myerson Producer: Anne Isger (BBC Studios Audio, London) Under Milk Woods: Tywyn by Manon Steffan Ros Producer: Emma Harding (BBC Audio Wales and West)Tinniswood AwardMan Friday by Edson Burton Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery (BBC Audio Wales and West) for BBC Radio 4 Southall Uprising by Satinder Chohan Producer: Nadia Molinari (BBC Studios Audio North) A Tale of Ossian by Robert Forrest Producer: Kirsty William (BBC Audio Scotland) Orwell v Kafka: Restless Dreams by Don Rebellat Producer: Polly Thomas (Naked Productions)
2024 The ceremony took place on 24 March 2024 at salty springs featuring agent jonsey and covered audio dramas broadcast between 1 October 2022 and 31 October 2023 or first uploaded / published / released for free listening online during the same period.
+13th annual awards – Host: Meera SyalAwardWinnerOther finalistsLifetime AchievementGraeme Garden –Outstanding ContributionOliver Emanuel Best Actor Hiran Abeysekera (Dear Harry Kane)Director: Sally Avens (BBC Audio Drama London) Commendation: Lorn Macdonald (Confessions of a Justified Sinner)Director: Kirsty Williams (BBC Scotland) Tim McInerny (Benny & Hitch)Director: Tracey Neale (BBC Audio Drama London) Best Actress Rosamund Pike (People Who Knew Me)Director: Daniella Isaacs (Merman) Gabrielle Brooks (Bess Loves Porgy)Director: Michael Buffong (feral inc) Maxine Peake (The Women of Troy)Director: Nadia Molinari (BBC Audio Drama North) Best Supporting Performance Mark Heap (Kafka’s Dick)Directors: Polly Thomas and Dermot Daly (Naked Productions) Sacha Dhawan (Anna Karenina)Director: Nadia Molinari (BBC Audio Drama North)The Marc Beeby Award for Best Debut PerformanceRosalind Eleazar (Hindsight )Director: Gaynor Macfarlane (BBC Scotland) Commendation: Jadie Rose Hobson (Exposure)Director: Anne Isger (BBC Audio Drama London) Commendation: Dan Parr (The Test Batter Can’t Breathe)Director: Tracey Neale (BBC Audio Drama London) Best Audio Drama(Single drama) Dear Harry Kane by James FritzProducer: Sally Avens (BBC Audio Drama London)Benny and Hitch by Andrew McCaldonProducers: Neil Varley and Tracey Neale (BBC Audio Drama London) Eat and Run by Paolo ChiantaProducer: Lorna Newman (BBC Audio Drama North) Best Audio Drama(Series or Serial) Trust by Jonathan HallProducer: Gary Brown (BBC Audio Drama North) Commendation: There’s Something I Need to Tell You by John Scott Dryden and Misha KawnelProducer: Emma Hearn (Goldhawk Productions) Flirties by Jess HamiltonProducer: Jess Hamilton (Audiocraft) Best Audio Drama(Adaptation) Bess Loves Porgy by Edwin DuBose Heyward adapted by Roy WilliamsProducer: Gill Parry (feral inc) Commendation: If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino, adapted by Tim Crouch and Toby JonesProducer: Nadia Molinari (BBC Audio Drama North) Commendation: Beowulf Retold based on the version by Seamus HeaneyProducer: Pauline Harris (BBC Audio Drama London) Best Use of Sound in an Audio Drama Hamlet Noir by David Chilton, Lucinda Mason Brown, Weronika AndersenProducers: Charlotte Melén, Carl Prekopp and Saskia Black (Almost Tangible) The Dark is Rising by Gareth FryProducers: Catherine Bailey and Tim Bell (Catherine Bailey Productions and Complicité) The Women of Troy by Sharon HughesProducers: Nadia Molinari (BBC Audio Drama North) Best Stand-up Comedy Are You a Boy or a Girl? by Sarah Keyworth (additional material: Ruby Clyde)Producer: Georgia Keating (BBC Studios Audio) Commendation: The C Bomb by Janey GodleyProducers: Julia Sutherland and Richard Melvin (Dabster Productions) OK Computer by Olga Koch and Charlie DinkinProducer: Benjamin Sutton (BBC Studios Audio)Best Sitcom or Comedy DramaWhere to, Mate? devised by Jo Enright, Peter Slater, Abdullah Afzal, Nina Gilligan, Andy Salthouse, Keith Carter and Jason WingardProducer: Carl Cooper (BBC Studios Audio) Call Jonathan Pie by Tom WalkerProducer: Alison Vernon-Smith (Yada-Yada Audio) She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith, adapted by Barunka O’ShaughnessyProducer: Emma Harding (BBC Cymru Wales)Best European DramaThis Word by Marta RebzdaProducer: Waldemar Modestowicz (Polish Radio Theatre) Faust (I Never Read It) by Noam BrusilovskyProducer: Andrea Oetzmann (SWR Südwestrundfunk with Deutschlandfunk) The Supervisor by Nis-Momme StockmannProducer: Michael Becker (NDR Norddeutscher Rundfunk) Best Podcast or Online Only Audio Drama Badger and the Blitz by Richard Turley and Darren FrancisProducer: Richard Turley (ROXO) The Salvation by Justin Lockey, Jeffrey Aidoo, and AK BenedictProducers: Jon Hamm and Boz Temple-Morris (Holy Mountain and Free Turn) Tagged by Brett Neichin and John Scott DrydenProducer: Emma Hearn (Sony Music Entertainment and Goldhawk Productions) Imison Award Benny and Hitch by Andrew McCaldonProducers: Neil Varley and Tracey Neale (BBC Audio Drama London) Happy Hour by Liv FowlerProducer: Jelena Budimir (Naked Productions) In Moderation by Katie BonnaProducer: Sally Avens (BBC Audio Drama London) Tinniswood Award Cracking by Shôn Dale-JonesProducer: John Norton (BBC Cymru Wales) About a Dog by Huw BrentnallProducer: Fiona McAlpine (Allegra Productions) Ghosted by Lindsay SharmanDirector: Lindsay Sharman (Long Cat Media) Scooters, Shooters and Shottas by John R. GordonDirector: Rikki Beadle-Blair (Urban Wolf for Team Angelica/The Art Machine)
2023 The ceremony took place on 19 March 2023 and covered audio dramas broadcast between 1 October 2021 and 31 October 2022 or first uploaded / published / released for free listening online during the same period. 2023 marked the centenary of the audio and radio drama genre at the BBC.
+12th annual awards – Host:AwardWinnerOther finalistsLifetime AchievementMartin Jarvis –Outstanding ContributionRadio Drama Company, 1923–2023 – Best Actor Anton Lesser (One Five Seven Years)Director: Nicolas Jackson (Afonica for BBC Radio 4 & BBC Sounds) Alfred Enoch (Darkness)Director: Nadia Molinari (BBC Audio Drama North) Toby Jones (The Miser)Director: Emma Harding (BBC Cymru Wales) Best Actress Mary Murray (The Pride of Parnell Street)Director: Jim Culleton (BBC Audio Drama London for BBC Radio 3) Ruth Everett (Spice)Director: Toby Swift (BBC Audio Drama London) Danielle Vitalis (Faith, Hope and Glory)Director: Anastasia Osei-Kuffour (BBC Audio Drama London) Best Supporting Performance Matthew Gravelle (Fault Lines: Blood)Director: Gary Brown (BBC Audio Drama North for BBC Radio 4) Conleth Hill (Dead Hand)Director: Michael Shannon (BBC Northern Ireland)