Val McDermid, Sir John Hurt and Kate Phillips amongst the finalists for the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2018

Other nominations include Marcus Brigstocke’s play The Red in the Best Single Drama category, and the adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, which took over the Radio 4 schedule on 15 August - the anniversary of Partition - in the Best Adaptation category.

The winners will be announced in the ceremony on Sunday 28 January at the Radio Theatre in BBC Broadcasting House, together with the winners of the Imison and Tinniswood Awards for writing for radio, administered by the Society of Authors and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain.

The Audio Drama Awards recognise the cultural significance, range and originality of audio drama, on air as well as online, and credit the creativity of the actors, writers, producers, sound designers and others who work within the field.

Each category is judged by a team of industry experts including Ruth Jones, David Eldridge, Roy Williams, Indira Varma and Paul Schlesinger. Now in their seventh year, the Audio Drama Awards have previously recognised such luminaries as John Hurt, Neil Gaiman, Sir Ian McKellen and June Whitfield as well as Monica Dolan, Susan Wokoma, Alfred Molina, Danny Sapani and The Archers.

The full list of shortlisted entries is as follows:

Best Single Drama

• Dangerous Visions: Culture by Al Smith, produced by Sally Avens, Radio Drama - London for BBC Radio 4
• The Red by Marcus Brigstocke, produced by Caroline Raphael, Pier Productions for BBC Radio 4
• The Music Lesson by Hannah Silva, produced by Melanie Harris, Sparklab Productions for BBC Radio 4

Best Audio Drama (Series or Serial)

• Black Eyed Girls by Katie Hims, produced by Sasha Yevtushenko, Radio Drama - London for BBC Radio 4
• Dangerous Visions: Resistance by Val McDermid, produced by Sue Roberts, Radio Drama - Manchester for BBC Radio 4
• Home Front by Katie Hims and Sarah Daniels, produced by Jessica Dromgoole, Radio Drama - Birmingham for BBC Radio 4

Best Adaptation

• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, produced by Gary Brown, Radio Drama - Manchester for BBC Radio 3
• Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, adapted by Ayeesha Menon, produced by Tracey Neale and Emma Harding, Radio Drama - London for BBC Radio 4
• Terrible Beauty by Gerald Doyle, adapted and produced by Bernard Clarke for RTE Lyric FM

Best Actor

• Paapa Essiedu for Wide Open Spaces
• John Hurt for The Invisible Man
• Nikesh Patel for Midnight’s Children

Best Actress

• Christine Bottomley for Solitary
• Anastasia Hille for Long Day’s Journey into Night
• Julia McKenzie for John Finnemore’s Double Acts: Mercy Dash

Best Supporting Actor/Actress

• Roger Allam for The Government Inspector
• Amelia Bullmore for The Beard
• Rupert Evans for Long Day’s Journey into Night

Best Debut Performance

• Andrew Leung for Prime Cut
• Kate Phillips for Gudrun’s Saga
• Sabrina Sandhu for Black Eyed Girls

Best Use of Sound

• Dangerous Visions: Kafka’s Metamorphosis, sound by Nigel Lewis. Produced by James Robinson, Radio Drama - BBC Cymru Wales for BBC Radio 4
• Midnight’s Children, sound by Peter Ringrose, Anne Bunting, Jenni Burnett. Produced by Tracey Neale and Emma Harding, Radio Drama - London for BBC Radio 4
• War of the Worlds, sound by Cal Knightley, Mike Etherden, Alison Craig. Produced by Marc Beeby, Radio Drama - London for BBC Radio 4

Best Scripted Comedy (longform)

• Liam Williams: Ladhood by Liam Williams, produced by Joseph Nunnery, BBC Studios for BBC Radio 4
• The Penny Dreadfuls Present: Le Carre on Spy by David Reed, produced by Julia McKenzie, BBC Studios for BBC Radio 4
• Sarah Kendall: Australian Trilogy by Sarah Kendall, produced by Carl Cooper, BBC Studios for BBC Radio 4

Best Scripted Comedy (sketch show)

• The Absolutely Radio Show by Morwenna Banks, Pete Baikie, Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and John Sparkes, produced by Gordon Kennedy and Gus Beattie, Absolutely Productions for BBC Radio 4
• Harry and Paul Present: The Gentlemen’s Club by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, produced by Sam Bryant, BBC Studios for BBC Radio 2
• It’s Jocelyn by Jocelyn Jee Esien, Liam Beirn, Laura Major, Tom Coles, Ed Amsden and Sarah Campbell. Produced by Suzy Grant, BBC Studios for BBC Radio 4

Best Online/Podcast only

• Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, produced by David Hunter for BBC Online
• Inside Donald Trump, producer Jimmy Mulville, Hat Trick Productions/Unbound, podcast on Soundcloud and iTunes
• Rathband: A Digital Tragedy, producers Jeremy Mortimer and John Wakefield, podcast on iTunes etc

Imison Award for Best Audio Drama Script by a New Writer

• Adam Usden for The Book of Yehudit
• Jane Wainwright for Wide Open Spaces

Tinniswood Award for Best Audio Drama Script

• David Eldridge for Jenny Lomas
• John Finnemore for Double Acts: Penguin Diplomacy
• Sarah Woods for Borderland

IP

Pictured: Sir John Hurt at the 2016 Audio Drama Awards

Notes to Editors

• The BBC Audio Drama Awards cover audio dramas first broadcast in English in the UK between 1 October 2016 and 31 October 2017 - or first uploaded/published for free listening online in the UK during the same period
• Entries were welcome from all makers of audio drama, and were not restricted to BBC broadcasts
• Each programme producer could enter up to four categories (one entry only per category)
• The audio drama had to be submitted exactly as broadcast or uploaded
• There was no entry fee
• The Imison Award is administered by the Society of Authors and the Tinniswood Award by the Society of Authors and the Writers’ Guild

Related BBC Links

• BBC Audio Drama Awards