Audio - BBC Audio Drama Award Nominations

The finalists for the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2018 have been announced...

Sir John Hurt has been posthumously nominated in the Best Actor category for his role as Griffin in The Invisible Man, the Big Finish produced dramatisation of H G Wells' classic story. Other nominations include one for Kate Phillips (Peaky Blinders, Wolf Hall) who is nominated for Best Debut Performance following her role in Radio 4’s Gudrun’s Saga, Resistance by author Val McDermid in the Best Audio Drama (Series) category. Marcus Brigstocke’s play The Red gets a nod in the Best Single Drama category and the adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, which took over the Radio 4 schedule on 15th August - the anniversary of Partition - is nominated in the Best Adaptation category.

The winners will be announced in the ceremony on Sunday 28th 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, this year's nominations 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 and entries were welcome from all makers of audio drama, not just restricted to BBC broadcasts.

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

Pictured: Sir John Hurt at the 2016 Audio Drama Awards courtesy of BBC