Rosamund Pike & Hiran Abeysekera Win At The BBC Audio Drama AwardsRosamund Pike and Hiran Abeysekera are amongst the winners of the 13th BBC Audio Drama Awards, presented by host Meera SyalOFFICIAL PRESS RELEASENEWS PROVIDED BY BBC Sounds Rosamund Pike and Hiran Abeysekera are amongst the winners of the 13th BBC Audio Drama Awards, presented on Sunday 24 at Broadcasting Houseâs Radio Theatre by host Meera Syal. Rosamund Pike was honoured with the award for Best Actress for her role alongside Hugh Laurie in People Who Knew Me on BBC Sounds, commissioned by BBC Radio 5 Live, which tells the story of a woman who uses 9/11 to fake her own death and run away to start a new life in California. Hiran Abeysekera won Best Actor for his performance in Dear Harry Kane on BBC Radio 4, starring as Nisal, a Tottenham Hotspur fan who travels to Qatar to build the stadium in which his hero Harry Kane will one day play, but soon discovers he has been trafficked into exploitation. Dear Harry Kane, which is written by James Fritz, also won Best Original Single Drama, having previously won Best Drama in the ARIAs and the Prix Europa in 2023. Graeme Garden has won the Lifetime Achievement award, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to radio comedy, including his position as creator and permanent panellist on Iâm Sorry I Havenât a Clue for almost fifty years. He was presented with the award by the BBCâs Chief Content Officer, Charlotte Moore. Bess Loves Porgy, Roy Williamsâ adaptation of Edwin DuBose Heywardâs classic novel, won best adaptation. The awards also honour contributions to radio comedy, with Sarah Keyworth: Are You a Boy or Girl? winning Best Stand Up Comedy, and Where to, Mate?, a sitcom following taxi drivers Ben and Bernie as they ferry their passengers around the North West of the UK, winning Best Sitcom or Comedy Drama. Rosamund Pike, winner, Best Actress, says: "I am honoured to have won Best Actress at this yearâs BBC Audio Drama Awards. I love the medium because it allows so much freedom to performers and listenersâ imaginations. Our writer and director Daniella Isaacs said she wanted our show to have the âintimacy of eavesdroppingâ, which is why I think People Who Knew Me struck such a powerful chord with listeners! Itâs a fantastic story and the way it was engineered allowed us actors to freely roam a fluid performance space and interact with one another naturally⌠the sound teams were amazing, and so was our talented cast who I loved having the chance to work with. Thank you to Merman for allowing us to tell the story and to Daniella for her clever and moving writing.â Hiran Abeysekera, winner, Best Actor, says: âRadio drama is extraordinary and Iâm very proud to be a part of it. To say that three out of the four radio opportunities that have come my way through the BBC have been stories linked to my home country, Sri Lanka, is really special. Thank you for this wonderful honour.â The BBCâs Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore says: âMany congratulations to all tonightâs winners and nominees. The BBC has championed audio drama since the very beginning and Iâm proud that we continue to be the biggest commissioner of audio drama globally. Alongside the many who listen live, audio drama regularly appears in the top ten most popular on-demand programmes on BBC Sounds. Itâs much-loved by our listeners who tune in for the brilliant writing, acting and storytelling, which provide opportunities for escapism, as well as to learn more about the world around them through drama.â
Full list of winners:
Best Original Single Drama⢠WINNER Dear Harry Kane by James Fritz, producer Sally Avens, BBC Audio Drama London
Best Adaptation⢠WINNER Bess Loves Porgy by Edwin DuBose Heyward, adapted by Roy Williams, producer Gill Parry, feral inc
Best Original Series or Serial⢠WINNER Trust by Jonathan Hall, producer Gary Brown, BBC Audio Drama North
Best Actor⢠WINNER Hiran Abeysekera, Dear Harry Kane, director Sally Avens, BBC Audio Drama London
Best Actress⢠WINNER Rosamund Pike, People Who Knew Me, director Daniella Isaacs, Merman
Best Supporting Performance⢠WINNER Mark Heap, Kafkaâs Dick, directors Polly Thomas and Dermot Daly, Naked Productions
The Marc Beeby Award for Best Debut Performance⢠WINNER Rosalind Eleazar, Hindsight, director Gaynor Macfarlane, BBC Scotland
Best Sit Com or Comedy Drama⢠WINNER Where to, Mate? devised by Jo Enright, Peter Slater, Abdullah Afzal, Nina Gilligan, Andy Salthouse, Keith Carter, Jason Wingard, producer Carl Cooper, BBC Studios Audio
Best Stand Up Comedy⢠WINNER Sarah Keyworth: Are You a Boy or a Girl by by Sarah Keyworth, additional material Ruby Clyde, producer Georgia Keating, BBC Studios Audio
Best Use of Sound⢠WINNER Hamlet Noir, sound by David Chilton, Lucinda Mason Brown, Weronika Andersen, producers Charlotte MelÊn, Carl Prekopp and Saskia Black, Almost Tangible
Best Podcast Audio Drama⢠WINNER Badger and the Blitz by Richard Turley and Darren Francis, producer Richard Turley, ROXO
Best European Drama⢠WINNER This Word by Marta Rebzda, producer Waldemar Modestowicz, Polish Radio Theatre
IMISON AWARD 2024⢠WINNER Benny and Hitch by Andrew McCaldon, producers Neil Varley and Tracey Neale, BBC Audio Drama London
TINNISWOOD AWARD 2024⢠WINNER Cracking by ShĂ´n Dale-Jones, producer John Norton, BBC Cymru Wales AboutAbout the BBC Audio Drama AwardsThe BBC Audio Drama Awards celebrate the passionate and dedicated work of professionals who bring this artform to listeners - from actors to writers, producers and sound designers. Across formats, themes, on air and online, the awards recognise an array of productions. Previous winners include Miriam Margolyes, Juliet Aubrey, Bridget Christie, Edmund Davies, Phil Wang, Danny Sapani, Neil Gaiman, John Hurt and many more. The BBC once again joined with the Society of Authors and Writersâ Guild of Great Britain to present the two annual writing awards run by these organisations, the Imison Award (for best script by a writer new to audio) and the Tinniswood Award (for the best audio script of the year). The BBC has compiled a timeline of key audio drama moments from the past century, which can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc.
Source BBC Sounds
March 25, 2024 7:57am ET by Newsdesk |