The winners of the 10th BBC Audio Drama Awards 2021 were announced in a virtual ceremony on March 26.

The awards are presented by the BBC together with the Society of Authors and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain to “celebrate the range, originality and cut-through quality of audio drama on air and online and give recognition to the creativity of actors, writers, producers, sound designers and others….”

Two productions of genre interest won their categories.

Best Podcast or Online Audio Drama

• Unwell: a Midwestern Gothic Mystery, producers Jeffrey Nils Gardner and Eleanor Hyde, HartLife NFP

Lillian Harper moves to the small town of Mt. Absalom, Ohio, to care for her estranged mother Dorothy after an injury. Living in the town’s boarding house which has been run by her family for generations, she discovers conspiracies, ghosts, and a new family in the house’s strange assortment of residents.

Best Use of Sound

• The Grey Man and Other Lost Legends, sound by Steve Bond, producers Joby Waldman and Steve Bond, Reduced Listening, BBC Radio 4

A strange craft crash lands on a mountain plateau, with far-reaching consequences. Sebastian Baczkiewicz weaves interviews about Scotland’s yeti into an innovative audio drama.

The full list of winners follows the jump.

Best Actor

• David Threlfall, Happiness!, director Gemma Jenkins, BBC Audio Drama London, BBC Radio 4

Best Actress

• Maggie Steed, Suffer Little Children, director Jessica Dromgoole, BBC Audio Drama London, BBC Radio 4

Best Adaptation

• The Voyage of the St Louis by Daniel Kehlmann, adapted by Tom Stoppard, producer Sasha Yevtushenko, BBC Audio Drama London, BBC Radio 4

Best Debut Performance

• Jordan Nash, Oliver: Lagos to London, director Michael Buffong, feral inc, BBC Radio 4

Best European Drama

• Earthquake by Janko Poli? Kamov, producer Katja Šimuni?, HRT Croatian Radio

Best Original Series or Serial

• Broken English by Shelagh Stephenson, producer Eoin O’Callaghan, Big Fish Productions, BBC Radio 4

Best Original Single Drama

• Magnitsky the Musical by Robert Hudson and Johnny Flynn, producer Sasha Yevtushenko, BBC Audio Drama London, BBC Radio 3
• Commendation – The Likes of Us by Roy Williams, producer Mary Peate, BBC Audio Drama London, BBC Radio 3

Best Podcast or Online Audio Drama

• Unwell: a Midwestern Gothic Mystery, producers Jeffrey Nils Gardner and Eleanor Hyde, HartLife NFP

Best Scripted Comedy (Longform)

• The Musical Life of Boudicca… by Dan Kiss and Dave Cribb, producers Dave Cribb and Tom Price, The Rubber Chicken, BBC Radio Wales

Best Scripted Comedy (Sketch Show)

• The Skewer, creator and producer Jon Holmes, Unusual Productions, BBC Radio 4

Best Use of Sound

• The Grey Man and Other Lost Legends, sound by Steve Bond, producers Joby Waldman and Steve Bond, Reduced Listening, BBC Radio 4
• Commendation – Cane, sound by Nigel Lewis, producer John Norton, BBC Cymru Wales, BBC Radio 4

The Year of Reinvention

• Lockdown Theatre Festival, producers Bertie Carvel, Jeremy Mortimer, Steve Bond, Jack Howson and Joby Waldman, Reduced Listening, BBC Radio 3 & BBC Radio 4
• Commendations – Connections, producer Polly Thomas, Naked Productions, BBC Radio 4; The Plague, producer Turan Ali, Bona Broadcasting, BBC Radio 4

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION

• The studio managers, technicians, sound engineers and designers, R&D engineers and all technical staff working on BBC-produced and independent audio drama and comedy productions in the pandemic year.

IMISON AWARD 2021

Fraser Ayres, for Maynard, produced by Mel Harris for BBC Radio 4

TINNISWOOD AWARD 2021

• Christopher Douglas for Tristram Shandy: In Development, produced by Gary Brown for BBC Radio 4