BBC reveals winners of 2026 drama awards

The BBC has announced the winners of its 2026 Audio Drama Awards, recognising achievement across radio and podcasting.

Now in their 15th year, the awards underline the BBC’s role as a major commissioner of audio drama, with honours spanning writing, acting, production and sound design across BBC Radio and podcast platforms.

Meet David Sedaris took Best Stand Up or Sketch Comedy, while Gabrielle Creevy was named Best Actress for her role as Olive in Astronomers. Malachi Kirby won Best Actor for Secrets and Lies: The Final Touch, the story of twin professional footballers divided by family history.

Special honours included Outstanding Contribution for Faith, Hope and Glory, a century-spanning series for BBC Radio 4. A Special Award marked 75 years of The Archers, recognising its status as the world’s longest-running continuing drama, and Bill Nighy paid tribute to the late Sir Tom Stoppard for his work in audio.

The inaugural Radio Times Readers’ Drama Award went to When Maggie Met Larry, starring Sir Derek Jacobi and Frances Barber.

Alison Hindell, Radio 4 Commissioner for Drama and Fiction, said, “This year’s Audio Drama Awards showcase the sheer breadth of imagination and skill that audio storytellers bring to our audiences.”

David Sedaris said, “I never win anything so this was worth flying across the Atlantic for.”

• Faith, Hope and Glory by Roy Williams, Winsome Pinnock, Rex Obano, Carol Russell, produced by Pat Cumper, Jessica Dromgoole and Mary Peate, and directed by Anthony Simpson-Pike; a BBC Studios Audio Production for BBC Radio 4

• The Archers at 75

• When Maggie Met Larry, made by Catherine Bailey Productions for BBC Radio 4
• Runner up: Chicken Burger N Chips, an Unedited production for BBC Radio 4, commissioned as part of the New Makers scheme.

• One Hundred and Fifty Days by Oliver Emanuel, produced by Kirsty Williams at BBC Audio Scotland for BBC Radio 4

• Kramer versus Kramer by Avery Korman and adapted by Sarah Wooley; produced by Gaynor Macfarlane and Carl Prekopp at BBC Audio Scotland for BBC Radio 4
• Special commendation for Saint Joan of the Anthropocene, adapted by Linda Marshall Griffiths from George Bernard Shaw, produced by Nadia Molinari at BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 3

• Life and Time by James Fritz, produced by Tracey Neale at BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4

• Gabrielle Creevy in Astronomers, directed by John Norton for BBC Audio Wales & West for BBC Radio 4

• Malachi Kirby in Secrets and Lies: The Final Touch, directed by Celia de Wolff at Pier Productions for BBC Radio 4

• Buzz: The Man and the Moon by Stephen Kronish, produced by John Scott Dryden and Emma Hearn at Goldhawk Productions & Thoroughbred Studios for iHeart
• Special commendation for Discretion by Chris Brandon and Davy Banks, produced by Claire Broughton and John Wakefield at Hat Trick Productions for BBC Radio 4

• Chris Cantrill in Icklewick FM, produced by Benjamin Sutton and Laura Shaw at Daddy’s SuperYacht Productions for BBC Radio 4

• Connor Finch in Life and Time, directed by Tracey Neale at BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4
• Special commendation for Sofia Oxenham in The English Are Coming, directed by Nicolas Jackson at Afonica for BBC Radio 4

• Lyra by Joe Barnes and Henry Perryment, produced by James Robinson at BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4

• Meet David Sedaris by David Sedaris, produced by Steve Doherty at Giddy Goat Productions for BBC Radio 4

• The Girl of the Sea of Cortez – sound by Adam Woodhams, produced by Nicolas Jackson at Afonica for BBC Radio 4

• Not Born for a War by Anatolii Neiolov, produced by Iryna Korniienko for Radio Kultura, Suspilne, Ukraine
• Special commendation for The Pack by Monica Helfer, adapted and directed by Elisabeth Weilenmann, producer Wolfram Höll, ORF Austria

• A Tale of Two Trumpets by Sylvia-Anne Parker, produced by Kirsty Williams at BBC Audio Scotland for BBC Radio 4

• One Hundred and Fifty Days by Oliver Emanuel, produced by Kirsty Williams at BBC Audio Scotland for BBC Radio 4