The finalists in the 2024 BBC Audio Drama Awards have been announced, with talent including Rosamund Pike, Hiran Abeysekera and Maxine Peake revealed to be in the running.

Rosamund Pike is nominated for Best Actress for her compelling performance as Emily Morris in People Who Knew Me, the hit podcast unravelling the story of a woman who uses 9/11 to fake her own death. She is up against Maxine Peake for her role as Hecuba in The Women of Troy, a contemporary retelling of the Greek myth, exploring the aftermath of war and its impact on women, as well as Gabrielle Brooks for her role as Bess in Bess Loves Porgy, updating Edwin DuBose Heyward’s iconic Porgy to modern London.

Hiran Abeysekera is in the running for Best Actor, in recognition of his moving portrayal of Nisal in Dear Harry Kane, a young Sri Lankan who is trafficked into exploitative work in Qatar during the building of the World Cup stadium – where his hero, Harry Kane, will one day play. Other nominees for Best Actor include Lorn Macdonald for his role in Confessions of a Justified Sinner and Tim McInnerny for his role in Benny and Hitch. Dear Harry Kane and Benny and Hitch have both additionally been nominated for Best Original Single drama, alongside Eat and Run.

Judges including Gina McKee, Adrian Scarborough, Paterson Joseph, Nina Wadia, James Cartwright, Susannah Clapp, Daniel Evans, Tyger Drew-Honey and Monica Dolan are now deciding the winners, who will be revealed in a ceremony on Sunday 24th March at London Broadcasting House. The winners of the Imison and Tinniswood Awards (judged and administered by the Society of Authors and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain) will also be announced at this ceremony.

The BBC is the biggest commissioner of audio drama globally and is proud to highlight the best from the sector at the annual BBC Audio Drama Awards, which 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 and many more.

Full list of finalists

Best Original Single Drama

Benny and Hitch by Andrew McCaldon, producers Neil Varley and Tracey Neale, BBC Audio Drama London

Dear Harry Kane by James Fritz, producer Sally Avens, BBC Audio Drama London

Eat and Run by Paolo Chianta, producer Lorna Newman, BBC Audio Drama North

Best Adaptation

Beowulf Retold based on the version by Seamus Heaney, producer Pauline Harris, BBC Audio Drama London

Bess Loves Porgy by Edwin DuBose Heyward, adapted by Roy Williams, producer Gill Parry, feral inc

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino, adapted by Tim Crouch and Toby Jones, producer Nadia Molinari, BBC Audio Drama North

Best Original Series or Serial

Flirties, written and produced by Jess Simpson, Audiocraft

There’s Something I Need to Tell You by John Scott Dryden and Misha Kawnel, producer Emma Hearn, Goldhawk Productions

Trust by Jonathan Hall, producer Gary Brown, BBC Audio Drama North

Best Actor

Hiran Abeysekera, Dear Harry Kane, director Sally Avens, BBC Audio Drama London

Lorn Macdonald, Confessions of a Justified Sinner, director Kirsty Williams, BBC Scotland

Tim McInerny, Benny & Hitch, director Tracey Neale, BBC Audio Drama London

Best Actress

Gabrielle Brooks, Bess Loves Porgy, director Michael Buffong, feral inc

Maxine Peake, The Women of Troy, director Nadia Molinari, BBC Audio Drama North

Rosamund Pike, People Who Knew Me, director Daniella Isaacs, Merman

Best Supporting Performance

Sacha Dhawan, Anna Karenina, director Nadia Molinari, BBC Audio Drama North

Mark Heap, Kafka’s Dick, directors Polly Thomas and Dermot Daly, Naked Productions

The Marc Beeby Award for Best Debut Performance

Rosalind Eleazar, Hindsight, director Gaynor Macfarlane, BBC Scotland

Jadie Rose Hobson, Exposure, director Anne Isger, BBC Audio Drama London

Dan Parr, The Test Batter Can’t Breathe, director Tracey Neale, BBC Audio Drama London

Best Sit Com or Comedy Drama

Call Jonathan Pie by Tom Walker, producer Alison Vernon-Smith, Yada-Yada Audio

She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith, adapted by Barunka O’Shaughnessy, producer Emma Harding, BBC Cymru Wales

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

Janey Godley: the C Bomb by Janey Godley, producers Julia Sutherland and Richard Melvin, Dabster Productions

Olga Koch: OK Computer by Olga Koch and Charlie Dinkin, producer Benjamin Sutton, BBC Studios Audio

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

The Dark is Rising, sound by Gareth Fry, producers Catherine Bailey and Tim Bell, Catherine Bailey Productions and Complicité

Hamlet Noir, sound by David Chilton, Lucinda Mason Brown, Weronika Andersen, producers Charlotte Melén, Carl Prekopp and Saskia Black, Almost Tangible

The Women of Troy, sound by Sharon Hughes, producer Nadia Molinari, BBC Audio Drama North

Best Podcast Audio Drama

Badger and the Blitz by Richard Turley and Darren Francis, producer Richard Turley, ROXO

The Salvation by Justin Lockey, Jeffrey Aidoo, and AK Benedict, producers John Hamm and Boz Temple-Morris, Holy Mountain and Free Turn

Tagged by Brett Neichin and John Scott Dryden, producer Emma Hearn, Sony Music Entertainment and Goldhawk Productions

Best European Drama

Faust (I Never Read It) by Noam Brusilovsky, producer Andrea Oetzmann, SWR Südwestrundfunk with Deutschlandfunk

The Supervisor by Nis-Momme Stockmann, producer Michael Becker, NDR Norddeutscher Rundfunk

This Word by Marta Rebzda, producer Waldemar Modestowicz, Polish Radio Theatre

IMISON AWARD 2024

Benny and Hitch by Andrew McCaldon, producers Neil Varley and Tracey Neale, BBC Audio Drama London

In Moderation by Katie Bonna, producer Sally Avens, BBC Audio Drama London

Happy Hour by Liv Fowler, producer Jelena Budimir, Naked Productions

TINNISWOOD AWARD 2024

To be announced soon.