Doctor Who's Ncuti Gatwa and Sir Derek Jacobi among finalists for BBC Audio Drama Awards 2026

The BBC has unveiled the nominees for its 15th annual Audio Drama Awards, with former Doctor Who stars Ncuti Gatwa and Sir Derek Jacobi among the contenders.

Gatwa and Jacobi will go up against A Thousand Blows' Malachi Kirby in the Best Actor category, which recognises their work in BBC Radio dramas Gatsby in Harlem, When Maggie Met Larry and The Final Touch respectively.

In Best Actress, the three nominees are Gabrielle Creevy (Black Doves), Lydia Leonard (Wolf Hall) and Jodie McNee (The Gathering), who lent their voices to Astronomers, Gershwin and Miss Swift, and Secrets and Lies: Mona Best and The Beatles.

Other recognisable names in contention are This Town breakout star Levi Brown (for book adaptation Brat Farrar), impressionist Jon Culshaw (for satire Churchill's Bust) and American writer David Sedaris (for his self-titled sketch comedy).

Nominees for the Tinniswood Award celebrating best audio script are still to be announced, with these to be confirmed early next month by the Society of Authors and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.

Here's the full list of nominations for the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2026:

Best Original Single Drama

• The Final Touch by Roy Williams, producer Celia de Wolff (Pier Productions for BBC Radio 4)
• One Hundred and Fifty Days by Oliver Emanuel, producer Kirsty Williams (BBC Audio Scotland for BBC Radio 4)
• Sleaze by Joe von Malachowski & Will Close, producer Anne Isger (BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4)

Best Adaptation

• Gatsby in Harlem adapted by Roy Williams from F. Scott Fitzgerald, producer Nathan Freeman (Granny Eats Wolf for BBC Radio 3)
• Kramer versus Kramer by Avery Korman, adapted by Sarah Wooley, producers Gaynor Macfarlane & Carl Prekopp (BBC Audio Scotland for BBC Radio 4)
• Saint Joan of the Anthropocene adapted by Linda Marshall Griffiths from George Bernard Shaw, producer Nadia Molinari (BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 3)

Best Original Series or Serial

• Aldrich Kemp and the Rose of Pamir, producer Sarah Tombling (Sweet Talk Productions for BBC Radio 4)
• Life and Time by James Fritz, producer Tracey Neale (BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4)
• Mothercover by Fflur Dafydd, producer Fay Lomas (BBC Audio Wales & West for BBC Radio 4)

Best Actress

• Gabrielle Creevy, Astronomers, director John Norton (BBC Audio Wales & West for BBC Radio 4)
• Lydia Leonard, Gershwin and Miss Swift, director Tracey Neale (BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 3)
• Jodie McNee, Secrets and Lies: Mona Best and the Beatles, director Carl Prekopp (Essential Productions for BBC Radio 4)

Best Actor

• Ncuti Gatwa, Gatsby in Harlem, director Celia de Wolff (Granny Eats Wolf for BBC Radio 3)
• Sir Derek Jacobi, When Maggie Met Larry, director Richard Clifford (Catherine Bailey Productions for BBC Radio 4)
• Malachi Kirby, The Final Touch, director Celia de Wolff (Pier Productions for BBC Radio 4)

Best Podcast Audio Drama

• Buzz: the Man and the Moon by Stephen Kronish, producer John Scott Dryden (Goldhawk Productions & Thoroughbred Studios for iHeart)
• Discretion by Chris Brandon & Davy Banks, producers Claire Broughton & John Wakefield (Hat Trick Productions for BBC Radio 4)
• Up in Smoke written and produced by Guy Larson & Cambria Bailey‑Jones (Penny4, acquired by BBC Sounds)

Best Comedy Performance

• Chris Cantrill, Icklewick FM, producers Benjamin Sutton & Laura Shaw (Daddy’s SuperYacht Productions for BBC Radio 4)
• Jon Culshaw, Churchill’s Bust, producer Richard Clemmow (Perfectly Normal for BBC Radio 4)
• Michael Spicer, Michael Spicer: No Room, producer Matt Tiller (Tillervision for BBC Radio 4)

The Marc Beeby Award for Best Debut Performance

• Levi Brown, Brat Farrar, director Gemma Jenkins (BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4)
• Connor Finch, Life and Time, director Tracey Neale (BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4)
• Sofia Oxenham, The English Are Coming, director Nicolas Jackson (Afonica for BBC Radio 4)

Best Sitcom or Comedy Drama

• Crybabies Presents… Yours, Fatally by Michael Clarke, James Gault & Ed Jones, producer Benjamin Sutton (Boffola Pictures for BBC Radio 4)
• Icklewick FM by Chris Cantrill & Amy Gledhill, producer Benjamin Sutton (Daddy’s Superyacht Productions for BBC Radio 4)
• Lyra by Joe Barnes & Henry Perryment, producer James Robinson (BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4)

Best Stand Up or Sketch Comedy

• It’s a Fair Cop by Alfie Moore, producer Carl Cooper (BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4)
• Meet David Sedaris by David Sedaris, producer Steve Doherty (Giddy Goat Productions for BBC Radio 4)
• Tough Crowd by Kiri Pritchard‑McLean, producer Suzy Grant (Listen for BBC Radio 4)

Best Use of Sound

• The Bolt, sound by Catherine Robinson, producer John Norton (BBC Audio Wales & West for BBC Radio 4)
• The Girl of the Sea of Cortez, sound by Adam Woodhams, producer Nicolas Jackson (Afonica for BBC Radio 4)
• Secrets and Lies: Mona Best and the Beatles, sound by Lucinda Mason Brown, David Chilton & Alisdair McGregor; producers Lucinda Mason Brown & Stewart Richards (Essential Productions for BBC Radio 4)

Best European Drama

• Macbeth by Mathilda von Essen & Axel Wingqvist after William Shakespeare, producers Marie Wennersten & Louise Jacobson (SR Sweden)
• Not Born For a War by Anatolii Neiolov, producer Irina Korniienko (Radio Kultura, Suspilne, Ukraine)
• The Pack by Monica Helfer, adapted and directed by Elisabeth Weilenmann, producer Wolfram Höll (ORF Austria)

Imison Award

• Do Not Disturb: ‘Good Sex in Progress’ by Sherise Blackman, producer Victoria Lloyd (Platform Media, Audible)
• A Tale of Two Trumpets by Sylvia‑Anne Parker, producer Kirsty Williams (BBC Audio Scotland; BBC Radio 4)
• When Maggie Met Larry by Tim Walker, producer Catherine Bailey (Catherine Bailey Productions; BBC Radio 4)

The BBC Audio Drama Awards 2026 will take place on Sunday 1st March at the BBC’s Radio Theatre.

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