Stunning drama based on true story starring Derek Jacobi and Frances Barber wins Radio Times award

On Sunday 1 March at the BBC Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House, London, the inaugural Radio Times Readers’ Drama Award was presented at the BBC Audio Drama Awards ceremony.

The Radio Times award was one of three external awards presented on the night, alongside the Imison and Tinniswood Awards, run by the Society of Authors and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, for the best original script by a writer new to audio drama and for best original script, respectively.

Radio Times has been around since almost when the first radio drama was aired in the UK, but we missed Phyllis Twigg’s The Truth about Father Christmas 1922 play for children by several months. Ever since RT has been championing a form that remains beloved by our readers.

This year, we decided to give them the chance to tell us what they really like with the Radio Times Readers' Drama Award.

From a list of 30 dramas drawn up by a panel of our esteemed critics, which ranged from pacy podcast series to theatrical single dramas, readers could vote online for their favourite. Here’s what they picked as their winner…

A play that imagines the meeting between two diametrically opposed giants of 20th century life, played by two giants of the acting profession, its witty and thought-provoking approach to a little-known historical event clearly struck a chord.

The winner of the inaugural Radio Times Readers' Drama Award is When Maggie Met Larry by Tim Walker, directed by Richard Clifford for Catherine Bailey Productions.

Tim Walker says of winning the award: "My heartfelt thanks to the readers of Radio Times for choosing my play When Maggie Met Larry – focusing on the real-life acting class that Laurence Olivier gave to Margaret Thatcher in the 1970s – as the winner of the magazine's inaugural drama award."

As a seasoned, award-winning journalist for The Daily Telegraph and The Observer, Walker knows it’s never a solo effort to get a story out in the world, "Any writer who thinks a drama wins solely on account of him or herself is at best delusional and at worst egomaniacal, so it goes without saying this is as much an honour for Sir Derek Jacobi — Olivier in the drama — and Frances Barber, who essayed Thatcher.

"Take a bow, too, Richard Clifford, the director; Catherine Bailey, the producer; Leon Chambers, who presided over the technical side; and the great [theatre director and producer] Michael Grandage, who saw the play's potential and brought us all together."

He says of Grandage’s pivotal role in the genesis of the play, "Ages ago, over a dinner, I told Michael the story of Olivier giving an acting lesson to Thatcher and he said, 'There's a bloody good play in that – you've got to write it,' and, with great skill, diplomacy and patience, he got us all together to make it happen."

When Maggie Met Larry was up for two more awards, the Imison Award for first-time writers of audio drama, and best actor for Sir Derek Jacobi.

Unfortunately it took neither so the Radio Times win was all the sweeter for Walker and producer Catherine Bailey, as Walker explains, "We never in a million years thought we had a chance in the Radio Times award since it was such a large and distinguished field – it felt like the Grand National and I couldn't see us even getting over Becher's Brook – so we were absolutely in shock it was announced. Long may this award continue to raise the bar in audio drama."

We also need to acknowledge the success of a strong runner-up in the voting, Chicken Burger N Chips by Corey Bovell based on his moving one-man stage play, a coming-of-age story set in south London and starring Gamba Cole and produced by Bernard P Achampong for Unedited Productions.

Its depiction of the gritty reality of life for young Black men on the streets of Lewisham stands in contrast to the often rarefied circles enjoyed by Margaret Thatcher and Sir Laurence Olivier in our winner and goes some way to show the range of what can be found in the best audio drama.

To echo Tim Walker, long may the medium continue to entertain, surprise, amuse and shock us.

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