The BBC has announced the finalists for the 2026 BBC Audio Drama Awards, recognising outstanding achievement across audio drama and comedy from the UK and beyond.
Now in its fifteenth year, the awards celebrate excellence in writing, production, performance and sound, honouring the breadth and creativity of audio storytelling.
Among the acting nominees is Ncuti Gatwa, shortlisted for Best Actor for his performance as Gatsby in Gatsby in Harlem, Roy Williams’ reimagining of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel set during the 1920s Harlem Renaissance.
Sir Derek Jacobi is also nominated in the Best Actor category for his portrayal of Laurence Olivier in When Maggie Met Larry, a drama imagining Olivier’s influence on Margaret Thatcher as she prepared for national leadership.
Lydia Leonard is recognised in the Best Actress category for her performance as Kay Swift in Gershwin and Miss Swift, charting the life of the first woman to score a hit Broadway musical.
David Sedaris has been shortlisted for Best Stand Up or Sketch Comedy for his long-running series Meet David Sedaris, alongside Alfie Moore’s It’s a Fair Cop and Kiri Pritchard-McLean’s Tough Crowd.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony on Sunday 1 March at the BBC’s Radio Theatre, where the Imison Award and writing awards administered by the Society of Authors and the Writers’ Guild will also be presented.
Full list of finalists for the 2026 BBC Audio Drama Awards:
Best Original Single Drama
The Final Touch by Roy Williams
One Hundred and Fifty Days by Oliver Emanuel
Sleaze by Joe von Malachowski and Will Close
Best Adaptation
Gatsby in Harlem adapted by Roy Williams
Kramer versus Kramer adapted by Sarah Wooley
Saint Joan of the Anthropocene adapted by Linda Marshall Griffiths
Best Original Series or Serial
Aldrich Kemp and the Rose of Pamir
Life and Time
Mothercover
Best Actress
Gabrielle Creevy
Lydia Leonard
Jodie McNee
Best Actor
Ncuti Gatwa
Sir Derek Jacobi
Malachi Kirby
Best Podcast Audio Drama
Buzz: the Man and the Moon
Discretion
Up in Smoke
Best Comedy Performance
Chris Cantrill
Jon Culshaw
Michael Spicer
The Marc Beeby Award for Best Debut Performance
Levi Brown
Connor Finch
Sofia Oxenham
Best Sitcom or Comedy Drama
Crybabies Presents… Yours, Fatally
Icklewick FM
Lyra
Best Stand Up or Sketch Comedy
It’s a Fair Cop
Meet David Sedaris
Tough Crowd
Best Use of Sound
The Bolt
The Girl of the Sea of Cortez
Secrets and Lies: Mona Best and the Beatles
Best European Drama
Macbeth
Not Born For a War
The Pack
Imison Award
Do Not Disturb: ‘Good Sex in Progress’
A Tale of Two Trumpets
When Maggie Met Larry
Finalists for the 2026 Tinniswood Award will be announced in the first week of February.
More information can be found here.
