Rosamund Pike among winners at BBC Audio Drama Awards 2024

Rosamund Pike and Hiran Abeysekera are among the winners of the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2024.

Pike won best actress for her performance in People Who Knew Me on BBC Sounds, while Abeysekera was named best actor for his performance in BBC Radio 4’s Dear Harry Kane.

The awards, which celebrate outstanding talent across audio drama, were announced at the BBC’s Radio Theatre, London on March 24.

Pike, who played a woman who used 9/11 to fake her own death in People Who Knew Me, said she was "honoured" by the win, adding: "I love the medium because it allows so much freedom to performers and listeners’ imagination."

"Our writer and director Daniella Isaacs said she wanted the show to have ’the intimacy of eavesdropping’, which is why I think People Who Knew Me struck such a powerful chord with listeners. It’s a fantastic story and the way it was engineered allowed actors to freely roam a fluid performance space and interact with each other naturally."

Abeysekera, whose leading role in Life of Pi earned him an Olivier award in 2022, said: "Radio drama is extraordinary and I’m very proud to be a part of it. To say that three out of four radio opportunities that have come my way through the BBC have been stories linked to my home country Sri Lanka, is really special. Thank you for this wonderful honour."

Dear Harry Kane, written by James Fritz, was honoured with the award for best original single drama, with best adaptation presented to Roy Williams for his adaptation of Edwin DuBose Heyward’s novel Bess Loves Porgy.

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