Audio-dramatist, playwright and screenwriter Sarah Woods presented Oliver Emanuel with the Tinniswood Award for the best original audio drama script and a cheque for £3,000 at the BBC’s Audio Drama Awards on 3 February 2019. Woods won the award last year for her audio drama Borderland. The star-studded ceremony was hosted by Tracy-Ann Oberman.
Emanuel (pictured above) won the award for When the Pips Stop, which was produced by Kirsty Williams at BBC Glasgow and broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
The judges said: “This beautifully written and highly original play explores what happens when two sisters who live together on a remote Scottish island, and haven’t spoken for years, find themselves to be – possibly – the only survivors of the end of the world.
“Every part of this play is technically assured and fully realised. It creates an experience that is both extraordinary and utterly recognisable, enabling us to reflect on the current state of the world through a domestic, intimate story.
“The characters are compelling and believable in a drama rich with subtext and metaphor. The sparse and finely worked language is beautifully poetic and deeply human. Its use of the form is inspiring.”
Oliver Emanuel is an internationally award-winning playwright who has written over 40 plays for stage and radio. Flight won a Herald Angel at the Edinburgh International Festival 2017; his version of Jan Sobrie’s Titus won The People’s Choice Victor Award at IPAY 2015; while Dragon won Best Show for Children and Young People at the UK Theatre Awards in 2014. He was a lead writer on Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola, which won Best Adaptation at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2017. He is a Reader in Playwriting, University of St Andrews, an Associate Playwright, Playwrights’ Studio Scotland, and Writer in Residence at Gladstone’s Library.
ABOUT THE TINNISWOOD AWARD
The shortlist also included Vivienne Harvey for Playing Dead and Martyn Wade for Holbein’s Skull. More about the shortlist
The Tinniswood Award was established by the the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and Society of Authors to perpetuate the memory of Peter Tinniswood as well as to celebrate and encourage high standards in radio drama. Plays this year were eligible if broadcast in the UK between 1 October 2017 and 31 October 2018. The judges this year were Nicholas McInerny, Ming Ho and Sarah Woods. Previous winners include Sarah Woods, Morwenna Banks, Mike Bartlett, and Christopher William Hill. Find out more
We are very grateful to the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society for their generous sponsorship, including the £3,000 prize.
Photos: BBC
