...presented by Eddie Izzard

Liz Kingsman has won the South Bank award for best breakthrough talent – with Channel 4’s We Are Lady Parts wining best comedy.

She was presented with the award at The Savoy hotel in London tonight by Eddie Izzard.

It came thanks to her acclaimed One Woman Show – a  spoof of the trope of the chaotic, self-destructive, self-aware millennial woman in comedy-drama, as epitomised by Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag

The performance won a slew of five-star reviews at Soho Theatre in London last autumn, and makes its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe at the Traverse Theatre from August 14.

The shortlist for the South Bank Sky Arts Awards breakthrough  award comprises one performer from each of the genres represented by the awards, which means Kingsman triumphed over Gabrielle Creevy (TV drama), Catriona Ward (literature), Nardus Williams (opera), Dani Howard (classical), Rachel Jones (visual art), Emily Suzuki dance), Samuel Creasey theatre), Emilia Jones (film) and Wet Leg (pop).

Meanwhile, Nida Manzoor’s show about a punk band made up of only Muslim women beat Rose Matafeo’s BBC romcom Starstruck and Sophie Willan’s semi-autobiographical Alma’s Not Normal.

The BBC One adaptation of comedian Adam Kay’s NHS diaries, This Is Going To Hurt, had been shortlisted for the TV drama award but lost out to  Channel 4’s critical juggernaut It’s A Sin.

The ceremony, hosted  by Melvyn Bragg, will air on Sky Arts on Wednesday at 10pm.

Bragg said: ‘While so much around us seems to be getting worse, the arts in this country continue to go from strength to strength.’

And Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts said: "After a rough few years, we can see the arts start to recover.

‘Some incredible work has been produced since we started to emerge from Covid and we are proud to celebrate that with all the brilliant singers, dancers, actors, visual artists and writers this country produces.’

Kingsman, who is also one third of the sketch group Massive Dad, was recently signed up by major Hollywood agency CAA and also stars in the  French political comedy series Parlement, set in Brussels just after the Brexit referendum.

» Read Chortle’s 4.5-star review of Liz Kingsman’s One Woman Show

Published: 10 Jul 2022