Golds for Darren Harriott, Mary Bourke, Adrian Edmondson and The Skewer

Shows from Darren Harriott, Mary Bourke and Adrian Edmondson were among the gold winners at the New York Festivals Radio Awards.

The Skewer, Radio 4’s satirical audio mash-up programme, was named best comedy, and scooped two other ‘gold towers’ for sound art and editing.

It is the brainchild of broadcaster Jon Holmes and is made through his production company Unusual, which had a good night at the ceremony. 

The firm also made Darren Harriott’s Father Figuring, which won gold in the social issues category, and Mary Bourke’s Who Cares?. which won in the health and medical category. The latter examined  he world of being a carer that the comedian was plunged into when her husband, fellow stand-up Simon Clayton, had a stroke.

Fantasy Park: 50 Years On, a documentary about a fictional 48-hour music festival genuinely aired by nearly 200 US radio stations, won another gold for Unusual, this time in the arts and  culture section.

Meanwhile, Edmondson’s play Waiting For Waiting For Godot – pictured – won a gold for audio drama.

The piece revolved around a group of actors waiting to go on stage to perform the Samuel Beckett classic, but left in limbo when Boris Johnson urges people to stay at home because of the growing threat of Covid. And the one person who can answer questions about the fate of the stage production isn’t showing up.

It also starred Simon Callow, Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Edmondson’s erstwhile Young Ones co-star Christopher Ryan and was directed and produced by Caroline Raphael for Dora Productions.

All the winners mentioned here were made for Radio 4 and are still available on BBC Sounds, while Bourke’s Who Cares? begins a repeat run on Radio 4 from 9.45am tomorrow.

Published: 24 May 2026