The Writers' Guild of Great Britain has announced the shortlist for its annual awards, to be presented by writer, comedian and actor Katy Brand on Monday 13 January 2020 at the Royal College of Physicians in central London.

In the Best Situation Comedy Category the nominations are Brassic (Danny Brocklehurst), Derry Girls (Lisa McGee) and Home (Rufus Jones).

The Best Radio Comedy nominees are The Hauntening (Tom Neenan), Madame Mayor (Brenda Gilhooly) and Prepper (Caroline Moran and James J Moran).

WGGB President Sandi Toksvig OBE said: “In such tumultuous times, when truth becomes ever stranger than fiction, we rely on writers to reflect, to inform, to distract, to entertain and to make meaning of it all. And what a lot of talent in this year’s Writers’ Guild Awards shortlist – from page, stage, screen and across the airwaves.”

See below for a full list of the nominees.  

Best Long Form TV Drama

Blood, Series 1, Episode 6 (Sophie Petzal); Gentleman Jack (Sally Wainwright); Tin Star (Rowan Joffe)

Best Short Form TV Drama

Brexit: The Uncivil War (James Graham); Care (Gillian Juckes and Jimmy McGovern); Mrs Wilson (Anna Symon)

Best Long Running TV Series

EastEnders, Episode 5828 (Peter Mattessi); Holby City, Season 21, Episode 5, 'Mad As Hell' (Martin Jameson); Hollyoaks, Episode 5013 (Roanne Bardsley)

Best TV Situation Comedy

Brassic (Danny Brocklehurst); Derry Girls (Lisa McGee); Home (Rufus Jones)

Best Children’s TV Episode

Danger Mouse, Series 2, Episode 39, ‘Melted’ (Ciaran Murtagh and Andrew Barnett Jones); The A List, Episode 6 (Dan Berlinka and Nina Metivier); The Worst Witch, ‘Bad Magic’ (Neil Jones)

Best Radio Drama

Forest 404 (Timothy X Atack); Home Front: A Fragile Peace (Katie Hims); The Not Knowing (Dan Maier)

Best Radio Comedy

The Hauntening (Tom Neenan); Madame Mayor (Brenda Gilhooly); Prepper (Caroline Moran and James J Moran)

Best Writing in a Video Game

Heaven's Vault (Jon Ingold); Over the Alps (Jon Ingold, Katharine Neil and Nick Bush); Telling Lies (Sam Barlow and Amelia Gray)

Best Screenplay

Beats (Kieran Hurley); Stan & Ollie (Jeff Pope); The Last Tree (Shola Amoo)

Best First Screenplay

Only You (Harry Wootliff); The Fight (Jessica Hynes); VS. (Daniel Hayes and Ed Lilly)

Best Play

Ali and Dahlia (Tariq Jordan); The Cane (Mark Ravenhill); Wolfie (Ross Willis)

Best Play for Young Audiences

Like Water For Goldfish (Mike Kenny); Small Wonders (Nessah Muthy); The Canary and the Crow (Daniel Ward)

Best Musical Theatre Bookwriting

Growl – The True Story of the Big Bad Wolf (Timothy Knapman); In The Willows – The Hip Hop Musical (Poppy Burton-Morgan); Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch (Robyn Grant and Daniel Foxx)

Best First Novel

Cygnet (Season Butler); Finally Woken (Dean Moynihan); Something Like Breathing (Angela Readman)

Best Online Comedy                                                                                                                    

Down From London (Graham Dickson and Liz Kingsman); Paper Trail (Ben Rufus Green); Side Effects of the Pill (Hannah George and Tasha Dhanraj)

There will also be a special award for outstanding contribution to writing is presented at the ceremony every year):

Sponsors

The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is the lead sponsor of the Writers’ Guild Awards this year. Our other sponsors: BBC, ITV, Company Pictures, Script Angel and Nick Hern Books.