Radio and Audio

BBC Writersroom celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2020. When the department was originally set up in 2000 by Kate Rowland, the head of BBC Radio Drama at the time, BBC Writersroom's remit was to develop new writers for Radio. Although that soon expanded to include TV and online, our track record in gaining commissions for writers in Radio and Audio has continued, with many writers achieving their first broadcast credit this way. 

Some of BBC Writersroom's early successes in Radio included the Sparks scheme, which involved several writers who have gone on to great success, amongst them Jack Thorne, Chris Chibnall and Sarah Phelps.

Other early Radio schemes included Staging Human Rights which resulted in the creation of a radio play Carandiru, recorded on location in São Paulo and broadcast on Radio 3 in both 2002 and 2003. Sports Shorts was a 2004 opportunity with BBC Radio Five Live which resulted in 10 commissions and ran a second time for the World Cup in 2006. Broken and Blue was a BBC Radio 3 and BBC Writersroom search for original, entertaining and diverse music dramas for radio in 2004 and The Imagine competition for Mark Radcliffe’s show on Radio 2 in 2006 found stories inspired by imagined meetings with musical heroes. 

Radio writers in residence began with Sebastian Baczkiewicz in 2000, followed by others including Rommi Smith on the 2005 Africa Season and Kwame Kwei-Armah and Michael Bhim in 2008. Writer placements included on the daily Asian Network soap Silver Street which ran from 2004-2010. 

Mark Ravenhill's Yesterday an Incident Occurred was produced for the BBC Radio 3 Freethinking Festival in 2007 and was shortlisted for the Tinniswood Award, while Mike Bartlett's Not Talking from 2007 won both the Imison and Tinniswood awards. Mike Barlett's original stage play had been submitted through the BBC Writersroom unsolicited submissions system. He has subsequently written Doctor Foster, Press and Life for BBC One.

From 2000-14 Kate Rowland commissioned the original drama strand The Wire on BBC Radio 3 with successes including the 2007 Prix Italia award for Ed Hime's The Incomplete Recorded Works of a Dead Body. Ed Hime has subsequently written on shows including Doctor Who and Skins.