Unwell: A Midwestern Gothic Mystery Wins BBC Radio Drama Award for Best Podcast

The BBC awarded Unwell: A Midwestern Gothic Mystery “Best Podcast or Online Radio Drama” in the 10th annual Audio Drama Awards. Currently releasing its third season, Unwell is an independently produced fiction podcast created by HartLife NFP based in Chicago. The BBC Audio Drama Awards celebrate the range, originality and cut-through quality of audio drama on air and online and give recognition to the creativity of actors, writers, producers, sound designers and others who work in this genre.

Award presenter Toby Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) said of the production: “The judges said this year’s Best Podcast or Online Drama stood out for the intelligence and maturity of its writing, subtlety of its performances, and the richness of its sound world. Unwell is a multi-layered story that’s happy to turn its listeners’ expectations on their heads, and the judges are happy to award it first place.”

“As the sole independently produced show in the Podcast category, it is especially thrilling to see Unwell recognized by the BBC,” said Executive Producer Eleanor Hyde. “We produce Unwell without major institutional support, funded primarily by our listeners. To be presented this award in a category with shows produced by the BBC itself and Amazon’s Audible is an incredible honor.”

Executive Producer Jeffrey Nils Gardner adds, “We’re incredibly grateful to the BBC for spotlighting the incredible work done by the artists of HartLife NFP. Chicago is an incredible hub for audio fiction- we’re thrilled to see it being recognized on an international stage.”

Unwell: A Midwestern Gothic Mystery is a serial fiction podcast brimming with conspiracies, ghosts, and unusual families of blood and choice. Globetrotting free spirit Lillian Harper moves to the small town of Mt. Absalom, Ohio, to care for her estranged mother, Dorothy, after an injury. Living in the town’s boarding house, which has been run by her family for generations, she finds the town is much stranger than she remembered. The third season, releasing throughout 2021, will reacquaint listeners with favorite locations in Mt. Absalom such as Wes’s mysterious family home, the 24-hour diner that only serves meat, and the cavernous hole beneath the town’s observatory.