‘Help’ & ‘His Dark Materials’ Writer Jack Thorne Handed WGGB Outstanding Contribution Award; Emerald Fennell, Russell T Davies, Armando Iannucci Also Among Winners

His Dark Materials and Help writer Jack Thorne has been recognized for Outstanding Contribution to Writing at tonight’s 29th Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards (WGGBAs), with Russell T Davies, Emerald Fennell and Armando Iannucci also taking home gongs.

The prolific Thorne, who delivered this year’s Edinburgh Television Festival MacTaggart lecture, was presented with the prestigious trophy by His Dark Materials exec and Bad Wolf Co-Founder Jane Tranter, following a two-decades-long career in which he has penned some of the UK’s most critically-acclaimed hits including This is England, Shameless and The Virtues.

“I think all writers would say that being given something from other writers is the greatest honor,” said Thorne. “I don’t think I’ve really contributed anything much in this strange career, and writing is a really strange job, but I’m grateful, and slightly anxious, to now have this award to live up to.”

Thorne has in the past year penned critically-acclaimed Channel 4 feature Help starring Stephen Graham and Jodie Comer, while also setting up a lobbying group to help tackle woefully poor disability representation rates in the UK TV and film industries, an issue to which he devoted his MacTaggart.

Meanwhile, Killing Eve writer Fennell won Best First Screenplay for Oscar-winning Carey Mulligan-starring debut Promising Young Woman, while Davies took home Best Long Form TV Drama for Channel 4’s It’s A Sin.

Along with co-writer Simon Blackfield, Iannucci won Best Screenplay for Dev Patel-starring feature The Personal History of David Copperfield.

There were also awards for Channel 4/Netflix’s Feel Good creators Mae Martin and Joe Hampson and My Mum Tracy Beaker writer Emma Reeves.

The awards are rare in celebrating the best of film, TV, radio, theatre, comedy, books and videogames all in one night.

Tonight’s event was hosted by WGGB chair Sandi Toksvig at London’ Royal College of Physicians.

The winners in full