2025 Nominees

Purple Heart Warriors

Catherine Bailey Productions, BBC

UK

- Podcast: Fiction

To make the audio series of Purple Heart Warriors it was vital to cast authentically and use the latest technology to run two studios concurrently in Los Angeles and London. In order to faithfully reflect the profile of the 442nd regiment we cast a mixture of American and Hawaiian/Japanese actors who added genuine Hawaiian pidgin voices. The production found a new dimension of passionate commitment, every Japanese American actor had family members involved in the story. Will Sharpe (White Lotus) narrates. With meticulously researched sound design from Skywalker Sound (Star Wars, Marvel) and original music from Josh Sneesby who was inspired by Hawaiian ukulele songs and Japanese Noh theatre, this time-travelling drama by Oscar nominated Iris Yamashita tells the story of Ken, an apathetic young man who is sucked back into the body his grandfather to experience first-hand the horrors faced by the 442nd and serves as a timely warning of what happens when Americans’ freedoms are curtailed.