Favorites among both critics and fans, “Killing Eve” and “Hannah Gadsby: Nanette” have been awarded with a prestigious honor. Both are among the entertainment winners for the 2019 Peabody Awards. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the news.
Created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, BBC America’s “Killing Eve” tells the story of an MI5 officer (Sandra Oh) tasked with tracking down an international assassin (Jodie Comer). Now in its second season, the series has already been renewed for a third. “The tense cat-and-mouse spy thriller — serving as a vehicle for amazing performances by Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer — is also a masterful, playful recalibration of the genre, creating room not just for two women at the helm, but also for women’s interests and circumstances in almost every inch of the plot,” said the jurors. “Like its psychopathic assassin, Villanelle, it is equal parts terrifying, hilarious, slick, playful, and surprisingly soulful.”
Netflix special “Hannah Gadsby: Nanette” sees Australian comic Gadsby addressing homophobia, sexism, and the very nature of comedy. “Hannah Gadsby makes a major statement about the social costs of laughing at someone, and about what it means to be the brunt of a joke. She brilliantly finds the tragedy in comedy, in the process breaking apart and reconstructing the standup comedy special format,” the jurors observed. “Throughout, she delivers the thunderous message of the destructive power of heteronormativity, toxic masculinity and male sexual violence, and how easily society tolerates each.”
Check out all of the Peabody Entertainment winners over at The Hollywood Reporter. A celebration recognizing the honorees will take place May 18 in New York. Rita Moreno will receive the Peabody Career Achievement Award. Documentary winners include Erika Cohn’s “Independent Lens: The Judge,” a portrait of the first woman judge to be appointed to the Middle East’s Shari’a courts, and Tracy Heather Strain’s “Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart,” an exploration of the life, work, and legacy of Hansberry, a civil rights activist and playwright.
