Paul King beat out Nick Hornby and Alex Garland.

Paul King with his Writers' Guild Award

Paul King was awarded Best Screenplay for Paddington at the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards in London last night [18 Jan].

King’s script, which was BAFTA-nominated last year, beat out Wild by Nick Hornby and Ex Machina by Alex Garland. 

Best First Screenplay went to James Graham for drama X+Y, ahead of ’71 by Gregory Burke and The Falling by Carol Morley.

Writer and producer Russell T Davies received the Outstanding Contribution to Writing Award while Armando Iannucci’s Veep won Best TV Situation Comedy.

A special tribute was also made to Writers’ Guild member David Nobbs.

WGGB president Olivia Hetreed said of the event: “As president of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, I am immensely proud of all our Award winners and nominees, a truly impressive display of talent, from the ancient art of playwriting to the youngest one of game writing. All our winners display not only a superb grasp of their craft but tremendous insight and empathy with the challenges of modern life.