Podcast · Society & Culture
by BBC Radio 4 · English · Society & Culture
Eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the soundtrack of their lives.
7 Oct 2026 · 3 minNew
The comedian Romesh Ranganathan was cast away by Lauren Laverne in 2025. He’s a BAFTA-winning broadcaster, standup, actor and writer who has been a fixture on British TV screens for the past decade. He talks about finding the sweet spot in his comedy and how discussing the perils of parenting on stage has resulted in cult hero status for his middle son. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
6 Oct 2026 · 3 minNew
The wheelchair athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson was cast away by Sue Lawley in 2001. She recalls the pressure to do well at the Sydney Olympics and the relief when she managed to clinch four gold medals, but the long-distance phone call home to live-stream the medal ceremony nearly broke the bank. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
5 Oct 2026 · 4 minNew
The film director Greta Gerwig was cast away by Lauren Laverne in 2023. Growing up in what she calls a "culturally ravenous" family, the young Greta was inspired by her parents' record collection as much as trips to concert halls and theatres, but although she was always putting on shows to entertain friends and family, she never expected to have a professional career in the arts. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
2 Oct 2026 · 3 min
The playwright James Graham was cast away by Lauren Laverne in 2024. He was a shy and quiet child who enjoyed nothing more than watching soap operas on TV. So what was he doing taking his "stripping vicar" ice-dancing routine on tour? You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
1 Oct 2026 · 3 min
The Olympic heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill was cast away by Lauren Laverne in 2021. She recalls pushing herself in her final event at the London 2012 Olympics, the 800-metre race, and how throwing her hands up in the air as she crossed the finish line had not been part of the plan. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
30 Sep 2026 · 4 min
The actor Warwick Davis was cast away by Kirsty Young in 2016. When his grandmother heard an advertisement on the radio looking for short people to play Ewoks in the next Star Wars film, she immediately thought of Warwick, but by the time his mother phoned the film studio, all the roles had been cast. Her powers of persuasion must have been quite something because, aged 11, Warwick found himself on set, dressed in a furry costume, and in the company of his on-screen heroes. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
29 Sep 2026 · 3 min
The singer-songwriter Lily Allen was cast away by Kirsty Young in 2014. Although her school reports painted a mixed picture of Lily's academic achievements, a singing teacher spotted her vocal talent and encouraged her to perform. She brought the house down with a song from the Disney film Dumbo. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
28 Sep 2026 · 4 min
The film director Steven Spielberg was cast away by Lauren Laverne in 2022. He gave the world Jaws, ET and Jurassic Park, but Steven Spielberg got his start in the film business when he went on a bus tour of Universal Studios. He also explains why the frequently malfunctioning mechanical shark in Jaws was really a blessing in disguise. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
25 Sep 2026 · 3 min
The writer Malorie Blackman was cast away by Kirsty Young in 2013. Although she has published more than 70 books for children and young adults - among them her hugely popular Noughts and Crosses series - getting her start as a published author was hard - 82 rejection letters had thudded onto her door mat before she had her first manuscript accepted for publication. She still remembers the day that 83rd letter arrived. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
24 Sep 2026 · 3 min
The World Snooker Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was cast away by Lauren Laverne in 2023. He remembers being dropped off unaccompanied at snooker halls across East London by his father as a young boy and learning to play grown men at adult tables - and beating them. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
23 Sep 2026 · 3 min
The cookery writer Delia Smith was cast away by Lauren Laverne in 2023. She fell in love with her husband, the editor Michael Wynn-Jones, over a shared love of food and football and recalls how she came to be known for her catchphrase, "Let's be havin' you!" You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
22 Sep 2026 · 3 min
The model Kate Moss was cast away by Lauren Laverne in 2022. Her career began after a chance encounter with a model agent on a flight. She describes attending castings on her own as a teenager, which led to some inappropriate requests. Although unpleasant at the time, she says that they have sharpened her instincts, enabling her to "tell a wrong 'un a mile away". You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
21 Sep 2026 · 4 min
The Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards was cast away by Kirsty Young in 2015. He recalls the moment he bumped into his primary school friend Mick Jagger at Dartford train station in 1961, years after losing touch with him. They bonded over a shared love of American blues, which came to define their own sound. Keith Richards laid down the guitar riff for one of the biggest hits, "Satisfaction", on a tape machine in his sleep. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
13 Sep 2026 · 51 min
Chaka Khan’s unmistakeable voice and musical versatility have made her one of the most influential musicians of the past six decades, with an estimated 70 million records sold. Whether fronting the band Rufus or performing as a solo artist, she's moved effortlessly between funk, soul, jazz, and pop, creating era-defining hits including I'm Every Woman, Ain't Nobody and I Feel For You. She grew up in Chicago, in an artistic family where she was surrounded by music. As a teenager, she became involved with the Affro-Arts Theater, where she was given the Yoruba name Chaka, and a political…
6 Sep 2026 · 52 min
Professor Dame Pamela Shaw is a pioneering Neurologists and a leading figure in tackling motor neurone disease or MND. She is the founder and Director of SITran – the World leading Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, which is slowly but surely unlocking the secrets of MND and other devastating neurological conditions. Pam was born in Rothbury, Northumberland, in 1955, and at three moved to Kuwait when her father took up the position of harbour master. She lived there until she was eleven, but with no suitable secondary school available locally, she was sent back to…
29 Aug 2026 · 52 min
Emma Grede is the businesswoman behind major fashion brands including Skims and Good American, which she co-founded with Kim Kardashian and Khloé Kardashian, respectively. Last year Forbes included her on their list of America's Richest Self-Made Women, with an estimated net worth of $405 million. She grew up in Plaistow, East London, the eldest of four daughters. Her parents separated when she was five and she was raised by her mum, who worked long hours as a trader at an investment bank. Emma took on a lot of the responsibility at home caring for her sisters. Dyslexia meant she struggled…
23 Aug 2026 · 51 min
Sir Roger Deakins is an acclaimed cinematographer who is known for his visual artistry on films including The Shawshank Redemption, 1917, Fargo, Skyfall and Blade Runner 2049. His talents have been acknowledged with a knighthood, five BAFTAs and two Oscars. Roger was born in Torquay, Devon in 1949. In 1968 he attended the Bath Academy of Art where he was inspired by one of his tutors, the street photographer Roger Mayne, to go out with his camera and capture what he saw. Roger Deakins followed this advice and spent his weekends shooting people and places in British seaside towns. In 1975…
16 Aug 2026 · 50 min
Shania Twain is a singer and songwriter and one of only two artists in history to have three consecutive diamond albums. By the time she was eight years old, she had a repertoire of one hundred songs which she would sing in bars. She began to write her own songs at the age of ten. Her mother was convinced that she was going to be a star and took her to perform in smoky clubs. Off stage, all was not well in the family home and Shania grew up in a turbulent household where there was much fighting. When she was thirteen years old, she persuaded her mother to drive Shania and her sisters to…
8 Aug 2026 · 50 min
Paul Farmer is a charity leader who has spent his life campaigning, fundraising and changing the national conversation around some of the most challenging issues in our society. Currently at the helm of Age UK, he previously spent 16 years as the CEO of Mind, the UK’s largest mental health charity. Paul was born in Oxford, the son of a former Benedictine monk and a former nun. He read history at St Peter’s College, Oxford, where he met his future wife, Claire. After graduating, he found a role working for a heritage centre and fell in love with the charity sector, moving to the Samaritans.…
2 Aug 2026 · 51 min
Professor Liz Morris is a glaciologist whose work in some of the earth’s most inhospitable environments has broadened humanity’s understanding of climate change and polar science. Her accolades include the prestigious Polar Medal and an OBE for services to Polar Science. Liz was born in London in 1946 and family legend has it that she fell in love with snow and ice the following year during what was known as the Big Freeze - one of the most severe and punishing winters in British history. She studied physics at Bristol University and applied for a role at the British Antarctic Survey in the…
25 Jul 2026 · 51 min
Norman Cook is a musician and DJ also widely known as Fatboy Slim. As a DJ, he has played everywhere from Bondi Beach and the Great Wall of China to the House of Commons and a fish and chip shop. His many accolades include a world record for the most number one singles by one musician in different acts. He has had a number of musical aliases including Pizzaman, Cheeky Boy and Beats International. He was also a member of the Housemartins. He was christened Quentin by his parents and changed his name to Norman when he embarked on his musical career. His passion for music and collecting records…
18 Jul 2026 · 51 min
Jo Nesbø is a writer, known as the king of 'Nordic Noir'. His internationally bestselling crime thrillers following the exploits of detective Harry Hole have been translated into fifty languages, sold over sixty million copies and have been adapted for film and TV. Being a bestselling author was not his first job. As a teenager, he played football professionally before an injury put paid to his sporting career. He played guitar and wrote songs for a band which then became very successful in Norway and he combined his gigging nightlife with a day job on Norway’s stock market. His relentless…
12 Jul 2026 · 51 min
Anna Maxwell Martin is an award-winning actor whose versatility is evident from the breadth of parts she has played in popular television programmes including Motherland, Ludwig and Line of Duty. Anna was born and brought up in Yorkshire and loved acting and performing from a young age putting on shows with her friends in the cul-de-sac where they all lived. She read history at Liverpool University and then won a place at LAMDA. She made her professional debut in the Little Foxes at the Donmar Warehouse directed by Marianne Elliott. Her breakthrough came in 2003 playing Lyra Belacqua in the…
5 Jul 2026 · 51 min
Peter Layton is a pioneering British glass artist and the founder of London Glassblowing, one of the most influential glass studios and galleries in the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the development of the studio glass movement, helping to establish glass as an artistic medium. Born in Prague to Jewish parents, he and his family escaped in 1939 and settled in Bradford, where Peter counted the artist David Hockney among his friends. A trip to the United States in the 1960s to teach ceramics led him to his first encounter with glassblowing, and when he returned to the UK he set…
28 Jun 2026 · 51 min
Guy Martin is a television presenter, mechanic and former motorcycle racer. During his career he achieved 17 podium finishes at the Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) Races – one of the most prestigious and dangerous motorcycling events in the world. His television programmes often focus on his daredevil nature and combine two of his greatest loves - engineering and history. Guy was brought up in the village of Kirmington in North Lincolnshire. When he was five his father, who raced bikes himself, bought him his first motorcycle which he promptly crashed into the rose garden. His father is a…
20 Jun 2026 · 53 min
Emily Watson is an award-winning actor, widely regarded as one of the finest character actors of her generation. She began her career on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company before rising to prominence in 1996, when she was cast as Bess McNeill in Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves. The role earned her an Academy Award nomination. She received a second Oscar nomination for Hilary and Jackie, for which she learned to play the cello to portray Jacqueline du Pré. Watson has built a reputation for a level of commitment that is as intense as it is acclaimed. She describes her craft not…
14 Jun 2026 · 51 min
Journalist Gary O’Donoghue is the Chief North America Correspondent for BBC News. Last year his coverage of the 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump won the Royal Television Society Breaking News Award. He made the news himself in 2025 when he secured a 20-minute exclusive phone interview with Trump who was by then the US President. Gary was born in London and brought up in Essex. When he was eight he lost his sight and attended specialist schools for blind and partially sighted children. He read philosophy and modern languages at the University of Oxford before embarking on his BBC…
6 Jun 2026 · 51 min
David Morrissey is an actor who grew up in Liverpool. His screen work ranges from playing a ruthless survivor of the zombie apocalypse in The Walking Dead to a troubled police officer in James Graham’s Sherwood. His television debut performance came playing a teenager in the Channel 4 series One Summer. Since then his career has seen him win awards including the Royal Television Society award for Best Male Actor for his role as Gordon Brown in The Deal. Morrissey’s interest in acting started in primary school, when he was cast as the Scarecrow in a production of The Wizard of Oz. As a…
25 Apr 2026 · 50 min
Si King is a broadcaster and cook, best known as one half of the duo The Hairy Bikers. Together with his onscreen cooking partner and real-life best friend Dave Myers, the pair travelled over 650,000 miles around the world on motor bikes filming their cooking exploits and they also wrote a number of bestselling cookbooks. Si was born in a pit village near Gateshead, the youngest child of three. His father had served in the arctic convoys and had met his wife whilst on shore leave in Newcastle when she was singing with a big band. Si’s father died when he was eight years old and Si and his…
19 Apr 2026 · 51 min
Sara Pascoe is a comedian and writer who has appeared on programmes including QI, Taskmaster and the Great British Sewing Bee. She is also a screenwriter and the author of three books including her debut novel Weirdo which won the inaugural Jilly Cooper Prize for fiction last year. Sara was born in Dagenham and grew up in Romford. She joined a drama club when she was 14 and set her heart on an acting career but failed to get a place at drama school. She read English Literature at the University of Sussex and after graduating took on various jobs to make ends meet including a stint as a…
Eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the soundtrack of their lives.
Desert Island Discs is a English society & culture podcast from BBC Radio 4. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.
The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.
