Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs logo used on the BBC website
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| Genre | Biographical, Factual |
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| Running time | 43 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
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| Hosted by |
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| Created by | Roy Plomley |
| Produced by |
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| Recording studio | Broadcasting House |
| Air dates | since 29 January 1942 |
| No. of episodes | 3068 (4 March 2016) |
| Opening theme | By the Sleepy Lagoon by Eric Coates |
| Website | BBC website |
Desert Island Discs is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.
Each week a guest, called a 'castaway' during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usually, but not always, music), a book and a luxury item that they would take if they were to be cast away on a desert island, whilst discussing their lives and the reasons for their choices. It was devised and originally presented by Roy Plomley. Since 2006, the programme has been presented by Kirsty Young.
More than 3,000 episodes have been recorded, with some guests having appeared more than once and some episodes featuring more than one guest.
Guests are invited to imagine themselves cast away on a desert island, and choose eight recordings, originally gramophone records, to take with them; discussion of their choices permits a review of their life. Excerpts from their choices are played or, in the case of short pieces, the whole work. At the end of the programme they choose the one piece they regard most highly. Guests are also automatically given the Complete Works of Shakespeare and either the Bible or another appropriate religious or philosophical work. They are then prompted to select a third book to accompany them. Popular choices include Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. Actress Judi Dench, who suffers from macular degeneration, was permitted to take an audiobook in place of a printed manuscript.
Guests also choose one , which must be inanimate and of no use in escaping the island or allowing communication from outside. Roy Plomley enforced these rules strictly. He did, however, grant a special dispensation to Princess Michael of Kent, who chose her pet cat. The rules are, however, less strictly enforced today; for instance, Lawley allowed John Cleese to take Michael Palin with him, on the condition that he was dead and stuffed. Examples of luxuries have included champagne and a piano, the latter of which is one of the most requested luxuries.
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