 Desert Island Discs logo used on the BBC website | |
| Genre |
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|---|---|
| Running time | 1 hour |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Home station |
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| Hosted by |
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| Created by | Roy Plomley |
| Produced by |
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| Recording studio | Broadcasting House |
| Original release | 29 January 1942 (1942-01-29) |
| No. of episodes | 3,227 (28 March 2020) c.3400 (August 2024) |
| Opening theme | "By the Sleepy Lagoon" byEric Coates |
| Website | BBC website |
Desert Island Discs is a radio programme broadcast onBBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on theBBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.[1]
Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordings (usually, but not always, music), a book and a luxury item that they would like to take if they were to be cast away on adesert island, whilst discussing their life and the reasons for their choices. It was devised and originally presented byRoy Plomley. Since 2018 the programme has been presented byLauren Laverne.
More than 3,400 episodes have been recorded, with some guests having appeared more than once and some episodes featuring more than one guest.[2] An example of a guest who falls into both categories isBob Monkhouse, who appeared with his co-writerDenis Goodwin on 12 December 1955 and in his own right on 20 December 1998.[3]
WhenDesert Island Discs marked its 75th year in 2017,The Guardian called the show a radio classic.[4] In February 2019 a panel of broadcasting industry experts named it the greatest radio programme of all time.[5]
Guests are invited to imagine themselvescast away on adesert island, and choose eight audio recordings (originallygramophone records) they would like 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 are asked to choose the one piece they regard most highly. Guests are also automatically given theComplete Works of Shakespeare and either theBible or another appropriate religious or philosophical work, and then prompted to select a third book to accompany them. Popular choices includeCharles Dickens andJane Austen. The actressJudi Dench, who hasmacular degeneration, was permitted to take anaudiobook in place of a printed manuscript.[6][7]
Guests also choose one luxury, which must be inanimate and of no practical use on or in escaping from the island or allowing communication from outside.Roy Plomley[8] usually enforced these rules strictly, but he did grant a special dispensation toPrincess Michael of Kent, who chose her pet cat.[9][10] However, subsequent presenters have allowed more variation on the rules;John Cleese was allowed to takeMichael Palin with him, on the condition that he was dead and stuffed.[11] Examples of luxuries have included champagne[12] and a piano, the latter of which is one of the most requested luxuries.[13]
After Plomley's death in 1985, the programme was presented byMichael Parkinson from 1986 to 1988, then from 1988 to 2006 bySue Lawley, and from 2006 to 2018 byKirsty Young.[4][8] Young was replaced by6 Music presenterLauren Laverne, who interviewed the diverTom Daley for her first episode, broadcast on 30 September 2018. Laverne was initially drafted in as an interim presenter while Young was suffering fromfibromyalgia; she was appointed permanently in July 2019 when Young announced her decision not to return.[14][15]
The programme was extended from 45 minutes to an hour from spring 2024.[16]
The first castaway wasVic Oliver, and several castaways, includingCelia Johnson,Arthur Askey,Trevor Nunn,John Schlesinger,Kenneth Williams,Terry Wogan,Brian Rix,David Attenborough,John Mortimer,Adele Leigh,Delia Smith andStephen Fry, have been cast away more than once. The most requested piece of music over the first 60 years was "Ode to Joy", the last movement ofLudwig van Beethoven'sNinth Symphony.[17] One of the most remarked broadcasts wasElisabeth Schwarzkopf's 1958 selection of seven of her own recordings.[18][19] This record was subsequently beaten by the pianistMoura Lympany on her second appearance on the programme on 28 July 1979 when all eight of her selections were of her own recordings.[20]
In the early 1970s the writerAlistair MacLean was chosen as a guest, but the head of the European wing of the Ontario Tourist Bureau, who had the same name, was accidentally invited instead.[4] Plomley realised the error while conversing with MacLean shortly before they were set to record the programme. Without any time to find another guest, the interview was completed, but it was never broadcast.[21]
In January 1981Princess Margaret appeared as a castaway on the programme.[22]
Plomley originally wanted the sounds of "surf breaking on a shore and the cries of sea birds" to open and close each programme. However, Leslie Prowne, the head of popular record programmes at theBBC, was concerned that it lacked definition and insisted that music should also be used. Plomley and the series' producer Frederic Piffard selected "By the Sleepy Lagoon", composed byEric Coates (who appeared on the show in 1951). The tune has been used since the first transmission in 1942. The sound ofherring gulls has accompanied the music except for a period of time in 1964 when tropical bird sounds were used.[23]
Until late September 2009,Desert Island Discs could not be heard on the BBC'siPlayer service, which allowed most programmes to be heard up to a week after transmission. The programme's website[24] stated that this was due to rights issues, as explained inThe Sunday Times in 2006.[25]
It was announced on 27 September 2009 that an agreement had been reached as a result of which the programme would be available to stream via the iPlayer.[26] The first episode available through the iPlayer was withBarry Manilow. Subsequently, the programme was also made available as a podcast,[27] beginning with the edition broadcast on 29 November 2009, which featuredMorrissey. However, due to music clearance issues, the music selections on the podcast versions are reduced to only playing for around 30 seconds or so (and in rare instances are unavailable, as mentioned in an announcement made by the presenter at the appropriate point of the programme).
On 30 March 2011 the BBC placed more than 500 episodes from the show's archive online to listen to via iPlayer. Other episodes have since been added, both new and old.[28]
In the early years of the BBC, programmes were broadcast live and were not usually recorded. This, in addition to the BBC's policy of only retaining a limited number of broadcasts, means very few episodes from the first 20 years of the show are known to exist; the earliest episode still in existence was broadcast on 25 April 1951 and features the actressMargaret Lockwood.[29] Several extracts were preserved for posterity at the request of the guests, such as an extract featuringAlfred Hitchcock where he speaks about his filmsThe Pleasure Garden (1925) andRebecca (1940), gives his view on the changing landscape of the film industry and briefly discusses his then forthcoming filmPsycho (1960).
In 2022 over 90 recordings, previously thought to be lost, were rediscovered by the audio collector Richard Harrison. These recordings date from the period 1952 to 1988 and feature many notable celebrities of the era includingBing Crosby,Margot Fonteyn andJames Stewart.[30] These recordings have been made available for streaming viaBBC Sounds, the successor to iPlayer for audio content.[28] In 2023 an additional episode, featuringVeronica Wedgwood, from 10 March 1973, was recovered.[citation needed]
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