Desert Island Discs - Format

Format

Guests are invited to imagine themselves cast away on a desert island, and to choose eight pieces of music, 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. They are then asked which book they would take with them; they are automatically given the Complete Works of Shakespeare and either the Bible or another appropriate religious or philosophical work.

Guests also choose one luxury, which must be inanimate and of no use in escaping the island or allowing communication from outside. Roy Plomley enforced the rules strictly, but they are less strictly enforced today, (For example, Plomley would not allow his guests to take another human being with them to the island, however under the rule of Lawley, John Cleese was allowed 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.

After Plomley's death in 1985, the programme was presented by Michael Parkinson, and from 1988 by Sue Lawley. Lawley stepped down in August 2006 after 18 years. She was replaced by Kirsty Young, who interviewed illustrator Quentin Blake for her first show, broadcast on 1 October 2006.

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