A broadcast ritual since 1942
From Alfred Hitchcock1959 and Louis Armstrong1968 to Stephen Hawking1992, Paul McCartney1982 and David Beckham2017, eighty years of castaways have each been set adrift with the eight records that mattered most.
3,306 castaways · 3,444 episodes
Tune the archive
Start typing to search episodes — a few castaways to tune you in.
David Attenborough on predicting horseshoe crabs breeding in Chesapeake Bay
Naturalist and broadcaster best known for presenting acclaimed nature series and as a former BBC channel controller and director of programmes.
How seeing King Lear at Stratford led Judi Dench to become an actor
Award-winning British actress known for versatile roles from Shakespeare to James Bond, and her Oscar-nominated performance as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown.
Brian Cox on wanting his grandfather to see him at Buckingham Palace
A particle physicist and TV presenter whose programmes sparked a surge in university science applications.
Yoko Ono on not recognising John Lennon when they first met
Noted avant-garde artist, known for her conceptual work and as the wife of John Lennon.
The island's hit parade
Eighty years of castaways, and the same few choices keep washing ashore. Here is what the island asks for again and again.
Rates are per eligible episode — a record only competes from the year it existed — shrunk so a lucky newcomer can’t fluke the top spot.
Who are you, really
Bring your own Spotify and we’ll find the castaway whose eight discs are closest to what you actually listen to. Your top artists are read once and never stored.
Colophon
A castaway is set adrift with eight gramophone records, one book of their choosing, and a single luxury. Across the conversation, the records cue the memories.
This is a wireless tuned to the whole archive. Describe a guest the way you remember them — a half-recalled story, a profession, a record — and let the semantics find the episode.
Devised by Roy Plomley in 1942 and carried on by Michael Parkinson, Sue Lawley, Kirsty Young and, today, Lauren Laverne — one of broadcasting's longest-running programmes.