12°09′S 079°55′W
David Attenborough
Naturalist and broadcaster best known for presenting acclaimed nature series and as a former BBC channel controller and director of programmes.
A broadcast ritual since 1942
Eight records,
a book, and
one luxury.
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.
3,293 castaways · 3,431 episodes
- 8records
- to be marooned with
- 1book
- beyond Shakespeare & the Bible
- 1luxury
- useless, indulgent, theirs
Tune the archive
Find your castaway
Try
Start typing to search episodes — a few castaways to tune you in.
18°08′S 150°43′W
Judi Dench
Award-winning British actress known for versatile roles from Shakespeare to James Bond, and her Oscar-nominated performance as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown.
19°38′S 096°17′W
Professor Brian Cox
A particle physicist and TV presenter whose programmes sparked a surge in university science applications.
11°50′S 126°51′W
The island's hit parade
Most requested
Eighty years of castaways, and the same few choices keep washing ashore. Here is what the island asks for again and again.
Who are you, really
Find your castaway twin
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
About the programme
The conceit
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.
The search
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.
The voices
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.