Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Actor and director best known for playing Victor Meldrew in the sitcom One Foot in the Grave.
On the island
Eight records
Symphony No. 6 in D minor, Op. 104 (4th movement)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
Well, there was a time when I was a teenager and not an actor that I wanted to be an orchestral conductor. And I used to do a lot of conducting with my mother's knitting needle. And I was very fond of Sibelius' Sixth Symphony, and I thought it would be a good idea to buy a proper baton for it.
I've chosen Farewell to Stromness by Peter Maxwell Davies because I wanted to make sure I got some Scottish stuff in, because I've lived in London since 1959, so I've lived in England longer than I have in Scotland, which just still worries me a bit.
Im Abendrot (from Four Last Songs)Favourite
Renée Fleming with the Houston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach
I hadn't listened to the last four songs for a long time and I played it again and it was just I just loved it as much as ever.
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle
I remember Alan Rickman rang me up one day and said, There's this dance company coming to Sadler's Wells called the Dance Theatre of Wuppertal, run by Pina Bausch. He said, Do you fancy seeing it? And I said, Yeah, I'll come along to that. And within seconds I knew I was watching a genius. And so the music I'm going to choose just now is not of that first show that I saw, but is of another performance they did of The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky.
Cucurrucucú Paloma / Kaitano Ovaloso
Caetano Veloso (from the soundtrack to Talk to Her)
This is from Almodóvar's film, Talk to Her. I would just like this one to be in because it reminded me of my great desire for cinema when I got to London.
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
When I first came down to London, I used to go to folk clubs with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, and he had written this song for her. And then when I was planning to do Desert Island Discs, I listened to Roberta Flack's version of it and thought, oh, that's better. So I love the song and it's a Scottish song, but I'm going to ask for Roberta Flack to sing it.
Hammond Song? The Roaches? [unidentified artist]
Once I knew I was doing this, everyone was/...
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:59Your theatre career has encompassed many of the classics, but as a director, you do favour new work by up-and-coming writers. Why is that?
Yes, well I just believe that the writer should be writing about today, just so that we we know what's going on in the society we're living in. So I'm I'm slightly against the the classical uh playwrights in a way.
Presenter asks
9:40Your father was a Presbyterian church orderly. How did that strict faith shape your childhood?
The rule was on a Sunday when my father was going to church, he used to say, Are you coming to church today? and I would say, No, I'm not and then he would stop talking to me and until after he got back from church and we had lunch, he just wouldn't talk to me. But I … went past religion when I was quite young. I just stopped believing.
Presenter asks
10:25You caught the acting bug quite young – you made your debut in The Princess and the [P…?] at about eleven. Tell me about that part.
I put Ann Carey's knickers on as a pair of … Pantaloons, that's the word, thank you. I was a very skinny child and I could get quite a good laugh, and it was very beautiful to get such a response.
The keepsakes
The book
Robert Burns
I wouldn't want to go away without the poems of Robert Burns.
The luxury
The Guardian (newspaper subscription)
Is there any chance that I might get copies of The Guardian?
Presenter asks
10:58What were you like as a child? Were you shy?
I was shy. And as I grew older and then I started having a drink or two, I look upon alcohol as something that really helped me become somebody else and be somebody who had a bit more to say. I could make arguments when I had a few pints in me, which I wouldn't have dared say when I was totally sober.
Presenter asks
14:01You had a secret dream of being an actor by your teens. How did that go down with your drama teacher Mabel Irving?
I remember her asking me, she said, Wilson, what are you going to do with yourself? And I got into a terrible flummox and I said, Please, Miss, I think I want to be an actor. And she said, Don't be stupid, boy, you can't speak properly. Which was not a great thing for a teacher to say to a pupil. … When I became well known, the BBC interviewed Mabel … and she claimed that she hadn't said that.
Presenter asks
21:48You kept up the day job, worked at Paddington General Hospital, took acting classes. At 27 you decided to audition for RADA. What made you decide to go for it?
Well, I remember talking to a RADA student at a party and she told me, she said, you know, you could get into RADA and get your fees paid because you've lived in London for over a year now and I had no idea about that. And so I thought, if I don't try now, I'm probably never going to try at twenty-seven. I thought I was getting a bit old.
“I just believe that the writer should be writing about today, just so that we we know what's going on in the society we're living in. So I'm I'm slightly against the the classical uh playwrights in a way.”
“I look upon alcohol as something that really helped me become somebody else uh and be somebody who had a bit more to say. I could make arguments when I had a few pints in me, which I wouldn't have dared say when I was totally sober.”
“I always try not to say that.”
“I don't know how good I'll be on on it in terms of I'm I'm hopeless at at building things. Um, but I have lived alone for a very long time and I quite like being alone at times. It it's just every now and again I feel I should have made a bit more effort to uh have a partner, but uh that never w really worked.”