FEATURE:
Eight Discs a Week
IN THIS PHOTO: Lauren Laverne is the current host of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs (which was first broadcast in 1942)/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC
How Desert Island Discs Is a Balm at This Hard Time – and the Way It Makes Us Feel Deeper About Ourselves
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FORGIVE the long, unwieldy title…
IMAGE CREDIT: BBC
but I wanted to write another feature about Desert Island Discs. When I first heard the BBC Radio 4 series for the first time a few years ago, Kirsty Young was in charge. I loved her style and legacy, and she unexpectedly had to step down because fibromyalgia meant that she could simply not carry on. Lauren Laverne took over in September 2018, and just over two years since her appointment, the series has created some fantastic moments (as a side-note: go and check out the Desert Island Discs book, as it provides some great history of the series). I will not repeat too much of what I have already said but, as the BBC archives most of the editions of Desert Islands Discs that have ever been broadcast (which is over three-thousand), I listened back to many of them when I was still listening to Kirsty Young during her tenure. Among my favourites were episodes with Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen, Caitlin Moran, and Paul McCartney (who spoke with Roy Plumley in 1984) - one feels the latter is due another trip back onto the show. I will get to my ‘point’ in a moment, but I think the greatest strengths of Desert Island Discs is the way well-known people from all walks of life can reveal so much about themselves by selecting their favourite music, a book, and a luxury item. The show not only provides so much of us with a comforting blanket every Sunday morning, but it can make us feel different and deeper about ourselves. A big part of Desert Island Discs’ success is down to its host and the way they can create these must-listen-to radio moments.
IN THIS PHOTO: Footballing legend Ian Wright appeared in a particularly moving episode of Desert Island Discs earlier this year/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC
Lauren Laverne (BBC Radio 6 Music) took on the task of keeping the Desert Island Discs ship steering after Young’s departure, and there were one or two who were very unkind regarding her style and form. A particularly nasty and idiotic article from Melanie McDonagh in the The Spectator in August 2019 received a backlash on social media:
“There’s no getting away from it: Lauren is lightweight and uncerebral. Her capacity to come up with the forgettable phrase is quite something. When I asked a former radio critic what he thought of her he answered instantly: ‘Awful. I heard her with [poet] John Cooper Clarke and it was sucking up to PC idiocy and brandished plebbiness. But that’s what the programme is for now… Guests can be nearly anonymous provided they are vibrant and diverse.’ A BBC journalist observed: ‘The latest run of programmes have been really flat — is that her or is that the selection of guests? Nobody chooses anything or says anything that is surprising — perhaps her lack of big interview experience tells.’
The issue here isn’t the merits of one presenter; it’s the BBC’s reflex when it comes to appointments like this. Simply put, being youngish, regional, a pop presenter and a woman really isn’t enough. Choosing interviewees on the basis that they’re not Establishment, posh, white, elite, male, isn’t enough either. The BBC needs to pick the best person for the job; it says a good deal that this is now a controversial view”.
IN THIS PHOTO: The fantastic Baroness Floella Benjamin was one of the most recent castaways on Desert Island Discs/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC
Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinions of people but, obviously, The Spectator piece was needlessly insulting and completely inaccurate (and the responses to The Spectator’s Twitter post to the article was met with massive support for Laverne). One reason why Laverne has been taken to heart is because she is different to her Desert Island Discs predecessors. Her tone is warm and compassionate, and she has plenty of experience with interviews; she can get some real emotion and revelation from her castaways – whether that is asking a question nobody has asked or letting them speak and making them feel comfortable and safe. Over the past two years, she has strengthened as a host, and there has been so much love for her from the media and on social media. Given the fact that there is quite a difference in dynamic between her breakfast show on BBC Radio 6 Music and her Desert Island Discs role, she seems so comfortable and natural on the BBC Radio 4 institution. Some of the most memorable episodes of Desert Island Discs of the past decade have come from Laverne’s two-year management – including a beautiful chat with Ian Wright -, so let’s hope there are many more years (and decades, maybe) of her at the helm. Linking into this paen to Desert Island Discs’ current brilliance, and I think the series’ strengths have become more defined during COVID-19 and lockdown. From listening to Baroness Floella Benjamin a couple of weeks ago discussing her tough experiences of racism in Britain, to Stephen Graham revealing a time he attempted suicide (in an episode from late last year), so many people have connected with castaways’ stories and experiences.
IN THIS PHOTO: Filmmaker Asif Kapadia appeared on Desert Island Discs in 2019/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC
I don’t think there is a series on radio that can provide simultaneous emotional release, humour, and catharsis like Desert Island Discs. As someone who has wrestled with mental-health issues for all of my adult life, I have found a friendly voice in not only Lauren Laverne (whose compassionate approach is a balance of the maternal and understanding) but the castaways. The breadth of guests on Desert Island Discs the past couple of years has been, in my view, broader than any other time during the show’s lifespan. Personally, I have learned so much from different people on the show, but I have been able to connect with them in a very direct way – even though I have never met these people or spoken with them. As many of us are estranged from friends and family and are having to adapt to a lifestyle that is unusual and challenging, I have found new respect and appreciation for Desert Island Discs. Also, when it comes to music and why certain songs mean a lot, I think the current situation has redefined particular songs and elevated their importance. I am sure many people around the world feel the same, but I have listened to various episodes and been moved by the castaways’ selections – each of them get to choose eight discs that mean a lot to them to take to a hypothetical island – and reassessed what music means to me…and why certain songs hold a special place.
IN THIS PHOTO: Actor Stephen Graham pictured alongside Lauren Laverne in 2019/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC
I shall not list the hypothetical eight discs I would consider for my own trip to the fabled Island – as I have done that before -, but I have also been struck by the final segment of each episode: where guests have to choose a book, and a luxury item that they would take with them when they are cast away. Maybe there is some psychological resonance to rationing and limitation when we are going through a time when a lot of independence has been (temporarily) restricted. At the moment, records by The Beatles, Madonna, Spiller, T. Rex, Steely Dan, Annie Lennox, Tears for Fears, Black Box and, oddly, Snow (I know that is nine songs/artists, but I said I wasn’t going to name my dream castaway discs) have taken on a greater role; a book by Kenneth Grahame, and a childhood present have taken on a new life too. Two years after Desert Island Discs welcomed a new host to its bosom, I think the series has acquired fresh nuance - and I know so many new people have discovered the show and make it part of their weekly routine. Maybe the oddness of 2020 has made me turn to comforting and familiar music a lot more, but so many other people are in the same boat (if you pardon the castaway-based pun!). It is not just the musical choices I love when it comes to Desert Island Discs. Each week, as I said, there is someone new being interviewed (by Lauren Laverne); from a sports personality or actor one week, to a business leader or pioneer the next. With so much uncertainty around and many people struggling during such a difficult year, a little slice of paradise on BBC Radio 4 on a Sunday morning has meant so much…
IN THIS PHOTO: The Man Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James was a guest on Desert Islands Discs last year/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC
TO so many people, for so many reasons!