Main content

4 Extra Debut. From Paul McCartney to Wham! Comedian Sarah Millican shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young. From 2014.

From Paul McCartney to Wham!

Comedian Sarah Millican shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young.

Her every woman yet no-holds-barred style of comedy has brought her sell-out tours and several of her own highly successful TV series. Revelling in normality and drawing on the difficult, intimate and ofter extruciating moments of being human, she dares to say what most of us are thinking, only she's much funnier.

A Geordie, born in South Shields, her dad was an engineer down the mines and her mum was a hairdresser. They encouraged their daughter in her storytelling and performing even though her childhood shyness meant she'd recite her poetry from behind the living room curtains.

Later it was pain that first propelled her onto the stage when a broken early marriage provided the catalyst she needed to find the courage to confront the glaring judgement of the audience's gaze. Her rise was then rapid. Within four years she was awarded the Best Newcomer prize at the Edinburgh Fringe.

She says, "People come along and think, 'oh she's being too rude'. They don't realise I'm just like this at home. People think I'm prim and proper at home but I'm not - I'm just me transplanted onto the stage".

First broadcast on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 4 December 2014.

45 minutes

Last on

Thu 22 Jul 2021 21:00

Music Played

  • Wham!

    Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

    • If you were there: Greatest Hits.
    • Epic.
  • Perry Como

    (There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays

    • Perry Como Christmas.
    • RCA.
  • Pharrell Williams

    Happy

    • Hitdisc.
    • EMI.
  • Hans Zimmer featuring Pete Haycock

    Thunderbird

    • Thelma and Louise soundtrack.
    • MCA.
  • Snow Patrol

    Chocolate

    • Up to Now.
    • Fiction.
  • Paul McCartney

    We All Stand Together

    • All the Best/ Paul McCartney.
    • Parlophone.
  • CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE

    • London Symphony Orchestra & John Williams

      The Theme from the film, Superman

      • Superman The Movie.
      • Warner.
  • Simon & Garfunkel

    Homeward Bound

    • Simon and Garfunkel Greatest Hits..
    • CBS.
  • BOOK CHOICE

    A survival book

  • LUXURY ITEM

    Notebooks and pens

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Sarah Millican
Producer Cathy Drysdale

Broadcasts

  • Sun 14 Dec 2014 11:15
  • Fri 19 Dec 2014 09:00
  • Sun 18 Jul 2021 10:00
  • Sun 18 Jul 2021 21:00
  • Thu 22 Jul 2021 11:00
  • Thu 22 Jul 2021 21:00

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.