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Andrew Davies

Kirsty Young's castaway is screenwriter Andrew Davies.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Andrew Davies. He is the king of television adaptation; Pride and Prejudice, Vanity Fair, Middlemarch and Tipping the Velvet are just a few of the dramas he has brought to our screens.

Until he was 50, he was an English lecturer and wrote in his spare time - it was a sort of mid-life crisis that sent his career soaring. Since then, his signature has been stripping down the classics, sexing them up and serving Austen, Eliot and Dickens to appreciative audiences. The trick is to make sure the stories remain relevant to viewers today - and that, he says, is straightforward because the main motivators remain the same - sex, love, money and power.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Hiawatha Rag by Chris Barber Band Box
Book: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Luxury: Endless supply of Mojitos.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 10 Aug 2007 09:00
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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Nicola Horlick

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Felix Dennis

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Music Played

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Violin Concerto in D major - 3rd movement

    Soloist: Sir Yehudi Menuhin

    • Beethoven: Violin Concerto Op.61.
    • EMI.

  • Benjamin Britten

    Kyrie (from Missa brevis in D major)

    Choir: The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge

    • Benjamin Britten: A Ceremony of Carols.
    • Conifer.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Chris Barber Band Box

      Hiawatha Rag

      • Hiawatha Rag/Si Tu Vois Ma Mere.
      • Columbia.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    Opening Theme (from On the Waterfront)

    Orchestra: The New York Philharmonic Conductor: Leonard Bernstein

    • Leonard Bernstein conducts West Side Story & On the Waterfront.
    • Columbia.

  • The Jimmy Giuffre Trio

    Train and the River

    • Jazz on a Summer’s Day: Original Soundtrack.
    • Charly.

  • Bonnie Tyler

    Total Eclipse Of The Heart

    • 18 Rock Classics: Volume 3.
    • Pickwick.

  • FranΓ§oise Hardy

    La Maison Ou J'ai Grandi

    Artist: Charles Blackwell & Orchestra

    • La Maison Ou J’Ai Grandi.
    • Vogue.

  • Gabriel FaurΓ©

    In Paradisum (from Requiem), Op 48

    Soloist: Victoria de Los Angeles & Elisabeth Brasseur Orchestra: The Orchestre de la SociΓ©tΓ© des Concerts du Conservatoire

    • FaurΓ©: Requiem.
    • EMI Classics.

  • Book Choice

    • Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

  • Luxury Choice

    • Endless supply of Mojitos

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Andrew Davies

Broadcasts

  • Sun 5 Aug 2007 11:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Fri 10 Aug 2007 09:00
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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