Colin Firth

Kirsty Young introduces an archive episode revisiting the castaway choices of a BAFTA and Academy Award winning actor.

Colin Firth is castaway by Sue Lawley.

He created an iconic moment in British TV history when, as Jane Austen's hero Mr Darcy, he emerged wet-shirted from his stately lake.

To his surprise, he became a sex symbol, was dubbed the 'male Ursula Andress' and was voted Britain's Most Popular Actor in a BBC poll. He went on to send up the role on the big screen - as the ironically-named Mark Darcy, the brooding boyfriend of Bridget Jones.

He always knew he wanted to act - from the moment when, as a five year old boy, he took on the role of Jack Frost at a school panto. He studied at the Drama Centre in London's Chalk Farm - where one of his teachers, Christopher Fettes, said he was by nature a poet and compared his acting to that of Paul Schofield.

Married to an Italian woman and with two young sons, he now divides his time between life in London and in Italy.

DISC ONE: We People Who Are Darker Than Blue - Curtis Mayfield
DISC TWO: Odoo - Fela Kuti
DISC THREE: Heart Attack and Vine - Tom Waits
DISC FOUR: Opening of the Kyrie from Mozart's Mass in C Minor – The Monteverdi Choir with English Baroque Soloists, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner
DISC FIVE: Lost Cause - Beck
DISC SIX: The Stealer - Free
DISC SEVEN: Willin' - Little Feat
DISC EIGHT: Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 in D minor, 4th movement - Maureen Forrester (soloist) with The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta

BOOK CHOICE: Stories of Woody Allen
LUXURY CHOICE: My guitar
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Opening of the Kyrie from Mozart's Mass in C Minor – The Monteverdi Choir with English Baroque Soloists, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner

Desert Island Discs was created by Roy Plomley.

Producer: Isabel Sargent

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2005.