Dame Penelope Wilton

Actress Dame Penelope Wilton shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young.

Theatre is Penelope's first love and she's been highly acclaimed for her stage work in plays by Ibsen, Shaw, Shakespeare, Beckett - she relishes and shines in the difficult roles. Yet as one of our leading classical actresses she has no qualms about turning her talents to TV and film including Calendar Girls, Shaun of the Dead and Doctor Who.

In-spite of being one of our best regarded actresses she is intensely private, intent upon disappearing into the lives of her characters.

Penelope grew up the middle of three girls and says that her mother was frail and often ill - she says this taught her to be self-contained:

"I was always worried that I would hurt her by taking a different view so one was sort of being terribly amenable - well of course that’s not in one's nature, I’m quite sharp and rather argumentative."

DISC ONE: Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings in E minor Op.20 - London Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor: Leonard Slatkin
DISC TWO: Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 in D major (4th movement) - Berliner Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor: Herbert von Karajan
DISC THREE: Que reste-t-il do nos amours? What remains of our love? - Charles Trenet
DISC FOUR: I'll Remember April - Erroll Garner
DISC FIVE: Franz Schubert’s String Quintet in C major (2nd movement) - Hollywood String Quartet, conductor: Felix Slatkin
DISC SIX: Isn't She Lovely - Stevie Wonder
DISC SEVEN: Dmitry Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D minor- Scottish National Orchestra, conductor: Nima Jarvi
DISC EIGHT: Sunny - Bobby Hebb

BOOK CHOICE: An anthology of 20th Century European poetry
LUXURY CHOICE: An open-air cinema with a selection of films
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Franz Schubert’s String Quintet in C major (2nd movement) - Hollywood String Quartet, conductor: Felix Slatkin

Producer: Jane Thurlow

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2008.