Monica Dolan is a BAFTA and Olivier award winning actor. She is equally at home playing a wrongfully accused postmistress in Mr Bates Vs the Post Office as she is playing the serial killer Rosemary West.
Alongside her many roles in TV, stage and screen, Monica has also written and performed in her award winning one woman play B*easts.Born in 1969, Monica was the youngest of four children and was brought up in Woking. Her parents were Irish and had studied science and came to the UK in the early sixties. It was a very academic family and Monica found her passion for drama when she joined a teenage acting group. She went on to study drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Since leaving drama school, she has had a very successful career and is known for her ability to master different accents and dialects. When she played the press officer, Tracy Pritchard in the comedyW1A, her Welsh accent was so convincing viewers thought she really was Welsh. Her critically acclaimed career on TV stage and screen has seen her portray the fictional evil Anne Branson in BBC 1’s Sherwood, which earned her another BAFTA nomination. During the COVID pandemic, she gave a mesmeric performance as a grieving widow in The Shrine by Alan Bennett and because of restrictions at the time was her own makeup artist and costume designer. Monica lives in London with her beloved husky, Velma. DISC ONE: The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana) - The Banana Splits
DISC TWO: That's Entertainment - The Jam
DISC THREE: Nothing - Priscilla Lopez (as Diana Morales), A Chorus Line Orchestra, conducted by Don Pippin
DISC FOUR: Love and Affection - Joan Armatrading
DISC FIVE: MacArthur Park - Richard Harris
DISC SIX: The Night - Diane Chorley
DISC SEVEN: Us Amazonians - Kirsty MacColl
DISC EIGHT: South American Getaway (From "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid") - Burt Bacharach
BOOK CHOICE: Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna
LUXURY ITEM: A walk-in wardrobe
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Love and Affection - Joan Armatrading Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor
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Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Gustavo Dudamel is a Venezuelan conductor, violinist and composer. He is known for bringing humour and joy to the podium. He is currently director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and in 2026 will take up the post of music director of the New York Philharmonic, following in the footsteps of Gustav Mahler and Leonard Bernstein.
Gustavo was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela in 1981, the son of a trombonist who played in a salsa band, and his mother who was a singing teacher. Growing up in a musical household, young Gustavo used to gather his toys together and put them on the floor in the shape of an orchestra, put a record on and conduct.His parents enrolled five year old Gustavo in the El Sistema music programme and he learned the violin. After showing a flair for conducting he eventually became the conductor of the Venezuelan National Youth Orchestra. After winning the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Germany in 2004, his talent was spotted on a global stage. He was appointed the director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2008.
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor
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Ash Atalla, producer
Ash Atalla is a television producer whose first hit was the BBC sitcom The Office, starring Ricky Gervais. He followed it up with the IT Crowd, People Just Do Nothing, Big Boys and Stath Lets Flats. His haul of awards from these programmes include six BAFTAs, four Royal Television Society awards, a Golden Globe and an Emmy.
Ash was born in Cairo and when he was six months old he contracted polio. He has been a wheelchair user all his life and believes the challenges he faced in his early life ignited his drive and ambition.Ash graduated from the University of Bath with a degree in Business Administration and became a stockbroker for an investment bank. It was a fleeting career as he soon realised he wasn’t a natural when it came to numbers. His next stop was the BBC where he eventually joined the comedy department.Ash produced both series of The Office and, after leaving the BBC, moved on to the award-winning Channel 4 comedy series the IT Crowd and later the BBC’s People Just Do Nothing, the sitcom about a London pirate radio station. He co-founded the production company Roughcut TV in 2007 and recently produced the six-part drama series Little Disasters, starring Jo Joyner and Diane Kruger.Ash lives in London.DISC ONE: Everything She Wants - Wham!
DISC TWO: Enta Omri (“You Are My Life”) - Umm Kulthum
DISC THREE: At Night - Shakedown
DISC FOUR: Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) - Phil Collins
DISC FIVE: My Ever Changing Moods - The Style Council
DISC SIX: Handbags and Gladrags – Rod Stewart
DISC SEVEN: The Universal - Blur
DISC EIGHT: The Girl is Mine - Michael Jackson and Paul McCartneyBOOK CHOICE: Rewire Your Anxious Brain: Stop Overthinking, Find Calm, and Be Present by Nick Trenton
LUXURY ITEM: An Indian restaurant
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: The Girl is Mine - Michael Jackson and Paul McCartneyPresenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
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Carol Klein, gardener
Carol Klein is a gardener, broadcaster and longtime contributor to BBC Gardeners’ World. She is a six time Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winner, a certified RHS Horticultural Hero and was awarded the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour. Born in 1945 in Lancashire, Carol was the eldest of three children and her love of gardening was evident when she used to bring soil in from the outside as a toddler, and make a garden on the lino floor of her mum’s kitchen. She began her career as an art teacher, working for many years in London schools. After meeting her husband, Neil, they eventually moved to Devon to buy a house and create a garden. They have lived in Glebe Cottage for forty seven years and it’s been the base for Carol’s former plant business as well as the location for some of her TV programmes. Carol never intended to be a professional gardener. She followed that path after becoming a parent and deciding not to return to her teaching career. After first growing plants successfully for local markets, she then started entering professional garden shows up and down the country winning six Chelsea gold medals in the process. Carol lives in Devon with her husband Neil.DISC ONE: Feeling Good - Nina Simone
DISC TWO: Not Fade Away - Buddy Holly
DISC THREE: Corrina, Corrina - Bob Dylan
DISC FOUR: Let’s Stay Together - Al Green
DISC FIVE: Perfect Day - Lou Reed
DISC SIX: Tutti Frutti - Little Richard
DISC SEVEN: Skylark (Alauda Arvensis)
DISC EIGHT: Radio, Radio - Elvis Costello & The AttractionsBOOK CHOICE: Flora Britannica by Richard Mabey
LUXURY ITEM: A bottle of perfume
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Skylark (Alauda Arvensis) Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor
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Sir Gregory Doran, director
Sir Gregory Doran is the former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He spent a total of thirty five years with the RSC directing fifty productions in the UK and abroad. He’s been called “one of the great Shakespeareans of his age” and has won multiple awards for his work.Born in 1958, Greg was brought up near Preston and played a number of female Shakespeare roles when he was a young pupil attending an all-boys secondary school. He went on to study English and Drama at Bristol University followed by a stint studying classical acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. After a few bit parts in TV sitcoms and a spell at Nottingham Playhouse, Sir Greg decided that he would prefer to carve out a career as a director. He went on to stage some of the most critically acclaimed theatre productions – including an all-black cast of Julius Caesar and took Titus Andronicus to South Africa.More recently, he has been touring the globe on his Shakespeare’s First Folio tour to look at as many different copies of the texts as possible. He survives his husband, the actor Sir Anthony Sher whom he met in 1987 whilst they were both part of a production of the Merchant of Venice at the RSC in Stratford. Sir Greg lives in London.DISC ONE: Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17, Act 1: Duetto. "Son nata a lagrimar" (Cornelia, Sesto) Composed by Georg Friedrich Händel and performed by Nathalie Stutzmann (contralto) Philippe Jaroussky (counter tenor) Oreo 55 (Orchestra)
DISC TWO: Sicut cervus – The Choir of Preston Catholic College
DISC THREE: Born Free - Matt Monro
DISC FOUR: It’s Raining Men - The Weather Girls
DISC FIVE: Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes - Paul Simon
DISC SIX: J.S. Bach: Cantata \"Ich habe genug\" BWV 82: I. \"Ich habe genug, ich habe den Heiland\". Performed by Thomas Quasthoff (bass-baritone), Berliner Barock Solisten, conducted by Rainer Kussmaul
DISC SEVEN: Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414: 2. Andante. Composed by Mozart and performed by Alfred Brendel (piano) and Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner
DISC EIGHT: Where the Bee Sucks - Paul Englishby, Royal Shakespeare Company
BOOK CHOICE: A 1609 copy of Shakespeare’s Sonnets
LUXURY ITEM: A shelf of photo albums
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414: 2. Andante. Composed by Mozart and performed by Alfred Brendel (piano) and Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville MarrinerPresenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor
UK