Jay Blades is a furniture restorer who is best known for presenting the Repair Shop on BBC One.  The programme, which attracts many millions of viewers, brings old and damaged family treasures back to life and has been praised for its celebration of craftsmanship and the values of kindness and patience. Jay grew up in Hackney in East London and was brought up by his mother Barbara.  He struggled to read as a young boy which held him back at school and he left at 16.  Years later, after he got a place to study criminology and philosophy at university, he was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 31.    He worked as a community worker for many years and co-founded charities which helped disadvantaged young people learn new skills.  One of his charities was based in High Wycombe – an area famous for its historic furniture trade – and Jay learned how to restore furniture alongside the teenagers he was helping. Later he started his own furniture restoration business and in 2017 he started presenting the Repair Shop.  He recently set up his own television production company and has written books about DIY and his experiences on the Repair shop.  In 2021 he was awarded an MBE for services to craft. DISC ONE: Help Me Make It Through the Night by John Holt
DISC TWO: The Night I Fell In Love by Luther Vandross
DISC THREE: Revolution by Dennis Brown
DISC FOUR: Battle by Wookie
DISC FIVE: Love You Anyway by Cameo
DISC SIX: Baby I’m A Fool by Melody Gardot 
DISC SEVEN: Kisses Don’t Lie by Evelyn “Champagne” King
DISC EIGHT: Take Me To The Alley by Gregory Porter BOOK CHOICE: The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X with Alex Haley  
LUXURY ITEM: A reclining massage chair   
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Help Me Make It Through the Night by John Holt   Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley

Jay Blades, presenter and furniture restorer

Eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

Personal Journals

Society & Culture

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Professor Alice Roberts is one of the most popular science communicators in Britain today. As the presenter of the BBC archaeology programme Digging for Britain, she reveals the underground mysteries of our collective past to millions of viewers.   Alice was born in Bristol and developed an interest in science from an early age – examining insects under her microscope in order to draw them and digging up bits of pottery in her parents’ vegetable patch. At the age of eight she was entranced as she watched a live feed which showed researchers at Bristol University unwrapping an Egyptian Mummy.    Alice studied medicine in Cardiff and worked as a house officer doing paediatric surgery and then taught anatomy to students at Bristol University. She followed this up with a PhD in paleopathology, the study of disease in old bones, which led to her first television appearance as a bone expert on the Channel 4 series Time Team.  Alice has written several books that explore human evolution and history and in 2012 she was appointed the first Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham.   DISC ONE: Monkey Gone to Heaven - Pixies
DISC TWO: Temple of Love - Sisters of Mercy 
DISC THREE: Apotheosis - Austin Wintory 
DISC FOUR: Cherub Rock (2011 Remaster) - The Smashing Pumpkins   
DISC FIVE: Times Like These (BBC Radio 1 Stay Home Live Lounge) - Live Lounge Allstars
DISC SIX: Sugar - System Of A Down  
DISC SEVEN: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. Composed by Ryuichi Sakomoto and performed by Phoebe Stevens
DISC EIGHT: Coins for the Eyes - Johnny Flynn & Robert Macfarlane  BOOK CHOICE: Middlemarch by George Eliot
LUXURY ITEM: A kayak       
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. Composed by Ryuichi Sakomoto and performed by Phoebe Stevens Presenter  Lauren Laverne
Producer  Paula McGinley

Professor Alice Roberts, scientist and broadcaster

Jenny Sealey has been the artistic director of Graeae Theatre Company since 1997: Graeae is a deaf and disabled-led company and a leader and innovator in accessible theatre. Jenny has directed opera as well as plays, and was the co-director of the 2012 Paralympic opening ceremony.  Jenny was born in Nottingham in 1963, the eldest of four sisters. She lost her hearing at the age of seven following a fall at school in which she banged her head. At that time, deaf children were not encouraged to use British Sign Language, and so she taught herself to lip read, and stayed in a mainstream school, although she often found it challenging. She also continued to take ballet lessons, helped by an inspirational teacher who encouraged her to follow the form and movements of the dancer in front of her. She went on to study dance and choreography at Middlesex Polytechnic. After graduation, Jenny worked as an actor before becoming the artistic director of Graeae. In 2022 she was awarded an OBE for services to disability arts. Most recently she returned to acting and toured the UK with Self Raising, her one-woman autobiographical play.  Jenny lives in London with her son and partner.  DISC ONE: Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 44, Chorus. Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth. Composed by George Frideric Handel and performed by The Sixteen Choir, conducted by Harry Christophers 
DISC TWO: Yesterday - The Beatles       
DISC THREE: Teenage Kicks - The Undertones   
DISC FOUR: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack   
DISC FIVE: Because The Night - Patti Smith Group  
DISC SIX: Spasticus Autisticus – John Kelly and the cast of Reasons to be Cheerful 
DISC SEVEN: If It Can't Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong – John Kelly and the cast of Graeae’s stage production of Reasons To Be Cheerful   
DISC EIGHT: Days – Kirsty MacColl BOOK CHOICE: The Complete Works of Armistead Maupin 
LUXURY ITEM: A photography kit      
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 44, Chorus. Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth. Composed by George Frideric Handel and performed by The Sixteen Choir, conducted by Harry Christophers 
 
Presenter  Lauren Laverne
Producer   Sarah Taylor

Jenny Sealey, theatre director

James Graham is an award-winning dramatist whose plays include This House, Ink and Dear England starring Joseph Fiennes as the England football manager Gareth Southgate. His acclaimed television productions include Sherwood and Quiz, based on the story of the so-called coughing Major Charles Ingram who was found guilty of cheating on the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?  James was born in Kirkby-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire in 1982. He was a shy boy who was encouraged to perform in school plays by his teachers. He went on to study drama at Hull University where he wrote his first play Coal Not Dole! He took the play to the Edinburgh fringe and the reception it received from audiences encouraged him to carry on writing. After graduating he worked as a stage doorkeeper at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham where one of his personal highlights was looking after Danny La Rue, the star of the Christmas panto. His first London premiere came in 2005 at the Finborough Theatre in London with Albert’s Boy, which explored the arguments for and against nuclear weapons.   In 2020 James was awarded an OBE for services to drama and young people in British theatre.   DISC ONE: Disco 2000 - Pulp   
DISC TWO: Chatanooga Choo Choo - Glenn Miller 
DISC THREE: Up In Arms - Foo Fighters 
DISC FOUR: Syncopes - Gabriel Yared
DISC FIVE: Your Disco Needs You - Kylie Minogue  
DISC SIX: Where Are We Now? - David Bowie 
DISC SEVEN: If You Came To See Me Cry - Katie Brayben (from Tammy Faye: The Musical)  
DISC EIGHT: Going To A Town - Rufus Wainwright   BOOK CHOICE: A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
LUXURY ITEM: A keg of Single Malt Scotch Whisky
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Where Are We Now? - David Bowie
 
Presenter  Lauren Laverne
Producer  Paula McGinley

James Graham, playwright

The Honourable Lady Rita Rae is a lawyer and judge, and the current Rector of the University of Glasgow. Early in her career she was a rare woman in the heavily male-dominated legal world. She went on to work on many high profile criminal cases over five decades as a solicitor, an advocate and subsequently a judge in Scotland’s Supreme Court. Rita grew up in Plains, Airdrie, to the east of Glasgow. She was a shy child but earned the nickname ‘The Last Word’ from her parents because of her need to argue her case when she felt something wasn’t right. She was inspired to become a lawyer by her maternal grandfather, a noted advocate and anti-fascist from Naples. Her parents met in a munitions factory in Italy where her mother was working. Her father was a Scottish bomb disposal expert helping to dismantle munitions after the war. They married and moved to Scotland, but Rita and her brother were not accepted by her Scottish family because of their Catholicism.  Rita became a solicitor in 1974, entering a world dominated by men. When told by a senior colleague that women were ‘emotionally unsuitable for court work’, she set about proving him wrong. She became a partner in her firm at the age of 27, and was called to the bar in 1982, one of just 13 female advocates in Scotland at the time. She was made a Sheriff in 1997 and a Judge of the Supreme Courts in 2014. In 2021 she was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow, the first female working rector in the university’s 570-year history. DISC ONE: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 - III. Allegro scherzando. Composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff, performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano) and London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by André Previn 
DISC TWO: “Ah! Dite alla giovine” from Act 2 of La Traviata. Composed by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by Angela Gheorghiu (soprano), Leo Nucci (baritone) and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by Sir Georg Solti
DISC THREE: Mamma - Beniamino Gigli   
DISC FOUR: Aranjuez mon amour - Massimo Ranieri    
DISC FIVE: Cheap Flights  - Fascinating Aïda
DISC SIX: “The Flower Song” (“La fleur que tu m’avais jetee”), Carmen, Act II. Composed by Georges Bizet, performed by José Carreras (tenor) and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by Jacques Delacôte
DISC SEVEN: Ave Maria. Composed by Giulio Caccini (Arr. Brinums) and performed by Inessa Galante (Soprano), Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Aleksandrs Vilumanis  
DISC EIGHT: Climb Ev’ry Mountain - Peggy Wood BOOK CHOICE: The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, its Regions and their Peoples by David Gilmour 
LUXURY ITEM: A solar powered car      
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Mamma - Beniamino Gigli    Presenter  Lauren Laverne
Producers   Paula McGinley and Tim Bano

Rita Rae, Lady Rae, lawyer and judge

Sandy Powell won her first Academy Award for dressing Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love, and has since won two more Oscars - along with a further dozen nominations - and three BAFTAs. Her credits range from Gangs of New York for Martin Scorsese to Mary Poppins Returns for Disney, and she's worked with many of the biggest current screen stars, including Leonardo di Caprio, Cate Blanchett and Al Pacino.  Sandy was born in south London and completed an art foundation course at St Martin’s School of Art.  In 1981 she got her first job designing costumes for the choreographer Lindsay Kemp’s show Nijinsky at La Scala in Milan.  She later worked for the director Derek Jarman on his film Caravaggio and continued to collaborate with him until his death in 1994.  She has also enjoyed long working relationships with Martin Scorsese and Todd Haynes.  Sandy has won acclaim for her designs on films with historical settings, including The Wings of the Dove, The Young Victoria and The Favourite starring Olivia Colman, as well as the flamboyant glam rock world of Velvet Goldmine and the fairy-tale fantasy of Cinderella, starring Lily James. 
 
In 2011 she was awarded an OBE for services for the film industry and in 2023 she became the first costume designer to receive a BAFTA Fellowship.  DISC ONE: Jeepster - T Rex
DISC TWO: Adagietto, Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp Minor. Composed by Gustav Mahler and performed by Orchestre de l'Académie de Santa Cécilia and conducted by Franco Mannino
DISC THREE: Life on Mars? - David Bowie
DISC FOUR: La Vie en Rose - Alan Dunn
DISC FIVE: I’ll Never Fall in Love Again - Bobbi Gentry
DISC SIX: Satellite of Love - Lou Reed
DISC SEVEN: Where Love Lives (Come On In) - Alison Limerick
DISC EIGHT: I Left My Heart in San Francisco - Tony Bennett BOOK CHOICE:  Josef Koudelka: Gypsies	
LUXURY ITEM:  A lemon tree
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Life on Mars? - David Bowie Presenter  Lauren Laverne
Producer  Paula McGinley

Jay Blades, presenter and furniture restorer

Download our free app to listen on your phone