Inheritance Tracks

After working at Pizza Hut in his twenties, Mackenzie Crook suddenly shot to fame playing the hapless paper salesman Gareth Keenan in the smash-hit BBC comedy “The Office”

Since then, he’s starred in blockbuster franchises including Pirates of the Caribbean and Game of Thrones, as well as Shakespeare, Dickens and his beloved Worzel Gummidge.

He also created, directed and starred in the charming comedy-drama Detectorists, playing one half of an eccentric metal-detecting duo, alongside Toby Jones, which prompted Mackenzie to take up the hobby and search for real-life treasure.

So – headphones on – let's start scanning – and see what we can uncover among Mackenzie Crook’s Inheritance Tracks...

Inherited: Big Yellow taxi by Joni Mitchell

Producers: Ben Mitchell and Anna Bailey

Two-time World Champion heptathlete, British record holder and Olympic medallist Katarina Johnson-Thompson, known affectionately as KJT, first came to international prominence at the 2012 London Olympics, where she competed as a teenager.

She grew up in Liverpool with an English mother who was a dancer and a TV production assistant father from The Bahamas - and music was always part of her life...alongside a clear affinity for athletics.

So what then will she choose for her Inheritance Tracks?

Inherited: Little Ole Wine Drinker by Dean Martin

Producers: Ben Mitchell and Minnie Harrop

Luke Evans says growing up in the South Wales valleys was tough at times. He was an only child in a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses, bullied at school both for his religion – and for being gay.

But, that quiet boy from the valleys who tried to blend into the background is now a huge international star. He shot to fame on the West End stage in the early 2000s – with roles in Rent, Miss Saigon and Les Mis. Since then, he’s acted in Hollywood blockbusters like Beauty and the Beast, Fast & Furious Six and The Hobbit.

Now in his mid-forties, Luke says he is happy, fulfilled and looking forward – so what songs has he chosen as his Inheritance Tracks.

Inherited: Saturday Night at the Movies by The Drifters

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Ellie Taylor is a comedian, actor, writer, award winning podcaster, host of Bake Off the Professionals and a reluctant mother - according to her book.

You’ll probably have caught her being clever and funny on any number of TV panel shows, here on Radio 4, and as Sassy Collins on Ted Lasso.

She’s about to take part in a celebrity Gladiators special and is going out on tour after four years.

We asked her to take a break from writing punchlines and share her Inheritance Tracks with us.

Inherited: Piano Man by Billy Joel

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Kate Humble has presented the majestic Animal Park from Longleat for more than two decades.

As a champion of the environment and rural affairs, she’s been the president of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and founded Humble by Nature, a rural skills centre based at her farm here in Wales.

But when she’s not frolicking in the fields or mucking out meerkats Kate unwinds at home, often in the kitchen, creating recipes for her latest book.

I don’t know about you, but a bit of Beethoven always beats the boredom out of a bolognas...I wonder if Kate’s the same?

Inherited: Suzanne by Leonard Cohen

Producer: Ben Mitchell

There’s so much more to the actor Peter Capaldi than his brilliant, edgy and original Twelfth Doctor in Doctor Who…his career stretches far beyond the Tardis.

He won a BAFTA, for playing the ferocious, foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It, another BAFTA for the film spin off ‘In the Loop', and whilst we’re on awards…He’s also won an Oscar!

A punk in his younger days…he’s now writing and recording his own rock music…his debut solo album was released in 2021…so we’re fascinated to hear what he’s chosen as his Inheritance Tracks.

Inherited: That's Life by Frank Sinatra

Producers: Ben Mitchell and Anna Bailey

In his regular column Adrian Chiles has written candidly about everything from wearing compression socks to struggling to bend down - even his favourite coat hanger. These musings are now collected in a single book.

He admits that his "orgy of oversharing" isn't for everyone, yet insists even life's most mundane details can hold deeper meaning.

So, what meaning will we uncover in his musical tastes?

Inherited Track: Reuben's Blues by Stan Kenton

Producer: Ben Mitchell

This week’s Inheritance Tracks come from the funny and startlingly honest double act and married couple Chris and Rosie Ramsey. They struck gold when they turned their bickering and banter into the wildly successful podcast… Sh*gged, Married, Annoyed…

They take the quotidian absurdities of marriage, parenthood…life in general …and transform it all into comedy gold…nothing seems to be off limits!

They’ve hosted their own BBC 2 chat show…Chris is a touring stand-up comedian…and they’ve both individually competed on Strictly.

Chris and Rosie live just outside the town where they grew up, South Shields, and are now bringing up their family there

We wanted to know about the song or piece of music they’ll pass on to them…

Rosie - Inherited: Wake up Boo! by The Boo Radleys

Producer: Ben Mitchell

The best-selling crime-writer Sir Ian Rankin began his life surrounded by food. His dad ran a grocery store in Fife, his mum worked in a school canteen, and Ian's early writing saw him reviewing wine.

He says he never intended to turn to crime, so to speak, but it was his creation of the hard-drinking and stubborn Edinburgh detective Inspector John Rebus which changed his writing style – and his life.

Beginning with Knots and Crosses in 1987, there have now been 25 Rebus novels - as well as the tv dramas and stage plays – mainly dealing with Scotland’s dark and dangerous underworld.

What then will he reveal as his Inheritenace Tracks?

Inherited: Seven Drunken Nights by The Dubliners

Producers: Ben Mitchell and Noa Dowling

Comedian, actor, Pointless presenter and debut author Alexander Armstrong, grew up in rural Northumberland where his musical ability and joy at being able to entertain began at a young age.

He went to both school and Trinity College Cambridge on music scholarships and after a Footlights’ writing stint, he went on to become one half of the BAFTA-winning comedy duo Armstrong & Miller

If you’re wondering where his passion for classical music began...his Inheritance Tracks will provide the answer.

Inherited: Minuetto Allegretto by the Wombles

Producers: Ben Mitchell and Noa Dowling