Actress Dame Judi Dench shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young.

Born into a family with dramatic leanings, she followed one of her older brothers, Jeffery, to drama school. Having abandoned ideas of becoming a set designer, she made her professional debut as Ophelia at the Old Vic in 1957. An illustrious stage career followed in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet in 1960, in Cabaret in 1968 and as Lady Macbeth for Trevor Nunn in 1976.

On TV she found huge success in sitcoms - appearing with her husband, the late Michael Williams, in A Fine Romance and with Geoffrey Palmer in As Time Goes By.

She received an Oscar nomination for her first big-screen part as Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown; Shakespeare in Love won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress; Mrs Henderson Presents, Notes on a Scandal, Iris, and Philomena followed.

She played the part of 'M' in the James Bond films seven times and appeared as Paulina in Sir Kenneth Branagh's production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.

Dame Judi was married to Michael Williams for 30 years. Their daughter, Finty, is also an actress.

Judi was made a Dame in the 1988 New Year Honours.

DISC ONE: Farewell to Stromness - Peter Maxwell Davies
DISC TWO: All Right, Okay, You Win - Count Basie
DISC THREE: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, Shall I Compare Thee - Jeffrey Dench
DISC FOUR: Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
DISC FIVE: Losing My Mind - Dorothy Collins
DISC SIX: I've got you Under My Skin - Frank Sinatra
DISC SEVEN: Shipping Forecast: issued by the Met Office at 05:05 on Sat 01 Dec 2001 - Cory Corfield
DISC EIGHT: Blue In Green - Miles Davis

BOOK CHOICE: Other Men's Flowers by A P Wavell (audio book read by her daughter Finty Williams)
LUXURY CHOICE: Cut-outs of all her friends and family
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I've got you Under My Skin - Frank Sinatra

Producer: Cathy Drysdale

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 September 2015. Show less