Actor and director Samantha Morton shares her desert island castaway choices with Lauren Laverne.

Samantha has appeared in films directed by Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg, and is also known for her work on independent productions, often with serious themes such as prostitution and bereavement.

She has been nominated for two Academy Awards and won many accolades including a BAFTA and a Golden Globe.

Born in Nottingham in 1977, she had a difficult childhood. She was first taken into care as a baby, then spent the next decade between foster parents and her father’s home before being taken into care permanently aged 11.

Samantha's acting roles have ranged from Mary, Queen of Scots, in Elizabeth: The Golden Age to a war widow in The Messenger and the wife of a serial killer in Rillington Place.

She made her directorial debut with The Unloved in 2009, a film based on her own experience of the care system. It won the BAFTA Award for Best Single Drama.

DISC ONE: Burden of Shame by UB40
DISC TWO: Flower by The Charlatans
DISC THREE: The Town I Loved So Well (Live) by Luke Kelly And The Dubliners
DISC FOUR: Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody) by Talking Heads
DISC FIVE: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized
DISC SIX: Blume (French version) by Einstürzende Neubauten
DISC SEVEN: Dream Baby Dream by Suicide
DISC EIGHT: I Remember by Molly Drake

BOOK CHOICE: Light on Yoga: The Bible of Modern Yoga by B. K. S. Iyengar
LUXURY ITEM: A photograph of Samantha's children
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized

Producer: Cathy Drysdale

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2020. Show less