Desert Island Discs

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Castaway guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

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

BBC Radio 4 FM

Desert Island Discs: Tracey Ullman, actor and comedian

Tracey Ullman, actor and comedian

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Tracey Ullman, actor and comedian

Tracey Ullman, actor and comedian, shares the soundtrack of her life with Lauren Laverne.

Tracey Ullman, actor and comedian, shares the eight tracks, book and luxury item she would take with her if cast away to a desert island.  With Lauren Laverne.

Tracey Ullman was the first woman to be offered her own television sketch show – both in Britain and America – and has starred in film and television dramas alongside Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Hugh Grant. The Emmy-winning Tracey Ullman Show ran for four seasons in the US and provided the launch pad for the Simpsons.  

Tracey was born in Slough and as a child she would impersonate people and put on shows for the amusement of her mother after the death of her father.  At 12 she won a scholarship to the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London and worked in repertory theatre and the West End in London before her television career took off.  She was one of the stars of the BBC’s prime time sketch show Three of a Kind alongside David Copperfield and a young Lenny Henry.

In 1985 she moved to Los Angeles with her husband, the producer Allan McKeown, where her uncanny impressions of Americans from all walks of life won her acclaim and awards in equal measure.

After the death of her husband Tracey returned to the UK in 2016 and was soon back on our screens in a new sketch series, Tracey Ullman’s Show, which showcased her enduring talent for sending up the powerful and the famous, including Dame Judi Dench, Angela Merkel and Theresa May. 

DISC ONE: American Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
DISC TWO: You Won't See Me by The Beatles  
DISC THREE: Nichols and May At Work by Mike Nichols And Elaine May 
DISC FOUR: That's The Way Of The World by Earth, Wind & Fire       
DISC FIVE: Everyday I Write the Book by Elvis Costello And The Attractions
DISC SIX: They Don’t Know by Kirsty MacColl
DISC SEVEN: You and I by Stevie Wonder 
DISC EIGHT: This Is the Sea by The Waterboys

BOOK CHOICE: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend
LUXURY ITEM: Nuts  
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: You and I by Stevie Wonder  

Presenter  Lauren Laverne
Producer  Paula McGinley

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Tracey Ullman, actor and comedian

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