<description>&lt;p&gt;Tahra Zafar is a costume and creature effects designer. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;She designed the Paddington Bear puppet featured in the hit West End production Paddington: The Musical.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Born into a theatre family, she grew up with an Armenian American father who worked as a choreographer in the first West End production of West Side Story, and a mother who moved from a career as a ballerina to theatre work around the world. Her interest in making began early, helping her father with practical projects such as restoring their house, even learning to build walls and spending her spare time model making, with Airfix creations suspended from her bedroom ceiling.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After studying theatre design at Central Saint Martins, she began her career making theatre costumes. She spent some time at the Jim Henson creature workshop where she made some of the creatures for the first Harry Potter film including Hedwig the owl and Scabbers the rat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After her daughter was born, Tahra worked on some of the characters for In the Night Garden with her daughter, a willing judge of what worked for toddlers. 
In 2012, Tahra was in charge of 23,000 costumes for the London 2012 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies. This role included an audience with the late Queen to ensure the wig and dress were correct for Her Majesty’s stunt double when that iconic skydive was performed at the Olympic opening ceremony. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tahra lives in London with her daughter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;DISC ONE: Thunderbirds (Main Theme) - The Barry Gray Orchestra 
DISC TWO: Gee, Officer Krupke. Composed by Leonard Bernstein and performed by Leo Kharibian, Norman Furber and Vince Logan 
DISC THREE: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 In D Minor (movement six) Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and performed by Berlin Philharmoniker, Wiener Singverein and conducted by Herbert von Karajan
DISC FOUR: Brazil – Geoff Muldaur
DISC FIVE: Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder 
DISC SIX: Groove Is in the Heart - Deee-Lite 
DISC SEVEN: Eclipse - Pink Floyd 
DISC EIGHT: Take Five - Dave Brubeck 
 
BOOK CHOICE: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Complete Books by Douglas Adams 
LUXURY ITEM: A set of art materials and a storage box
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Eclipse - Pink Floyd &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Desert Island Discs has cast other costume designers away to the island over the years including Oscar winners Jenny Beavan and Sandy Powell. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Tahra Zafar, costume and designer, shares the soundtrack of her life with Lauren Laverne.

Tahra Zafar is a costume and creature effects designer. She designed the Paddington Bear puppet featured in the hit West End production Paddington: The Musical.Born into a theatre family, she grew up with an Armenian American father who worked as a choreographer in the first West End production of West Side Story, and a mother who moved from a career as a ballerina to theatre work around the world. Her interest in making began early, helping her father with practical projects such as restoring their house, even learning to build walls and spending her spare time model making, with Airfix creations suspended from her bedroom ceiling.After studying theatre design at Central Saint Martins, she began her career making theatre costumes. She spent some time at the Jim Henson creature workshop where she made some of the creatures for the first Harry Potter film including Hedwig the owl and Scabbers the rat.After her daughter was born, Tahra worked on some of the characters for In the Night Garden with her daughter, a willing judge of what worked for toddlers. 
In 2012, Tahra was in charge of 23,000 costumes for the London 2012 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies. This role included an audience with the late Queen to ensure the wig and dress were correct for Her Majesty’s stunt double when that iconic skydive was performed at the Olympic opening ceremony. Tahra lives in London with her daughter.DISC ONE: Thunderbirds (Main Theme) - The Barry Gray Orchestra 
DISC TWO: Gee, Officer Krupke. Composed by Leonard Bernstein and performed by Leo Kharibian, Norman Furber and Vince Logan 
DISC THREE: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 In D Minor (movement six) Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and performed by Berlin Philharmoniker, Wiener Singverein and conducted by Herbert von Karajan
DISC FOUR: Brazil – Geoff Muldaur
DISC FIVE: Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder 
DISC SIX: Groove Is in the Heart - Deee-Lite 
DISC SEVEN: Eclipse - Pink Floyd 
DISC EIGHT: Take Five - Dave Brubeck 
 
BOOK CHOICE: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Complete Books by Douglas Adams 
LUXURY ITEM: A set of art materials and a storage box
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Eclipse - Pink Floyd Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah TaylorDesert Island Discs has cast other costume designers away to the island over the years including Oscar winners Jenny Beavan and Sandy Powell. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Tahra Zafar, costume and effects designer

<description>&lt;p&gt;Professor Michele Dougherty is President of the Institute of Physics and Professor of Space Physics at Imperial College London. She was appointed Astronomer Royal last year – the first woman to hold the post in its 350-year history.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;She was brought up in Durban in South Africa and studied for a Bachelor of Science degree in applied maths at Natal University. After completing a Master’s and PhD she took up a fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany where she investigated solar wind and galactic wind outflows.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In 1991 she joined Imperial College London where she helped devise a magnetic field model for the Ulysses mission. In 1997 she became principal investigator for the magnetometer instrument on board the Cassini probe which was sent to study Saturn and its system.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;She is currently lead investigator for the J-MAG magnetometer instrument on the European Space Agency's JUICE mission (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) which launched in 2023. It will reach Jupiter in 2031 and spend at least three years observing the planet and three of its largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Michele was appointed CBE in the 2018 New Years Honours List for services to UK Physical Science Research.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;DISC ONE: Puccini: Turandot, Act III: Nessun dorma! Performed by Luciano Pavarotti (tenor), John Alldis Choir, Wandsworth School Boys Choir and London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta
DISC TWO: Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85: III. Adagio. Composed by Elgar. Performed by Jacqueline du Pré (cello) and London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli
DISC THREE: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 19: III. Moderato. Composed by Tchaikovsky. Performed by Frank Peters Zimmerman (violin), and Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Lorin Maazel 
DISC FOUR: We Three Kings of Orient Are - Robert Shaw Chamber Singers 
DISC FIVE: Dancing Queen - ABBA 
DISC SIX: Dance With My Father - Luther Vandross 
DISC SEVEN: Franck: Panis Angelicus. Performed by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano), English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Barry Rose 
DISC EIGHT: Pie Jesu (From Requiem) Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Performed by Malakai Bayoh, Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School and London Mozart Players, directed by Scott Price
 
BOOK CHOICE: The Lord of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
LUXURY ITEM: An assortment of wine 
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85: III. Adagio. Composed by Elgar. Performed by Jacqueline du Pré (cello) and London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Desert Island Discs has cast many space experts away to the island over the years including NASA's Dr Nicola Fox, the astronomer Carl Sagan and the astronauts Tim Peake and Chris Hadfield. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Prof Michele Dougherty, scientist, shares the soundtrack of her life with Lauren Laverne.

Professor Michele Dougherty is President of the Institute of Physics and Professor of Space Physics at Imperial College London. She was appointed Astronomer Royal last year – the first woman to hold the post in its 350-year history.She was brought up in Durban in South Africa and studied for a Bachelor of Science degree in applied maths at Natal University. After completing a Master’s and PhD she took up a fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany where she investigated solar wind and galactic wind outflows.In 1991 she joined Imperial College London where she helped devise a magnetic field model for the Ulysses mission. In 1997 she became principal investigator for the magnetometer instrument on board the Cassini probe which was sent to study Saturn and its system.She is currently lead investigator for the J-MAG magnetometer instrument on the European Space Agency's JUICE mission (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) which launched in 2023. It will reach Jupiter in 2031 and spend at least three years observing the planet and three of its largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.Michele was appointed CBE in the 2018 New Years Honours List for services to UK Physical Science Research.DISC ONE: Puccini: Turandot, Act III: Nessun dorma! Performed by Luciano Pavarotti (tenor), John Alldis Choir, Wandsworth School Boys Choir and London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta
DISC TWO: Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85: III. Adagio. Composed by Elgar. Performed by Jacqueline du Pré (cello) and London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli
DISC THREE: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 19: III. Moderato. Composed by Tchaikovsky. Performed by Frank Peters Zimmerman (violin), and Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Lorin Maazel 
DISC FOUR: We Three Kings of Orient Are - Robert Shaw Chamber Singers 
DISC FIVE: Dancing Queen - ABBA 
DISC SIX: Dance With My Father - Luther Vandross 
DISC SEVEN: Franck: Panis Angelicus. Performed by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano), English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Barry Rose 
DISC EIGHT: Pie Jesu (From Requiem) Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Performed by Malakai Bayoh, Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School and London Mozart Players, directed by Scott Price
 
BOOK CHOICE: The Lord of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
LUXURY ITEM: An assortment of wine 
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85: III. Adagio. Composed by Elgar. Performed by Jacqueline du Pré (cello) and London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinleyDesert Island Discs has cast many space experts away to the island over the years including NASA's Dr Nicola Fox, the astronomer Carl Sagan and the astronauts Tim Peake and Chris Hadfield. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Professor Michele Dougherty, scientist

<description>&lt;p&gt;Kemi Badenoch is the Conservative MP for North West Essex and the Leader of the Opposition. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since winning her seat in 2017, she has held cabinet positions as Minister of State for Equalities under Boris Johnson and Secretary of State for International Trade under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. She became leader of the Conservative Party in 2024 after Rishi Sunak’s resignation and is the first black person to lead a political party in Britain. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Her Nigerian parents came to Britain for medical treatment and Kemi was born in a private hospital in Wimbledon in January 1980. Her parents returned with their newborn daughter, and she was brought up in Nigeria in an affluent suburb of Lagos. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a series of military coups and economic downturns, her family, along with many other middle-class families in Nigeria saw their wealth decline and Kemi was sent to London to study for her A levels.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Instead of following her parents into medicine, she chose to pursue Computer Systems Engineering and went to Sussex University. A well-paid career in IT followed and she joined the Conservative Party aged twenty-five where she also met her husband, Hamish. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Her first attempt at becoming an MP was in 2010 in Dame Tessa Jowell’s former constituency of Dulwich and West Norwood constituency in London. She finished third behind the Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In 2017, she was selected for the Saffron Walden seat and became an MP.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;She lives in London with her husband and three children and divides her time between Westminster and her constituency of North West Essex.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;DISC ONE: The Story of Tonight - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Okieriete Onaodowan, Daveed Diggs, Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton 
DISC TWO: Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson 
DISC THREE: Wonderful World - Sam Cooke 
DISC FOUR: Be Still - Aled Jones and English Session Orchestra 
DISC FIVE: Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) - Baz Luhrmann 
DISC SIX: Love is All Around - Wet Wet Wet
DISC SEVEN: Carry You Home – Alex Warren 
DISC EIGHT: Dear Theodosia - Leslie Odom Jr., Lin-Manuel Miranda 
 
BOOK CHOICE: Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
LUXURY ITEM: The Marvel Movie Collection with a solar-powered DVD player
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Desert Island Discs has cast many politicians away to the island over the years including Sir Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon, Sir Vince Cable, Theresa May, Ed Miliband, Boris Johnson and Margaret Thatcher.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Kemi Badenoch MP shares the soundtrack of her life with Lauren Laverne.

Kemi Badenoch is the Conservative MP for North West Essex and the Leader of the Opposition. Since winning her seat in 2017, she has held cabinet positions as Minister of State for Equalities under Boris Johnson and Secretary of State for International Trade under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. She became leader of the Conservative Party in 2024 after Rishi Sunak’s resignation and is the first black person to lead a political party in Britain. Her Nigerian parents came to Britain for medical treatment and Kemi was born in a private hospital in Wimbledon in January 1980. Her parents returned with their newborn daughter, and she was brought up in Nigeria in an affluent suburb of Lagos. After a series of military coups and economic downturns, her family, along with many other middle-class families in Nigeria saw their wealth decline and Kemi was sent to London to study for her A levels.Instead of following her parents into medicine, she chose to pursue Computer Systems Engineering and went to Sussex University. A well-paid career in IT followed and she joined the Conservative Party aged twenty-five where she also met her husband, Hamish. Her first attempt at becoming an MP was in 2010 in Dame Tessa Jowell’s former constituency of Dulwich and West Norwood constituency in London. She finished third behind the Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates.In 2017, she was selected for the Saffron Walden seat and became an MP.She lives in London with her husband and three children and divides her time between Westminster and her constituency of North West Essex.DISC ONE: The Story of Tonight - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Okieriete Onaodowan, Daveed Diggs, Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton 
DISC TWO: Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson 
DISC THREE: Wonderful World - Sam Cooke 
DISC FOUR: Be Still - Aled Jones and English Session Orchestra 
DISC FIVE: Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) - Baz Luhrmann 
DISC SIX: Love is All Around - Wet Wet Wet
DISC SEVEN: Carry You Home – Alex Warren 
DISC EIGHT: Dear Theodosia - Leslie Odom Jr., Lin-Manuel Miranda 
 
BOOK CHOICE: Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
LUXURY ITEM: The Marvel Movie Collection with a solar-powered DVD player
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah TaylorDesert Island Discs has cast many politicians away to the island over the years including Sir Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon, Sir Vince Cable, Theresa May, Ed Miliband, Boris Johnson and Margaret Thatcher.

Kemi Badenoch MP, leader of the opposition

<description>&lt;p&gt;Adeel Akhtar is an award-winning actor whose breakthrough role came in 2010 when he starred in Chris Morris’s black comedy Four Lions. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He won his first BAFTA for Best Actor in 2017 for his role in the BBC drama Murdered by My Father. His second, for Best Supporting Actor, came in 2023 playing Andy Fisher in the BBC series Sherwood.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Adeel was born in Hounslow in West London and grew up in Buckinghamshire. He discovered a love of acting at school when he and a group of friends put on a production of Harold Pinter’s play The Homecoming. He read law at university but in 2002 followed his true passion and took a drama course at The Actors Studio in New York.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He got his first screen part playing one of the four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 in the television docudrama Let’s Roll: the Story of Flight 93. He has gone on to stretch his talents playing roles in the television series Fool Me Once, The Night Manager and Killing Eve. More recently he appeared on stage in The Cherry Orchard and a new play called The Estate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Adeel lives in London with his wife, documentary maker Alexis Burke, and their two children.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;DISC ONE: The Weight - Aretha Franklin 
DISC TWO: Jamaica Farewell - Harry Belafonte 
DISC THREE: Danny Nedelko - Idles 
DISC FOUR: First Big Weekend - Arab Strap 
DISC FIVE: After Hours - Velvet Underground 
DISC SIX: Time to Pretend - MGMT 
DISC SEVEN: People’s Faces - Kae Tempest 
DISC EIGHT: Do You Realize?? - The Flaming Lips &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;BOOK CHOICE: A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
LUXURY ITEM: A solar-powered air fryer
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Do You Realize?? - The Flaming Lips &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Desert Island Discs has cast many actors away to the island over the years including Cillian Murphy, Stephen Graham, Lesley Manville and Helen McCrory. Adeel’s friend Meera Syall is in our archive too. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Adeel Akhtar, actor, shares the soundtrack of his life with Lauren Laverne.

Adeel Akhtar is an award-winning actor whose breakthrough role came in 2010 when he starred in Chris Morris’s black comedy Four Lions. He won his first BAFTA for Best Actor in 2017 for his role in the BBC drama Murdered by My Father. His second, for Best Supporting Actor, came in 2023 playing Andy Fisher in the BBC series Sherwood.Adeel was born in Hounslow in West London and grew up in Buckinghamshire. He discovered a love of acting at school when he and a group of friends put on a production of Harold Pinter’s play The Homecoming. He read law at university but in 2002 followed his true passion and took a drama course at The Actors Studio in New York.He got his first screen part playing one of the four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 in the television docudrama Let’s Roll: the Story of Flight 93. He has gone on to stretch his talents playing roles in the television series Fool Me Once, The Night Manager and Killing Eve. More recently he appeared on stage in The Cherry Orchard and a new play called The Estate.Adeel lives in London with his wife, documentary maker Alexis Burke, and their two children.DISC ONE: The Weight - Aretha Franklin 
DISC TWO: Jamaica Farewell - Harry Belafonte 
DISC THREE: Danny Nedelko - Idles 
DISC FOUR: First Big Weekend - Arab Strap 
DISC FIVE: After Hours - Velvet Underground 
DISC SIX: Time to Pretend - MGMT 
DISC SEVEN: People’s Faces - Kae Tempest 
DISC EIGHT: Do You Realize?? - The Flaming Lips BOOK CHOICE: A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
LUXURY ITEM: A solar-powered air fryer
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Do You Realize?? - The Flaming Lips Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinleyDesert Island Discs has cast many actors away to the island over the years including Cillian Murphy, Stephen Graham, Lesley Manville and Helen McCrory. Adeel’s friend Meera Syall is in our archive too. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Adeel Akhtar, actor

<description>&lt;p&gt;Jesse Armstrong is a British author, screenwriter, and producer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He has written several award-winning TV comedies and satirical dramas and won many accolades for his work including two BAFTA TV Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and three Writers Guild of America Awards. His hit HBO series Succession has won nineteen Emmys. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jesse was born and educated in Oswestry, Shropshire, and attended Manchester University where he studied American Studies as an undergraduate and American History for his Masters. After university, he worked as a researcher for a Labour Member of Parliament for a couple of years it was an experience that would later inform his time as a writer on The Thick of It. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He met his writing partner, Sam Bain, at Manchester University and together they created and co-wrote 9 seasons of Channel 4’s BAFTA-winning comedy Peep Show and 4 seasons of the student comedy Fresh Meat. 
 
During this time, he also wrote for the political satire series The Thick of It and co-wrote the film In the Loop, the latter of which earned him Oscar and BAFTA nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also co-wrote the films Four Lions and Downhill and wrote and directed the television film, Mountainhead.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He was the creator and show-runner of the hit HBO TV show Succession, a drama about a fictional powerful media family with the plot centring around which child would succeed the father played by Brian Cox. Succession won a total of 19 Emmys including Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for each of Succession’s four seasons.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He lives in London with his wife and has two children in their twenties.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;DISC ONE: A Day in the Life - The Beatles
DISC TWO: Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division 
DISC THREE: Debaser - Pixies 
DISC FOUR: Georgia on my Mind - Billie Holiday
DISC FIVE: The Magic Number - De La Soul
DISC SIX: New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down - LCD Sound System 
DISC SEVEN: Dream Song 28: Snow Line. Written and read by John Berryman 
DISC EIGHT: Violin Concerto in D Major, RV 234 “L’inquietudine” 1: Allegro. Composed by Antonio Vivaldi and performed by Walter Gallozzi and I Musici &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;BOOK CHOICE: The Norton Anthology of Poetry 
LUXURY ITEM: A football 
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Georgia on my Mind - Billie Holiday &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Desert Island Discs has cast many TV writers away to the island over the years including Russell T Davies, Sally Wainwright and Abi Morgan. You’ll also find the stars of Peep Show, Robert Webb and David Mitchell in there too along with the actor Brian Cox who played the patriarch, Logan Roy, in Jesse’s hit TV series, Succession. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Jesse Armstrong, writer, shares the soundtrack of his life with Lauren Laverne.

Jesse Armstrong is a British author, screenwriter, and producer.He has written several award-winning TV comedies and satirical dramas and won many accolades for his work including two BAFTA TV Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and three Writers Guild of America Awards. His hit HBO series Succession has won nineteen Emmys. Jesse was born and educated in Oswestry, Shropshire, and attended Manchester University where he studied American Studies as an undergraduate and American History for his Masters. After university, he worked as a researcher for a Labour Member of Parliament for a couple of years it was an experience that would later inform his time as a writer on The Thick of It. He met his writing partner, Sam Bain, at Manchester University and together they created and co-wrote 9 seasons of Channel 4’s BAFTA-winning comedy Peep Show and 4 seasons of the student comedy Fresh Meat. 
 
During this time, he also wrote for the political satire series The Thick of It and co-wrote the film In the Loop, the latter of which earned him Oscar and BAFTA nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also co-wrote the films Four Lions and Downhill and wrote and directed the television film, Mountainhead.He was the creator and show-runner of the hit HBO TV show Succession, a drama about a fictional powerful media family with the plot centring around which child would succeed the father played by Brian Cox. Succession won a total of 19 Emmys including Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for each of Succession’s four seasons.He lives in London with his wife and has two children in their twenties.DISC ONE: A Day in the Life - The Beatles
DISC TWO: Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division 
DISC THREE: Debaser - Pixies 
DISC FOUR: Georgia on my Mind - Billie Holiday
DISC FIVE: The Magic Number - De La Soul
DISC SIX: New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down - LCD Sound System 
DISC SEVEN: Dream Song 28: Snow Line. Written and read by John Berryman 
DISC EIGHT: Violin Concerto in D Major, RV 234 “L’inquietudine” 1: Allegro. Composed by Antonio Vivaldi and performed by Walter Gallozzi and I Musici BOOK CHOICE: The Norton Anthology of Poetry 
LUXURY ITEM: A football 
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Georgia on my Mind - Billie Holiday Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah TaylorDesert Island Discs has cast many TV writers away to the island over the years including Russell T Davies, Sally Wainwright and Abi Morgan. You’ll also find the stars of Peep Show, Robert Webb and David Mitchell in there too along with the actor Brian Cox who played the patriarch, Logan Roy, in Jesse’s hit TV series, Succession. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Jesse Armstrong, writer

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

Desert Island Discs

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