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Stephen Poliakoff

Sue Lawley's castaway is playwright and director Stephen Poliakoff.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the playwright and director Stephen Poliakoff. Stephen Poliakoff is probably best known for his explorations of the themes of memory, family and history in his dramas for television, including Shooting the Past, Perfect Strangers and The Lost Prince.

He was born into an aristocratic, Russian Jewish family in 1952, the third of four children. Stephen's talent as a dramatist emerged from the embers of his ambition to be an actor. He discovered early that he could write, and his first play, Granny, was sufficiently well received to be made the school play - and to be reviewed by a major national paper. Later, during the 1970s, Stephen began to work in television with films like Stronger than the Sun for Play for Today and Caught on a Train - which won a BAFTA. His television film Close My Eyes won the Evening Standard Best Film Award in 1991; the series Shooting the Past won the Prix Italia in 1999 and in 2002 he won the Dennis Potter Award at the BAFTAs.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Quintet For Clarinet and String Quartet in A Major (Larghetto) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Book: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Luxury: A box of plastic straws to fiddle with

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 18 Mar 2005 09:00

Music Played

  • Dusty Springfield

    I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten

    • Dusty -The Silver Collection.
    • Philips.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Clarinet Quintet in A major - 2nd movement

      • Clarinet Quintet, Flute Quartet No1, Oboe Quartet.
      • Deutsche Grammophon.
  • John Barry

    Main Title (from The Ipcress File)

    • Music from the Ipcress File.
    • CBS.
  • Fleetwood Mac

    Go Your Own Way

    • Greatest Hits.
    • Warner Bros..
  • Adrian Johnston

    Never Was a Child Like Him

    • Stephen Poliakoff's The Lost Prince.
    • 成人快手.
  • Henry Purcell

    O let me weep (The Plaint ) (from The Fairy Queen)

    • Henry Purcell - The Fairy Queen.
    • Decca.
  • Joan Armatrading

    Love And Affection

    • Labelled with Love.
    • A&M Records.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Gloria in D Major

    • Bach - Magnificat, Vivaldi - Gloria, Caldara - Stabat Mater.
    • Collins Classics.
  • Book Choice

    • My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell

  • Luxury Choice

    • A box of plastic straws to fiddle with

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Stephen Poliakoff

Broadcasts

  • Sun 13 Mar 2005 11:15
  • Fri 18 Mar 2005 09:00

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