Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

From Ella Fitzgerald to Radiohead. Actor and director Kate Winslet share her music choices with Lauren Laverne. From 2025.

Actor Kate Winslet, is castaway by Lauren Laverne.

Kate Winslet has achieved global fame playing Rose DeWitt Bukater, opposite Leonard DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, in the 1997 James Cameron epic Titanic. During her career she has won five BAFTAs, two Emmys, five Golden Globes and an Academy Award for her role in the Reader.

Kate was born in Reading in 1975 and attended Redroofs School for the Performing Arts in Maidenhead, Berkshire. Her film debut came in 1994 when she played a teenage killer in Peter Jackson’s film Heavenly Creatures. The following year she played Marianne Dashwood opposite Emma Thompson’s Elinor in Sense and Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee. Kate’s performance earned her a BAFTA for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

She went on to consolidate her reputation as one of the most versatile actors of her generation by starring in a list of popular and critically acclaimed films including Hideous Kinky, Iris, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Holiday.

Last year Kate directed her first film, Goodbye June, starring Helen Mirren, Timothy Spall and Andrea Riseborough.

Kate has three children and lives in West Sussex with her husband Ned and her family.

DISC ONE: Georgia on my Mind - Roger Winslet and Sophie Breakenridge
DISC TWO: Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs - Brian and Michael
DISC THREE: Kiss from a Rose - Seal
DISC FOUR: Summertime - Ella Fitzgerald
DISC FIVE: Nuvole Bianche - Ludovico Einaudi
DISC SIX: Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi - Radiohead
DISC SEVEN: Blue Ridge Mountains - Fleet Foxes
DISC EIGHT: Pump up the Jam - Technotronic

BOOK CHOICE: Outside: Recipes for a Wilder Way of Eating by Gill Meller
LUXURY ITEM: Freshly ground coffee
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Georgia on my Mind – Roger Winslet and Sophie Breakenridge

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley

First broadcast on Âé¶¹Éç Radio 4 in December 2025.

Release date:

1 hour

On radio

Sun 29 Mar 2026 06:00

Broadcasts

  • Sun 29 Mar 2026 06:00
  • Sun 29 Mar 2026 11:00
  • Sun 29 Mar 2026 17:00
  • Mon 30 Mar 2026 01:00

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.