Desert Island Discs Revisited [Small Screen Stars]

Actor Sir David Suchet shares his castaway choices with Kirsty Young.

David has won armfuls of awards for his work - most recently an Emmy for his portrayal of Robert Maxwell - but he is best known for the character he was associated with for 20 years, Hercule Poirot.

His approach to his work is meticulous and he says he has to inhabit each role he takes on. In this illuminating interview he recalls how, early in his career, a psychologist showed him how to shed his character at the end of each performance otherwise, he found, the edges between his own life and those of the person he was playing became blurred.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2009.

From Mozart to Nat King Cole. Actor David Suchet shares his castaway choices

Actress Jane Horrocks shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young. .

Jane specialises in unconventional, complex roles - from the eccentric secretary Bubble in the cult BBC TV sitcom Absolutely Fabulous to a bulimic teenager in Mike Leigh's film Life is Sweet.

But the role that brought her the greatest public recognition and critical acclaim was Little Voice. Written especially for her, it told the story of a cripplingly shy girl who only finds liberation and expression when she takes on the voices of musical legends. Jane Horrocks's ability to sing like Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe, among others, was so convincing that the film's credits had to make it clear she had sung every note and not been dubbed by the originals.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2006.

From Bjork to Gracie Fields Jane Horrocks shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young.

Actress Joanna Lumley shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young.

Joanna first found fame as the high-kicking glamour-puss Purdey in the 1970s TV series The New Avengers, but the role that cemented her in the nation's psyche was Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous. A striking beauty with a cut-glass accent she had, until then, been cast as a certain sort of sexy toff. Yet in AbFab she stole the show as a shallow, free-loading, alcoholic has-been - famous for her towering chignon and withering one-liners.

Along with displaying a formidable comic talent, it was a role that toyed cleverly with her public persona, hinting at her own beginnings as a model at the precise moment in the 1960s when London really started to swing. As she contemplates being marooned, she abandons the make-up and glamour of her on-screen life and embraces island living - collecting firewood, eating from shells and preparing her evening fire before the moon rises and she chooses the eight tracks that she'd like to hear during a single island day.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2007.

From Beethoven to Wham! Actress Joanna Lumley shares her castaway choices.

Actor Saeed Jaffrey shares his castaway choices with Sue Lawley.

Saeed traces a career taking him from India, to New York, to London and back home to India.

Beginning with his childhood as the son of a brilliant mimic, he describes his early struggles to establish himself before going on to work with some of the biggest names in the business. Whilst working as a sales assistant in Harrods, he spotted his friend Ingrid Bergman and pretended to be a customer like her.

In the UK, Saeed was best known for his appearances in My Beautiful Laundrette, The Chess Players and The Jewel in the Crown. In India, he was a megastar who couldn't walk the streets without being mobbed.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1997.

From Debussy to Elton John, actor Saeed Jaffrey shares his castaway musical choices.

Actor Timothy Spall shares his castaway choices with Sue Lawley.

Timothy grew up in Battersea, South London. He found school pretty uninspiring and left with art as his only qualification. However, when he played the part of the Cowardly Lion in the school production of The Wizard of Oz, aged 16, he felt he had found his niche. He says 'it had a good big audience and they just laughed, and when I came out to do my bow they gave me a big cheer. Something went off in my head then.' He had a natural talent, and soon found a place at RADA.

Within a year he was snapped up by the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he played key roles such as Andre in Chekhov's The Three Sisters, a role which he was amazed to take over from Ian McKellen. It was a huge learning period and the critics weren't going to cut him any slack just because he was straight out of drama school. He says, 'you're up there playing with the big boys so you learn pretty quick!

His first TV part was as the Brummie builder, Barry, in ITV's Auf Weidersehen Pet in 1983 and he has had many TV roles since: Our Mutual Friend and Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise both earned him Best Actor nominations at the Baftas. His role in the Mike Leigh's Secrets and Lies won him critical acclaim, as well as two best actor nominations, at the Baftas and at the London Film Critic Circle. He's also been sought by Hollywood, appearing in the blockbuster Vanilla Sky.

He won best actor at Prix d'Italia and Cinema Tout Ecran awards for the TV drama Shooting the Past and was awarded the OBE in 2000.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2002.

From Jimmy Nail to Danny Wilson. Actor Timothy Spall shares his castaway choices