Listen "Ray Winstone"
Episode Synopsis
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actor Ray Winstone.Nil By Mouth, Sexy Beast, Vincent, The Sweeney - he's probably best known for totally authentic tough-guy, geezer-parts. But his work has more range and nuance, encompassing roles as varied as Henry VIII, Magwich in Great Expectations and the lead in Beowulf.Beyond the screen the man himself almost seems to come from a bygone era, when a fellow worth his salt always wore a dapper three piece suit and was handy with his fists. In his youth as a boxer he won 80 of his 88 fights and it seemed for a while that a whiff of menace had followed him out of the ring and onto the streets.However he says, "I'm not like the geezers I play: loads of things scare me in everyday life but you have to hide a bit and put on a front. I cry at movies, I cry at scripts, I cried when West Ham got back into the Premiership - I'm even frightened of spiders."Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
More episodes of the podcast Desert Island Discs
Lee Child, writer
11/01/2026
Margaret Atwood, writer
04/01/2026
Gordon Buchanan, cameraman and presenter
28/12/2025
Sir Salman Rushdie, writer
21/12/2025
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Computer Scientist
14/12/2025
Sally Mann, photographer and writer
07/12/2025
Lorraine Kelly, broadcaster
30/11/2025
Lennie James, actor
23/11/2025
Mary Greenwell, makeup artist
16/11/2025
Ronnie Wood, musician
09/11/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.