It seems like the same programme. The dreamy opening theme with its soaring strings, the cosy tête-à-tête between host and guest, the interspersed tracks ranging from classical to pop to world music. But there is something wrong with Desert Island Discs, whose guest today is Delia Smith. Like other fans of the programme I have kept on dutifully listening through its latest iteration, hosted by DJ Lauren Laverne, but with an irrepressible sense of disappointment. I snapped recently when, tuning in at the usual time, I learnt that the castaway was a businessman, barely known outside the pages of the Financial Times, who ran an energy company. It didn’t even make good background radio.
Benefit-of-the-doubt defences kicked in. Perhaps we are listening through a period when British public figures just aren’t that interesting? In fairness, the golden age of the show was in the late 20th century when many castaways had participated in the Second World War. They came furnished with fantastic stories of achievement and adversity. The great world event of our age was Covid-19, which wasn’t exactly participatory for most. But the decline of Desert Island Discs can’t be put down solely to the disappointing roster of guests. The show has lost its way.
