Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1986, and the presenter was Michael Parkinson.

A cast away today is by a common consent, one of our finest actresses.

Her versatility has allowed her to play the widest possible rings of roles on both stage and television.

She's played the classics and starred in musicals and a thriller.

Her repertoire includes Cleopatra, Jonobach, Lady Met Beth,

a newspaper agony aunt, and Edith Piaf.

In fact, it was a portrayal of Piaf that made her a star, both here and in America.

She's Jane Lappertair. Jane, welcome. Are you going to enjoy this Desert Island, do you think?

I mean, will you cope?

Oh, I think initially it would be like the most wonderful holiday I could ever have imagined.

Sun, sand, peace and quiet. I'm a very private person, and I'm quite practical,

so I'll be able to kind of make myself a shelter, and I don't know how I'll start a fire,

but I will enjoy the solitude, and I will enjoy the sun. I'm a bit of a sun worshiper on the quiet too.

Will you be waiting for the thong to ring to offer you the next pot?

No, no. I hate the phone.

In fact, one of my greatest joys in life is to hear the phone ring and not answer it.

Really? I think they can't get me. They can't get me. I'm not going to answer that one.

No, I'm really not. I suppose because after a certain while in the entertainment industry,

you don't really wait for the phone to ring anymore.

You know that you've got the next three months without any work,

...