Alan Plater - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is playwright Alan Plater. He has been writing plays for radio, television, theatre and cinema since the early 1960s, having served his apprenticeship on Z-Cars in the days of live television drama. Since then, he has been associated with major television adaptions like The Barchester Chronicles and Fortunes of War.

He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his work, as well as recalling his childhood in the north of England in the 1930s and 1940s - an idyllic time for him despite the inconveniences of the Depression and the Blitz.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Fine & Mellow by Billie Holiday
Book: Smell of Sunday Dinner by Sid Chaplin
Luxury: Writing materials

Further episodes of Desert Island Discs: Archive 1986-1991

Further podcasts by BBC Radio 4

Website of BBC Radio 4