0:01

BBC Sounds, music, radio,

0:03

podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren

0:05

Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs

0:08

podcast. Every week I ask my guests to

0:10

choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd

0:12

want to take with them if they were

0:14

cast away to a desert island. And

0:17

for rights reasons, the music is shorter

0:19

than the original broadcast. I hope you

0:21

enjoy listening. My

0:46

castaway this week is the actor Jamie

0:48

Dornan. He was born in Hollywood, the

0:50

Belfast one, but his career has taken

0:53

him to the more famous one, first

0:55

as an internationally successful model and then

0:57

as one of the most in-demand actors

0:59

of his generation. The model turned actor

1:01

tag was, he says, a difficult one

1:04

to shake at first, but he did

1:06

it with famously good humour and critically

1:08

acclaimed performances, like his breakthrough role as

1:10

the disturbingly charming serial killer in the

1:12

BBC drama The Fall. Since

1:14

then, he's earned rave reviews playing Kenneth

1:17

Branagh's father in the film Belfast.

1:19

Along the way, he fronted the billion-dollar

1:22

franchise that was the Fifty Shades of

1:24

Grey series and starred in the hit

1:26

television series The Tourist, which attracted millions

1:28

of viewers and recently returned for its

1:30

second season. He says, there's no better

1:32

high than reading a script and feeling

1:34

that you're the only person who can

1:36

bring it to life, but it goes

1:38

with that constant babble with your inner

1:40

self. After you've convinced yourself

1:42

it has to be you, on day one,

1:44

you're questioning why they haven't considered the other

1:46

guy. Jamie Dornan, welcome to Desert

1:49

Island Discs. Thank you very much for having me. So

1:51

let's start with that challenge then of getting out

1:53

of your head and into the role. There's a

1:55

balance to strike for actors between the preparation and

1:57

then the play, you know, getting ready for a

1:59

party. and then being spontaneous and

2:01

open on set. How do you

2:03

get that right? How do you strike that balance? I probably

2:05

don't get that right most of the time. I

2:08

think you need a huge amount of confidence

2:11

and self-belief to be an

2:13

actor and to perform in front of anybody.

2:16

And often I find

2:18

actors are the most riddled

2:21

with self-dite and self-loathing. So

2:24

I think there's always this aspect of

2:26

having to overcome something, but

2:28

not overcome it so much that

2:30

you have total comfort. I

2:33

think you need to always

2:35

be slightly afraid when you

2:37

step on a set. That

2:39

discomfort can be when you're portraying

2:41

an uncomfortable situation, but that

2:43

discomfort can also be when you're portraying

2:46

confidence. I'm probably

2:48

most uncomfortable playing comfortable.

2:52

Can you give us an example of

2:54

when you've found that discomfort in

2:56

a role and it's really worked for you? Probably

2:59

the opposite. I have to say with the fall,

3:01

I felt uncomfortable

3:04

with the idea of playing

3:06

someone so heinous. But

3:08

then once I realised

3:10

that there was something

3:12

that was working and what I was

3:15

doing, I was able to

3:17

kind of lean into it more. So

3:19

I find that very fascinating. That's sort of

3:21

trying to sell something that is so other

3:24

to you and make it comfortable

3:26

enough that you can believe

3:29

it yourself then for people to believe

3:31

it. It's very tricky. Water. You

3:34

said actors that you meet are very

3:36

often riddled with self-doubt. You know I'm going to

3:38

have to ask you. Are you? Massively.

3:42

You know what I mean? I'm pretty

3:44

good at convincing myself and backing

3:46

myself and I do think that can get

3:48

you pretty far. You know

3:50

I'm happier with my self-doubt

3:52

because it always gives you something to

3:55

try to prove. Well

3:57

you have nothing to prove here on the island Jamie.

3:59

Let's get going. going with your music choices shall

4:01

we? What's disc number one? If

4:04

you're from where I'm from and you

4:06

grew up in Belfast, whether you want

4:09

it or not Van Morrison is

4:12

inserted into your soul

4:14

at birth. I love

4:17

him. I just love him. And I

4:20

pick Caravan because I think it sort

4:22

of encompasses the sort of joy of

4:24

his music, the camaraderie and sort of

4:27

family idea of his music and

4:30

love God. He sings about love like no one

4:32

else. Van

5:04

Morrison and Caravan. So Jamie Dornan, you were born

5:07

in 1982 in Hollywood County down

5:10

just outside Belfast, the youngest of three

5:12

kids. What are your memories of growing

5:14

up there in the late 80s? Extremely

5:17

happy, but you

5:20

cannot be from that part

5:22

of the world and not be

5:25

acutely affected because it's

5:27

almost like now I look back at

5:30

what we took for granted

5:32

as normal behaviour. We sort

5:34

of arranged to meet outside

5:36

fast food chain on Saturday

5:38

after we finished

5:40

rugby or whatever in kind in Belfast

5:43

and it felt like

5:45

every other Saturday there'd be a bomb scare and

5:47

someone would call the house phone and say look

5:49

there's a bomb scare obviously that won't meet up

5:51

today. And what about for your parents?

5:53

Your dad had quite a prominent role. Yeah,

5:55

and where dad was an obstetrician and

5:58

ecologist, the Royal Maternity was which is

6:00

the epicenter of a lot of the

6:02

madness and dad delivered over 6,000 babies

6:05

from both

6:07

sides of the line and

6:10

then I remember times you know, dad would go

6:13

out and you'd be checking under the car for

6:15

bombs and doing it with

6:17

him, thinking it was kind of funny or

6:21

like a fun activity sort of getting your hands and knees

6:23

and look under the car but

6:25

then also I remember dad got letters

6:27

from, I can't

6:30

remember the names here but like from

6:32

prominent figures from a loyalist

6:34

community and prominent figures from republican communities both

6:36

based on difficult pregnancies that someone close to

6:39

them had had and dad had sort of

6:41

helped them through and everything and

6:43

basically sort of saying from our side it's all

6:45

good and then from our side it's all good.

6:48

Mad, like just mad but comforting.

6:51

At the same time I'm probably less checking under

6:53

the car. And your own dad

6:55

obviously such a force for good, a

6:58

positive force, those 6,000 babies, hopefully most

7:00

of them still walking around out there.

7:02

Do you ever meet them? Are you

7:04

kidding me? I think I've met all 6,000. I almost say

7:07

at this stage, about times people come up

7:09

to me if I'm at home and I'm like, here

7:12

we go, they'll say something nice about whatever film I've

7:15

had just come out or whatever. Can I just

7:17

say and I say yeah, go, here we go,

7:19

your dad delivered to me and my

7:21

sister and my mum always

7:24

talks about how much she fancied your dad.

7:26

I'm like ugh, listen that's lovely. No

7:29

listen, it's been a lovely thing and you know, since

7:32

we lost dad a couple years back, it's

7:35

a huge comfort. Your mum

7:37

Loner was an S, did they meet at work? They

7:39

did, they met. So now

7:41

at the Royal Victoria Hospital there

7:43

is a giant car

7:46

park but back in the day

7:48

there was an outdoor swimming

7:50

pool that was for the staff and

7:53

dad was in the pool and he saw a Beautiful

7:57

brunette climbing out of the pool. And

8:00

that was my mother under.

8:02

When the plans past for

8:04

the. The i'm

8:06

car park there up a about

8:09

the cylinder swimming pool and.happened be

8:11

drive and three the hospital and

8:13

guyton and a very sort of

8:15

dog can away windsor find sort

8:17

of head guy with a hard

8:19

hat on us. Endless I'm gonna

8:21

snap. How over differ?

8:24

On line after stops we had the

8:27

snaps prop up against a shared in

8:29

our garden for years that he first

8:31

saw my moments. Jamie Stamps.

8:33

He sang piece of music Dismember Change

8:36

Legacy. Got fact, I get homesick

8:38

for Ireland and Belfast and the

8:40

people. So often I'm away I'll

8:42

sort of find myself through gurgling

8:45

stuff know be on like local

8:47

newspapers of homes for eating headlines

8:50

and stuff and them out of

8:52

a shit. I typed in Ulster

8:54

some a trip new ours Ulster

8:57

and came across as according by

8:59

the else orchestra of Philip Glass's

9:01

Violin Concerto second Movement decisis pieces

9:04

of music that I instantly. went

9:06

i'm gonna be listen to this or not

9:08

the money and i do i go to

9:10

oath The

10:11

second movement from Philip Glass's

10:13

Violin Concerto No. 1 performed

10:15

by Adele Anthony with the

10:17

Ulster Orchestra conducted by Takuo

10:19

Yuasa. Jamie Dornan I

10:21

think an early dramatic highlight for you

10:24

was a fairly spectacular performance as Widow

10:26

Twanky in the school panto. You were

10:28

10 and how did you approach the

10:30

role? Jamie Dornan We had an amazing

10:32

cleaner called Nellie Morgan who was a

10:35

formidable woman. She lived in a place

10:37

called Short Strand, a very infamous part

10:39

of Belfast because it is a sort

10:42

of nationalist republican estate right on

10:44

the edge of East, a very

10:46

predominantly loyalist part of East Belfast.

10:49

It was a dangerous place. I

10:51

don't think Nellie Morgan would have ever been scared

10:53

in her life. She was just unbelievable

10:55

and she used to walk from there 6 miles

10:58

to clean for us. When you

11:00

offered her a lift, if we were like, look, we're heading

11:03

up the road to Belfast now, she'd usually say no. She

11:06

was just brilliant. I just loved her and I

11:08

said that like I'm playing without talking. And

11:12

I was sort of, I'm going to steal some of

11:14

your traits basically. Anyway, a big regret

11:16

is, and I don't know how or why that happened,

11:19

but they probably just sort of sting you on tickets,

11:21

but she didn't come to see the performance. I think

11:23

we did two performances of it, but

11:25

I won the drama prize and I was very smug.

11:27

I guess it was my first sense of getting

11:31

a sense of satisfaction from performance.

11:34

By the time you started secondary school at

11:36

Methodist College Belfast, rugby was a passion of

11:38

yours. I wonder what you

11:40

got out of drama that you didn't get

11:42

from rugby that must have been quite different

11:44

worlds, quite different peer groups. Yeah, big

11:47

time. Rugby is

11:49

a huge love of mine, but there's

11:51

also sort of boys club side to

11:53

it where it's like you're this kind

11:55

of proper man. They're kind of macho

11:57

culture. Yeah, and I'm fine with

11:59

that. But I also think I knew that there

12:01

was a death aside of me that was probably

12:04

wanting to sort of skip about. Be

12:07

free. Be a little more free. And

12:09

we had this drama studio at school, and you'd

12:11

come off the hustle and bustle in the madness

12:13

of the main corridor and go into these big

12:15

thick black doors and you go into this space

12:17

that was all black. Everything was black. It

12:20

sounds really depressing, but it's like the most

12:22

joyous space ever, because

12:24

everyone just left their inhibitions at

12:26

the door in the corridor. And

12:28

you could muck about and play.

12:31

Jamie, it's time for your third piece of music today, disc

12:33

number three. What are we going to hear next and why

12:35

are you taking it to the island? Cigaruss

12:38

are amazing. And three of

12:40

my best friends and I went to

12:42

Latitude Festival and we started wandering our

12:45

way down to the main

12:47

stage where cigarettes are playing. I

12:50

will say that we were sort of suitably influenced

12:53

is probably about as good a way of saying

12:55

the sort of our state that we were in.

12:58

That sound they created like nothing else. And

13:00

it was just like flowing up this sort

13:02

of bank to us like it was penetrating

13:05

us at the back of this bank. And

13:07

we, the four of us sort of looked at each other and went, let's

13:10

just lie down right

13:12

here. And

13:15

Hoppipula, I probably butchered

13:17

that, literally started as our sort of bums

13:19

hit the floor and we lay down and

13:22

we didn't speak to each other. In

13:25

case anyone of us would turn around and look at each other

13:27

in the eyes, we were all just acutely aware of like how

13:29

special this sort of moment was and that we were getting to

13:31

share this together. Sigeiros

14:03

and Hoppy Polla. Jamie

14:05

Dornan, when you were just

14:08

14, your mother Lorna was diagnosed

14:10

with cancer and was told

14:12

it was inoperable. It must have been an

14:14

unimaginably difficult time for your

14:16

family. You were so young,

14:18

I wonder whether you knew how serious it

14:21

was from the beginning. I

14:26

don't know if I know how I felt

14:28

in a weird way because

14:32

I would say I was a very young

14:34

14-year-old. I will never forget where

14:37

I was. I just finished playing rugby

14:39

actually at Prairie Park, which is the

14:41

playing field of my old school in

14:43

Methodist, and I got in the car.

14:46

I knew Mum had been going in to

14:48

the hospital that day for tests

14:50

and stuff, but

14:53

I didn't quite know what the crack was with any of us.

14:56

Dad told me there and then, before

15:00

we even turned the engine on, that she

15:02

wasn't going to survive. I

15:05

think that was the only way. I'm really

15:07

glad Dad told me that way. I don't think it would

15:09

have been right to say, but we're all

15:12

going to think positive thoughts and

15:14

we'll be praying every night. We

15:16

weren't a religious family by any

15:18

stretch at all. I'm

15:20

thankful that it was told to me straight

15:22

like that. It's

15:25

a funny thing. I wish, and

15:27

I sometimes feel guilty saying this,

15:29

but there's a lot that

15:31

I don't remember about her. Because

15:33

you didn't know you had to. You were just being

15:35

a kid. I guess so. You're not expecting

15:38

any of that to be taken away. What

15:40

kind of support did the family give you

15:43

after you lost your mum? Amazing.

15:45

Both my sisters are amazing. Amazing people.

15:52

Yeah, I definitely felt that. I felt that love

15:54

and support. My dad, I remember Saying,

15:57

you can't let this be the thing that defines us.

16:01

I really. Grateful. For those

16:03

words and I am what? Is it? A

16:05

scene? I don't

16:07

know is that it was like trying to say that like.

16:11

Eating live of. Up. So seldom

16:13

positive, unhappy life. still. Know

16:16

that doesn't lessen the impact of losing mom

16:19

or nothing, but I guess it was just

16:21

to give us. Dot

16:24

to the giving us the okay that

16:26

latest it's okay to. To

16:29

see the happiness in the future. And

16:33

yeah I would then or that

16:35

the next summer as I just.

16:37

Other toxic thing have my license or

16:39

for my. Mates

16:41

were killed in a like a car

16:44

crash on an in many ways that

16:46

was a bigger impact the me whereas

16:48

with mom. Doesn't. That never to

16:50

build a but it with the boys is a

16:53

store shot in denial. Yeah.

16:55

I remember distinctly sinking

16:58

like. Go. Through all this

17:00

knife a superbly tough me up a fair

17:02

bit. They can affect you know to get

17:04

older because of has the. Haven't

17:07

had a great. Couple. Years of

17:09

the stuff. Seamless.

17:12

Have unique piece of music she sought to.

17:14

Statements are gonna be. I

17:16

think I heard. The. Song for

17:18

the first time. In

17:21

my head of the first time my sisters

17:23

and I am and or dad. Were.

17:25

Together Since signing, I'd. Mom

17:28

was gonna make it. And

17:30

also a my head. We were sort of like

17:33

sat around the record player as the song played.

17:36

A. Members Thinking: This.

17:38

Has been written for us. And

17:40

then subsequently a same song then

17:42

came on the radio one evening

17:44

when I was driving round tough

17:47

Us with tray of this was

17:49

my best mates and. We

17:51

just clicked it to them,

17:54

started singing it and it's

17:56

really hard and try to

17:58

stay. in tune with the I was

18:01

sort of cry laughing my way through it

18:03

so it's sort of double meaning for me This

18:07

is a bridge over troubled

18:10

water by Sam Nickarfockel I'm

18:30

trying to find you I'm

18:37

trying to find you Simon

18:43

and Garfunkel, bridge over troubled water

18:46

Jamie Dornan, you started a marketing degree

18:49

at Teaside University in Middlesbrough in 2001

18:52

but you dropped out after your first year

18:54

and went back home Obviously you'd been through

18:56

a lot What do you remember about that

18:58

time? I drank a lot I

19:02

was probably depressed if I'm really honest

19:04

with myself and

19:06

just clueless about what I wanted to do

19:09

I remember my dad just said just do something you just

19:12

got to do something I don't care if you just go

19:14

and like play golf every day because at least it's productive

19:16

at least you're like trying to get better at golf you're

19:18

just doing nothing and I can't watch it So

19:21

it was your sister Jess that put you

19:23

up for a reality television show called Model

19:25

Behavior and that followed would-be models You didn't

19:28

win but you got an agent and started

19:30

working with huge brands like Dior and Calvin

19:32

Klein What was it like seeing

19:34

yourself on huge billboards? Very

19:37

strange It's not something I've ever

19:39

envisaged for myself So it was very strange I'll never

19:41

forget the first time I was walking

19:45

through New York and I'd done

19:47

this Calvin Klein campaign and there's a

19:49

massive like billboard with

19:51

Natalia Vodianova wearing this like

19:53

black sand agency She's like

19:56

oh don't make Calvin Klein jeans

19:58

which is basically taking a

20:00

bite out of my arse or

20:03

looking like she's about to do that and

20:07

I just looked up and thought for the first time

20:09

and I thought oh my god and

20:11

as I looked up there's a woman beside me

20:13

went that's disgusting and

20:18

I went that's me that's actually me that's my

20:21

bum and that's my face but

20:23

it was a very strange situation that

20:25

I didn't seek out but then it

20:27

was very quite quickly good to me

20:30

people are getting in your ear saying if you ever

20:32

thought about acting you'd be like well actually did I

20:35

mean I guess it helped that

20:41

at that time I was my profile

20:43

as a model was was big there was a sort

20:45

of want from that side I felt like whether even

20:48

I wanted or not and then slowly but surely I

20:50

was convinced that I did want to do it Jamie

20:53

let's have some more music disc number five what are we

20:56

going to hear next met hurry

20:58

by Brendan Benson in that

21:00

summer that we're talking with

21:03

I drank a lot as I

21:05

said I didn't achieve a lot and my

21:07

eldest sister Lisa had got me like a

21:09

CD and I think it was

21:11

called acoustic volume two right and there's obviously

21:14

been an acoustic volume one that I'm not

21:16

aware of and although I

21:18

was sort of quite rudderless

21:21

I was doing a lot of thinking and

21:23

often when I was doing my thinking this

21:25

album was on I've always felt that it's

21:27

like my little secret this song it's really

21:29

strange and it just takes

21:31

me back to that time and those big decisions

21:33

that were needing to be made so I could

21:35

kick out with the rest of my life Brendan

22:07

Benson and Metairie. Jamie

22:09

Dornan, while you were modelling you started auditioning

22:12

for acting roles. How soon did things start

22:14

happening for you? I

22:16

had had an agent for less than

22:18

24 hours and he sent me out in

22:20

this audition for a movie

22:23

called Marie Antoinette. Suddenly a

22:25

day later I was on a train

22:27

to Paris and I auditioned for it

22:29

there with my friend's cousin director. And

22:32

then that evening I sat in the

22:35

Hemingway bar at the Ritz in Paris

22:37

with Sophia Coppola having sort of martinis.

22:40

And I was just really casual about the whole

22:42

thing. And then when I sort of

22:44

didn't, then when I was actively auditioning for like a

22:47

good few years after and didn't get any work then

22:49

I really realised like how good I had it at

22:51

the beginning. You had modelling to

22:53

pay the bills but do you think once

22:55

you started pursuing it more actively that that

22:57

model turned after tag was a problem?

23:01

Not in the States. There'd be no

23:03

change in their faces if you said you'd model first.

23:05

What is that about do you think? I

23:07

lied to said, it's just so snobbery. I felt

23:10

a great deal of that early on. It

23:12

was a bit of an uphill battle. And what

23:14

gave you the self-belief to keep going and push

23:16

through that? I'm pretty determined person

23:19

I think. Again I'm not sure if I

23:21

haven't experienced that loss and all that stuff

23:23

we've already discussed. I'm not sure I

23:26

would be that determined but like something was

23:28

lit under me at some stage. So

23:30

that tenacity paid off. In 2012 you auditioned

23:33

for a part in a new BBC television

23:35

drama called The Fall. It starred Gillian Anderson

23:37

and was about a detective on the trail

23:39

of a serial killer called Paul Spector. What

23:42

do you remember about your audition? I

23:44

auditioned to play a police officer who dies in

23:47

the second episode. Which at the time

23:49

I was happy just to get in the room. Didn't

23:52

hear anything. I was going out to

23:54

LA for pilot season. And whilst I

23:56

was out there it was probably a week or ten days into

23:58

this trip. I got

24:00

a call from ASL saying that they want you to audition again

24:02

for the fall. It is for

24:04

a different part. I was like, oh, here we go. This

24:08

is for the main guy. I remember

24:10

thinking if I get this, this

24:13

will change the course of my career. I was

24:15

right. It did. It did change my career overnight.

24:18

Let's have some more music. Disc number six, Jamie,

24:20

what's it going to be? I met

24:23

Millie, Amelia Warner in

24:25

2010 in LA at the House party. And

24:27

I have this old Mercedes, this old 1988

24:30

Mercedes, the first car I ever bought with my

24:32

first like good paycheck was like 22 or something.

24:35

I still have it today. It's beautiful. She's called

24:37

Macy. And at the roof

24:39

down in Macy, you're driving along. So

24:41

I played her this song that I knew she

24:43

wouldn't know by the beech voice. And I

24:45

just watched her reaction.

24:48

I was driving, so I was watching the road as well. Turn

24:51

around to look at her reaction. And

24:54

she was just instantly impacted

24:56

by the song. It then

24:59

seemed appropriate that it would be our first

25:01

dance at our wedding. The opening

25:03

line, if every word I said could make you

25:05

laugh, I'd talk forever is

25:08

pretty much exactly how I feel about my

25:10

wife. Making her laugh is my favorite thing

25:12

in the world today. This is forever by

25:14

the beech voice. The

25:46

beech voice and forever. Jamie Dornan in

25:48

2015, you played Christian Grey in Sam Taylor

25:51

Woods film 50 Shades of Grey, which is

25:53

based on the erotic novel by E.L. James.

25:55

So you got the part just weeks before

25:57

shooting was due to start in Vancouver. after

26:00

the actor who was originally cast pulled out.

26:02

Your wife Millie meanwhile was heavily pregnant with

26:04

your first child and the shoot was going

26:06

to take several months so you had a

26:09

big decision about whether you should both go.

26:11

I'm amazed that Millie didn't just

26:14

say no. Fair

26:16

play there, what an unbelievable woman to

26:18

hop on a private jet because we

26:20

couldn't fly commercially with my dad

26:23

on it because if she went

26:25

into labour in the sky

26:27

there needed to be an obstetrician on us.

26:29

My dad had to come with us and

26:32

I'll never forget we're somewhere over New York

26:35

and dad ordered a gin and tonic and I

26:37

was like I don't know dad like you

26:40

know you're kind of at work here

26:43

like if Millie goes into labour you

26:45

need to come. She wouldn't be

26:47

going into active labour for at least seven or eight hours

26:49

by which time we'll be in Vancouver and it'll be handed

26:52

over to someone else. The

26:54

image of your dad saying he's with the gin and tonic

26:56

in his hands. Literally, it's unbelievable. And

26:59

then Dulce was born and three days

27:01

later we started filming. I was mad.

27:03

The film was hugely popular with audiences

27:06

but not with the critics. How did

27:08

you respond to react to the negative

27:10

reviews? I think I hid. You

27:12

know I'm coming off the back

27:14

of career altering reviews for the

27:16

fall and after nominations and all

27:18

this madness that the fall brought

27:21

to just ridicule almost.

27:23

Actually we went on to Sam and

27:27

Aaron, Sam and Tae Johnson and Aaron Earl from their

27:29

place and they weren't there and we sort of they

27:32

let us have their place in the country and we

27:34

sort of hid there for a while and just show

27:36

ourselves off from the world a bit and then so

27:39

it came out the other side. I mean it just

27:42

made so much money like it made so much money

27:44

so like two and three were green lit like overnight

27:46

so it's like a strange thing because

27:49

then you're like alright there's a

27:51

bit of ridicule here and I'm now contractually doing

27:53

two more of them and

27:56

knowing that there'll be much more of that damnation

27:59

to come. Did you have mixed feelings?

28:01

Any regrets about taking the role on

28:03

at any point? You know, I

28:06

just had very glowing reviews for recent work

28:08

and there wouldn't be many of them that

28:10

don't mention Fifty Shades in them. You know,

28:12

a lot of reviews are like, he's great but lest

28:15

we forget when he wasn't great here,

28:17

like give us a chance. But

28:20

no regret that I did them, no. Jamie,

28:23

it's time for disc number seven. What's next?

28:26

The Beatles are, they have been a constant

28:28

in my life and I

28:31

love still to this day hearing

28:34

their influence on other bands that I

28:36

like. This song

28:39

just makes me feel happy and I think

28:41

is one of the most beautiful songs

28:43

ever. This is something about the

28:45

Beatles. Jamie

28:57

Dornan, we've

29:02

talked a lot

29:09

about your dad Jim today

29:11

and you lost him in

29:13

2021. He died

29:16

of complications

29:25

related to Covid and like so

29:27

many families during that terrible time,

29:30

you'd been separated. You were in quarantine

29:32

in Australia, you didn't get to say

29:34

goodbye. That must have been so difficult.

29:38

Yeah, it was unimaginable and then

29:40

I had a job to start

29:42

a few days later and couldn't really get

29:45

out of that. So that would have been the tourist? That

29:47

was the first season of the tourist and

29:49

I had to just stay out

29:52

in Australia for, you know, there for five

29:54

months. I didn't say my

29:56

sisters or anything. I mean,

29:58

how were you going to work in in the middle of all

30:01

that? It wasn't easy.

30:03

I think I just had

30:06

to try to put the best

30:08

version of yourself and create a really

30:10

mad TV show. And

30:13

it was that same year you lost your dad.

30:15

Belfast came out, you were playing part, it was

30:17

setting your hometown, the premiere

30:20

must have been incredibly emotional for you. Yeah,

30:22

I think it's

30:24

almost like that movie was made for my dad.

30:26

My dad would have just loved that

30:29

film so much, but I do

30:31

take comfort in the fact that he knew that I did it. And

30:34

he'd actually heard of the actors I was acting with, which

30:36

was rare for him.

30:39

Some people their dad will never tell them they

30:41

love them, particularly to have something or tell them

30:43

that they're proud of them. And I don't think I

30:46

ever had a, you know, was ever with

30:48

my dad or on the phone to my dad where he

30:50

didn't tell me both of those things. So I feel like,

30:53

you know, very fortunate there that we

30:56

were all shard with love and pride from

30:59

him for all of our lives. Jamie,

31:02

the time has come for me to send you off

31:04

to the island. I'm about to do it. I wonder

31:07

how you feel about the prospect. I

31:10

sort of would try to convince myself that I'm really

31:12

capable in the situation like that. And I'd be like,

31:14

Oh yeah, what's this? I'm going to build this class a

31:16

little hot out of wet that I find. And I'm going

31:19

to chop that down. I'm going to cut that off for

31:21

dinner and all this stuff. But that's it. The reality is

31:24

I'd be really clueless and I'd probably just

31:26

sit in a bowl crying until

31:29

I died. I

31:33

mean, at least you've got your day. Yeah. I

31:36

mean, that would keep me going for a

31:38

while. I think what would happen is you'd actually

31:40

get really bored of these eight songs and then

31:42

you'd really resent the fact you ever suggested them.

31:46

I don't know. You've got some classics here. I think you're going to be

31:48

all right. Listen, and you've got one more to go. Yes, I

31:50

do. One more disc before we cast

31:52

you away, Jamie. What's it going to be? I

31:55

always loved the song. I

31:58

loved how how

32:00

he was talking about someone who just

32:02

sees the world differently and only

32:04

sees the positive and

32:06

how we sort of there's a necessity for people

32:08

like that in your life to lift you up

32:12

and I think it's one of those songs that I was

32:14

always sort of trying to work out like for me who's

32:16

this song about and then it sort

32:18

of took my dad dying for

32:22

me to kind of realize that for me that person

32:24

who sees the world differently and

32:26

was just always radiating positivity with

32:28

him and at that memorial which

32:30

we had to wait a year and a half after

32:32

he died to have I made a speech

32:34

that's the both of my sisters part

32:37

of my reading was reading lyrics from this

32:39

song this is The Hole

32:41

of the Man by the Waterboys Are

32:58

you just fading your room?

33:01

I saw the crescendo The

33:12

Hole of the Moon by the Waterboys So Jamie

33:14

Dornan it's time I'm going to cast you away

33:16

to the island I will give you the bible

33:18

the complete works of Shakespeare and you can take

33:20

one other book of your choice what

33:23

are you going for? I'm

33:25

going to take Where the Wild Things Are because

33:28

it's so much of it is about

33:30

you know the escapism and being on

33:32

an island and it is a book

33:34

that I force

33:36

on my kids the most I'm going to say

33:39

like I'll play tricks where I'll be like oh

33:41

I can only find Where the Wild Things

33:43

Are like no no no we read that

33:46

last night I'm like I can only find

33:48

Where the Wild Things Are and

33:51

my kids just love it and I just

33:53

love watching them love it it's yours you

33:55

can also have a luxury item what have you gone for? could

33:58

you give me a golf bottle? and the

34:00

golf club. I may like both of those. And

34:03

finally, which one track of the eight that you've shared

34:05

with us today would you rush to save from the

34:07

waves? Forever by the

34:09

beach voice. The one thing I'd really

34:12

need to get me through is the

34:14

thought of my wife and everything that

34:16

she's given

34:19

me and her family. Jamie

34:22

Dornan, thank you very much for letting us

34:24

hear your desert island discs. Thank you so

34:26

much. It's been very emotional.

34:30

Thank you. Hello.

34:53

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Jamie

34:55

and I hope he gets to perfect his

34:57

golf on the island, although I'm a bit

34:59

worried it might be a giant bunker. Oh

35:02

well, we've cast away many actors, including Stephen

35:04

Graham, Maxine Peake, and David Harewood. Gillian Anderson,

35:06

Jamie's co-star in the fall, is in our

35:08

back catalogue too. You can find

35:10

all of these episodes in our Desert Ireland

35:12

Discs program archive and through BBC Sends.

35:14

The studio manager for today's program

35:17

was Jackie Margerum. The assistant producer

35:19

was Christine Pavlovski and the producer

35:21

was Paula McGinley. The series editor

35:23

is John Gowdy. Next

35:25

time, my guest will be the photographer and

35:27

writer Val Wilmer. I do hope you'll join

35:29

us. Hello,

35:44

I'm Dr Michael Moseley and in

35:46

my BBC Radio 4 podcast, Just

35:48

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35:50

some quick, simple and surprising

35:52

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35:55

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36:01

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36:05

pressure. How about

36:07

snacking smartly? Delicious. To

36:10

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36:12

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36:14

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