Main content

Dorothy Byrne, journalist

Dorothy Byrne, head of News and Current Affairs at Channel 4, shares the eight tracks, book and luxury she would take with her if cast away to a desert island. With Lauren Laverne.

Dorothy Byrne is the head of News and Current Affairs at Channel 4, and has worked in journalism for more than four decades.

In 2018 she received the Outstanding Contribution Award at Royal Television Society Journalism Awards, and her recent commissions include the Channel 4 News investigation into Cambridge Analytica, the Michael Jackson expose Leaving Neverland and the BAFTA-winning documentary For Sama, about one family鈥檚 life under siege in Aleppo, which also won an Oscar nomination.

She began her career in journalism in her mid 20s on the Waltham Forest Guardian, after writing a cheeky letter to 50 local newspaper editors - just one responded. She later moved into television, joining the acclaimed World in Action team at Granada, where she argued that the programme's agenda was male-dominated and needed to change.

Dorothy gave the MacTaggart Lecture at the 2019 Edinburgh International Television Festival, in which she argued that the scrutiny of politicians through broadcast interviews is important for the health of democracy. She also described herself as 'just about the oldest female TV executive working for a broadcaster'.

DISC ONE: Greatest Living Creature by John Grant
DISC TWO: Non-Alignment Pact by Per Ubu
DISC THREE: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth, composed by George Frideric Handel, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult and performed by Dame Joan Sutherland and London Symphony Orchestra
DISC FOUR: Teacher Don鈥檛 Teach Me Nonsense by Fela Kuti
DISC FIVE: Dido's Lament: When I'm Laid In Earth, composed by Hendry Purcell, conducted by Raymond Leppard and performed by Jessye Norman and English Chamber Orchestra
DISC SIX: World in Action by Matt Berry
DISC EIGHT: The People United Will Never Be Defeated by Igor Levit

BOOK CHOICE: Physics text books
LUXURY ITEM: The back catalogue of In Our Time / the voice of Melvyn Bragg
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth, composed by George Frideric Handel, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult and performed by Dame Joan Sutherland and London Symphony Orchestra

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor

Available now

39 minutes

Last on

Fri 6 Mar 2020 09:00
大象传媒 Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

Melanie C

Next

Chris Riddell, illustrator, author and political cartoonist

See all episodes from Desert Island Discs

Music Played

  • John Grant

    Greatest Living Creature

    • Pale Green Ghosts.
    • Bella Union.
    • 3.

  • Pere Ubu

    Non-Alignment Pact

    • The Modern Dance.
    • Blank.
    • 1.

  • George Frideric Handel

    I Know That My Redeemer Liveth

    Conductor: Adrian Boult. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Singer: Joan Sutherland.
    • Handel: Messiah Arias & Choruses.
    • Decca Classics.
    • 11.

  • Fela Kuti

    Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense

    • Fela Anikulapo Kuti: Teacher Don鈥檛 Teach Me Nonsense.
    • Barclay.
    • 1.

  • Henry Purcell

    Dido's Lament: When I'm Laid In Earth

    Performer: Jessye Norman. Conductor: Raymond Leppard. Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra.
    • The Jessye Norman Collection.
    • Philips.
    • 7.

  • Matt Berry

    World in Action

    • Television Themes.
    • Acid Jazz.
    • 12.

  • Leonard Pearcey & Mary Thomas

    The Wheels on the Bus

    • Playgroup Song Time.
    • Music For Pleasure.
    • 3.

  • Frederic Rzewski

    The People United Will Never Be Defeated

    Performer: Igor Levit.
    • Igor Levit plays Bach, Beethoven & Rzewski.
    • Sony.
    • 1.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 1 Mar 2020 11:15
    大象传媒 Radio 4
  • Fri 6 Mar 2020 09:00
    大象传媒 Radio 4

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast