Desert Island Discs | James Cordon
Based on The History Boys by Alan Bennett
James Corden, actor and writer of Gavin and Stacey, is Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor and writer. As a child he longed to act - he found early success in Alan Bennett's play The History Boys and became a household name for the TV show he devised and co-wrote, Gavin and Stacey.
Tweet![](https://era.org.uk/app/uploads/2024/03/a-lady-in-the-van-400x230.jpg)
Lady in the Van (2015)
The true story of Miss Shepherd, an eccentric woman of uncertain origins, who 'temporarily' parked her broken-down van in writer Alan Bennett's London driveway for 15 years.
![](https://era.org.uk/app/uploads/2023/10/start-the-week-400x230.jpg)
Start the Week | Nicholas Hytner
Hytner made his name and fortune in the 1990s with the musical Miss Saigon. Further successes came with theatre and film productions of The Madness of King George and The History Boys, and the sell-out One Man, Two Guvnors. During the year of the pandemic Hytner has sought to keep the theatre afloat with performances of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads.