Steven Knight, writer

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 September 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Steven Knight CBE is a screenwriter, producer, and director for film and television. He is best known for creating the TV series Peaky Blinders but he has also turned his hand to feature films, novels, comedy and even gameshows. He co-created the global TV quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire. His first film, Dirty Pretty Things, was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards; Peaky Blinders won a BAFTA for Best Drama Series and his writing influences are eclectic. His subjects include chess, cooking, Dickens, Diana, Princess of Wales; the origins of the SAS and a Star Wars sequel. Steven was born in 1959, the youngest of seven children to George and Ida Knight. He grew up in Birmingham where his father hoped that his five sons would follow him into the blacksmith’s business. After studying English at University College London, Steven returned to Birmingham and began his career writing radio commercials. He was soon back down in London working at Capital Radio which then led to a career writing comedy for TV, then novels, and eventually screenplays. He is as respected in Hollywood as he is in the UK and more recently he has been instrumental in setting up a new TV and Film studio complex in Birmingham, Digbeth Loc. He is married with seven children and lives in Gloucestershire.

DISC ONE: I Want You - Bob Dylan DISC TWO: Summertime - Ella Fitzgerald DISC THREE: Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise. Performed by Worcester Cathedral Choir / Worcester Festival Choral Society, directed by Donald Hunt DISC FOUR: Redemption Song - Bob Marley & The Wailers DISC FIVE: A Different Corner - George Michael DISC SIX: Messetchinko Lio (You, Little Moon) - Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares DISC SEVEN: Red Right Hand - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds DISC EIGHT: Keep Right On Until the End of the Road - Harry Lauder

BOOK CHOICE: The Greek Myths by Robert Graves LUXURY ITEM: A solar powered laptop CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Keep Right On Until the End of the Road - Harry Lauder Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah Taylor

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:04.6	Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Disks podcast.
0:08.6	Every week I ask my guest to choose the 8 tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they
0:14.3	were cast away to a desert island. And for rights reasons the music is shorter than
0:19.7	the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening. My castaway this week is the writer Stephen Knight. He's best known as the
0:47.4	creator of the hugely successful TV drama, Piki Blinders, a global hit which ran
0:52.3	for six series, winning a shelf full of awards and inspiring
0:55.8	fans from small Heath to Hollywood.
0:58.2	He grew up in Birmingham, the youngest of seven siblings and says his main aim back then was to secure a job that didn't involve
1:04.4	getting reined on. He's kept himself dry with a surprisingly wide range of film and
1:08.6	TV credits. He co-created the game show who wants to be a millionaire and wrote the Oscar-nominated
1:14.1	screenplay for Dirty Pretty Things but it was his decision to sit down and develop the
1:18.9	stories his father told him about his own 1920s childhood that spawned his greatest hit and now he's a studio
1:26.4	mogul this year he opened Digbuth Lock a huge complex in central Birmingham where the
1:31.8	first Peaky Blinders film will be shot later this year.
1:35.0	He says, being a writer is like being a radio.
1:38.0	Whatever signal you pick up, you just have to broadcast it.
1:41.0	It's not always what you want to write, it's just there.
1:44.5	You just start writing and you never know what's going to happen.
1:47.4	Stephen Knight, welcome to Desert Island Disks.
1:49.4	It's an absolute pleasure and an honor to be here.
1:51.8	Well, we're thrilled to have you and great for you to be
	...

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