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BBC Radio 4


Celebrating the music that special guests cherish and would like to bestow to future generations.


Inheritance Tracks

You may know her best as the icons — Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous, Purdey in The New Avengers, or Hester Frump in Wednesday...but away from the stage and screen, Joanna Lumley's life is surrounded by music.

Inherited: In the Mood by Glenn Miller
Passing on: Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Joanna Lumley

Davina McCall is a hugely successful TV presenter who’s hosted some of the biggest shows with the biggest stars. 

She’s also made her mark, as a broadcaster and writer, in the field of women’s health - all whilst battling a brain tumour.

Rarely has anyone talked about their Inheritance Tracks with such passion, eloquence, and sheer raw emotion. 

Inherited: State of Independence by Donna Summer
Passed on: You Can Do It by Caribou

Producers: Anna Bailey and Ben Mitchell

Davina McCall

From Swansea to Barry Island Joanna Page has been a friendly face in millions of houses for almost two decades.

But by her own admission, despite her Welsh roots, music is not her forte...although it clear plays an important part in her life.

Inherited: Northern Sky by Nick Drake
Passed on: Chic Mystique by Chic

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Joanna Page

Mark Kermode is a brilliant Film critic, writer, broadcaster and co-host of podcasts Kermode and Mayo's Take - and Screenshot.

In his book, Surround Sound: The Stories of Movie Music, Mark and fellow author Jenny Nelson, discuss the power that music has on screen.

With that in mind, what music will he choose as the soundtrack to his life?

Inherited: 2002 Zarathustrevisited by Stan Kenton & His Orchestra
Passed on: Top of the World by Shonen Knife

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Mark Kermode

The chances of writing a novel which sells more than 80 million copies are about as remote as a lad from Stockport making it to the NBA, but Dan Brown pulled it off with The Da Vinci Code. 

That book, like his new novel, delves into literature, symbology, secret societies and so on. None of which were his first passion. 

Dan Brown’s first passion was music - as he reveals in his Inheritance Tracks.

Inherited: Todo a Pulmón by Miguel Ríos
Passed on: Morning Mood by Edvard Grieg

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Dan Brown

Oti Mabuse was the first professional dancer to win the Strictly Glitterball two years in a row with her partners Kelvin Fletcher and Bill Bailey.

But prior to her success on the Stricktly ballroom Oti had already become South African Latin American Champion no fewer than eight times. 

Music remains massively important to her, both professionally and personally, as she tells us in her Inheritance Tracks.

Inherited: Modimo by Sowetto Gospel Choir
Pass on: I was here by Beyoncé

Producers: Ben Mitchell and Catherine Powell

Oti Mabuse

TV presenter, and Paralympian, Ade Adepitan chooses ‘One Drop’ by Bob Marley and ‘Optimistic’ by Sounds of Blackness.

Ade Adepitan

Presenter Rick Edwards chooses 'Sweet Child O' Mine' by Guns N' Roses and 'Witness (1 Hope)' by Roots Manuva.

Rick Edwards

BBC 6's presenter Nick Grimshaw chooses 'She's Lost Control’ by Joy Division and 'Subterraneans’ by David Bowie.

Nick Grimshaw

Actor and singer Limahl chooses ‘Move Over Darling’ by Doris Day and ‘Four Brothers’ by Manhattan Transfer.

After a short spell as a punk rocker, Limahl found fame with the band Kajagoogoo after responding to an advert in a music magazine in 1982, where the then named Art Noveau were looking for a new lead singer.

The following year he left the band – but quickly went onto find his own success as a solo artist with his hit “The Never Ending Story”. His early ambitions, growing up in Wigan, were for a career as an actor and he even toured in production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

Inherited: Move Over Darling by Doris Day
Passed on: Four Brothers by Manhattan Transfer

Producers: Catherine Powell and Anna Bailey

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2025.

Limahl

Comedian, actor, Pointless presenter and debut author Alexander Armstrong, grew up in rural Northumberland where his musical ability and joy at being able to entertain began at a young age. 

He went to both school and Trinity College Cambridge on music scholarships and after a Footlights’ writing stint, he went on to become one half of the BAFTA-winning comedy duo Armstrong & Miller 

If you’re wondering where his passion for classical music began...his Inheritance Tracks will provide the answer.

Inherited: Minuetto Allegretto by the Wombles
Passed on: It Must Be Love by Madness

Producers: Ben Mitchell and Noa Dowling

Alexander Armstrong

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