Culturally, Desert ls/and Discs represents a history of British social convention and the British perception of "celebrity." It is also a symbol of British public radio's function throughout the second half of the 20th century and continuing into the 21st. Certainly its longevity has been used by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to symbolize the BBC's role in British popular culture and social life. A BBC Television 2 program produced by Alan Yentob in 1984 marked the Desert Island Discs' 40-year anniversary, and Monica Sims, then BBC Radio 4 Controller, was filmed at a reception for members of the U.K. arts community proclaiming: "All of us, whether we are eminent or not, all feel we are potential castaways. We all have eight favorite records... Roy had always tried to get the best out of people." Ten years later the same television program was repackaged with film of the third host of the radio show Sue Lawley with the then Prime Minister John Major as castaway. This served to symbolize the BBC's importance in public life as well as ingratiate the Prime Minister by offering a soft and personal side to his character. As his castaway luxury he selected the Oval Cricket ground with a bowling machine. From 1988 Sue Lawley and her producer Olivia Seligman introduced a political and current affairs dimension to the programme's content. During Roy Plomley's direction politicians were a rarity largely because "There is a drawback in inviting politicians to broadcast.... Unless it is in a news or political program, one is not allowed to discuss politics, and there doesn't seem much point in interviewing a politician if you can't discuss the subject dearest to his heart."

     The change in political edge after Plomley's death was also reflected in the program's editorial migration from light entertainment to news and current affairs. The emphasis on news­ related interviews served the BBC's objectives at that time to achieve greater public relations with its broadcasts and to increase audiences. It could also be argued that this trend reflected the developing notion of politician as celebrity. Politicians or individuals with controversial political views would inevitably prefer the Desert Island Disc's format because its structure of music selection was more entertainment orientated than politically focused.

     In his book on the program, Roy Plomley theorized about the reasons for the program's success: "I believe Desert Island Discs adds a dimension to a listener's mental picture of a well­ known person, giving the same insight he would receive from visiting the celebrity's home and seeing the books, pictures and furniture with which he surrounds himself." Sir Paul McCart­ney said the program "conjures up traditional British pleasures like the Great British Breakfast, Billy Cotton's Band Show​​ very downbeat, very relaxed. I love its homeliness." The pro­gram's first producer Lesley Perowne said, "The reason people liked it so much is curiosity. I think everybody wants to know the private tastes of public people and this was a very good way of doing it." The host since 1988, Sue Lawley, believes the program's success is based on "marrying music with conversation and thereby creating life." A cost-conscious BBC executive who had to concede the copyrighting of the format to Roy Plomley asked "Why didn't we think of it before?" Comedian Arthur Askey, who holds the record for being the only four­ time castaway, stated, "It's such a simple idea. That's part of its success. It's a wonder that somebody hadn't beaten Roy to it." Conceptually, radio throughout the world has established similar programs because of the popular appeal of the structure and the method of satisfying listener curiosity. But the endurance of the program on the BBC Home Service and then BBC 4 is attributable to the social stability of the audience, the continuity of license fee funding, and the need to maintain the audience-drawing component in cultural speech programming. The program is aired in the U.S. on some public radio stations. The BBC has a longstanding policy of syndicating its programming in partnership relays with public networks such as PRI and NPR.

     Despite its light atmosphere, which was always encouraged by Roy Plomley's ritual of launching guests at the Garrick Club before their interviews, there have been moments of poignancy and profound revelation of character. The concert pianist Artur Rubinstein said that despite playing in practically all the countries of the world, he refused to play in Germany: "I don't go to Germany out of respect for the dead. Unfortunately among the dead is my whole family." This contrasts with the bitter controversy of Sue Lawley interviewing the widow of British anti-Semite and Fascist leader Oswold Mosley in 1989; Diana Mosley used the program to express disbelief that the Nazis had murdered 6 million people.

     The program has also produced unforgettable moments of drama and wit. When Tallulah Bankhead was asked how good a Robinson Crusoe she would be, she replied, "I can't even put a key in the door darling. I can't do a thing for myself. I never stand up if I can sit down and I never sit down if I can lie down." When British comedian Frankie Howard was asked how he would endure loneliness he replied, "It's better than the alternative"; when Plomley asked, "What's that?" Howard replied, "Dead."

     John Kenneth Galbraith responded to the same question with "The whole idea doesn't appeal to me at all. I'm not especially gregarious. I can get along with my own dismal personality for a little while. I would hate to endure it for any length of time."

     Other castaways had a pessimistic view of the isolated life on a desert island. Artur Rubinstein selected as his inanimate luxurious object a loaded revolver, Maureen O'Sullivan asked for tranquilisers, and Jonathan Miller wanted to take with him a cutthroat razor.

In March 2002 the BBC sought to celebrate 60 years of the program with an anniversary celebration gala of music at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The event was recorded for radio and television transmission. Presenter Sue Lawley introduced a selection of music chosen by castaways down the years before an audience of 2,500 people. However, the event did not turn out to be a public relations success. The Sunday Telegraph called it "The Gala from Hell" and the reviewer for the London Times pointed out that the complex pageant defied the secret of the program's success, which was simplicity. Despite these negative reviews, the BBC could argue that celebrating 60 years of Desert Island Discs in this way generated media coverage that has helped embed the program into popular culture folklore.