Ruby Wax: Cast Away

In episode one, having assumed the experience would be more a mental journey of a mind in isolation, Ruby's horrified to learn that she must tackle the island's hostile environment single-handed. Ruby must build her own camp, collect her own food and water, and pit herself against blazing sunshine and vicious rainstorms. Landing on Ankerea – a totally uninhabited island covered in dense jungle – Ruby quickly realises that she is out of her depth. With only a day of instruction from cheery survival expert Kevin Newton, she's suddenly totally alone. As she says, "Call my agent – now!" At constant conflict between reaping the rewards of an experience entwined with nature (like witnessing a mother Green Turtle laying a clutch of eggs in the sand) and hating the physicality of menial tasks critical to her survival (like eating rock oysters and hiking into the jungle to collect drinking water), Ruby learns the delicate balance of island survival. And as the days pass Ruby is left to navigate her new island home alone, attempting to catch a crab for supper and scavenging mangoes. But the onset of a tropical cyclone sends Ruby into turmoil, and the dark clouds enveloping the island cause her to confront jagged thoughts of depression and fear. Faced with days without any meaningful food, Ruby feels near to cracking under the pressure of trying to create fire in her sodden campsite. But there are still days to go…

It's the second phase of Ruby Wax's extraordinary and entertaining adventure, cast away alone on a remote island off the coast of northwest Madagascar. It's day three of complete isolation and Ruby is greeted by a torturous tropical storm. As the skies finally clear, she's able to forage for much-needed calories in the form of coconuts, but when the deadly silence creeps in on her, she makes friends with a hermit crab named Spartacus. He's going to become her companion for the rest of the adventure. As island life becomes tougher, Ruby reflects on her own personal traumas growing up, her parents and her own "comedy personality" she switches on and off, and what survival means to her. As another coping mechanism, she builds her own fellow traveller – a man made of rocks, but at least he doesn't talk back - before hunting down a feast for the night. But the highs of her first proper meal don't last long as another storm hits her camp leaving her imprisoned in her shelter, unable to forage for food. Hungry and weak, a surprise letter from Joanna Lumley may be the elixir of hope she's needed to get her through the last few days. In Ruby's final 24 hours on the island, she contemplates the effects solitude has had on her personality, and the true person she is underneath the showbiz mask she wears. As the crew arrive to collect her, Ruby battles with the conflicting emotions about what life will be like back home, afraid to lose grip of this real sense of self that she's discovered on the island.