TWENTY years ago local GP Roger Stephenson and his family found themselves on a wild and windswept Hebridean island helping to build a self-sufficient community under the glare of TV cameras.

They were participants in the BBC’s "Castaway 2000", a unique social experiment which aimed boldly – in the words of the BBC at the time – “to build a new society for a new millennium”.

What is it that attracts him to islands? And why on earth did he and his wife, Rosemary, agree to give up their comfortable life in Devon to join one of the first reality TV shows?

On Friday, February 7, Roger will give a talk at Crediton Arts Centre, exploring these questions and sharing some of the adventures he has had delivering medical care in Britain’s most remote outposts.

As he and his fellow Castaways prepare to gather for a 20-year reunion, he will also reflect on what they achieved during their year on Taransay, both on and off camera.

It all started with his early medical training as a surgical and medical house officer in the Isle of Man. The home of the TT motorcycle races, the largest working water wheel in the world, tailless cats and the world’s oldest continuous parliament, a year on this island gave him an insight into what makes island life special.

The Isle of Man has several close links with perhaps the most isolated inhabited island in the world to which he ventured a few years later.

Pitcairn Island, with a population of just 55, is in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean and home to descendants of the mutineers on HMS Bounty in 1790. The mutiny is itself a fascinating story that has been the subject of at least three big-screen films over the years.

As a remote British Colony, the obvious next step for him was St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, perhaps best known as where Napoleon ended his days as a prisoner.

In 1990 Roger spent a year on St Helena as one of three medical officers.

Isolated 1,500 miles off the coast of Namibia, and in those days with no airport, St Helena could only be reached by sea with a supply ship visiting every six weeks.

With just a satellite telephone linking them to the outside world, delivering medical care required resourcefulness and ingenuity.

After a successful year in the South Atlantic, it is perhaps not surprising that 10 years later an advert looking for a doctor to join an island community closer to home caught Roger’s eye.

The stage was set for the weirdest island experience of all – "Castaway 2000".

Tickets for Roger’s talk cost £6 and are available from Crediton Arts Centre on 01363 773260; Crediton Community Bookshop  on 01363 774740 or online at: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/creditonartscentre .

The event will begin at 7.30pm and is a fundraiser for Crediton Arts Centre.