Hogmanay host Edith brings in the bells with her ‘dream dinner party guests’
Hogmanay 2023 BBC1, tonight, 11.30pm
Usually it’s the morning after Hogmanay when we’re all feeling a little bit queasy. Tonight, for Hogmanay 2023 on BBC1 Scotland, Edith Bowman might be making a head start.
Edith will welcome her “dream dinner party” of Scottish guests – Succession legend Brian Cox, Barbie breakthrough star Sharon Rooney and Napoleon actor Mark Bonnar – to the line-up of stars bringing in the bells.
This is the third year in a row the Fife-born presenter has hosted the television shindig, but the thought of shepherding the country into the New Year doesn’t get any easier.
“Oh my god, no pressure!” laughed Edith, 49. “If I thought about it like spending it with the whole country, I’d probably vomit on somebody in the front row.”
Hosting BBC Scotland’s flagship Hogmanay celebration is an honour, according to the former Radio 1 presenter.
“It’s complete imposter syndrome so much of the time to be honest,” she said.
“And I take it with such a sense of responsibility because I know how much it’s ingrained in our culture – not just Hogmanay as an event but that show in particular.
“The idea that I was the person watching it when I was little, and throughout my life, and now I get to host it – I’m very honoured.” Pop star KT Tunstall, award-winning Celtic rock band Skerryvore from Tiree and Glasgow-based allfemale traditional folk group Kinnaris Quintet, will provide an eclectic range of music tonight, too.
Edith will be reunited with 35-year-old Glaswegian actor Sharon Rooney, who wowed audiences in blockbuster movie Barbie alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling earlier this year.
“Last year, at the Scottish Baftas, we sat and chatted for ages,” Edith said. “It was before Barbie came out, and she wasn’t allowed to talk about it much.
“Then when I saw the film and saw how great she was and how much she stole every scene she was in, I was just like ‘go on girl’.”
And when it comes to Succession and X-Men star Brian Cox, even chatty Edith was a bit lost for words.
“I mean, what is there left to say about the man?” she added. “I love how he can read a room and an audience and can turn it on, just like that!
“And I’m not a person who likes to talk about age, I think it’s bull **** and it’s just a number, but I love how he’s working harder and more regularly than some mid-30s actors.
“He can’t be stopped!” Shetland star Mark Bonnar, like Rooney, popped in a blockbuster this year as a French general Napoleon in Ridley Scott’s historical epic.
He absolutely holds his own against Joaquin Phoenix, according to Edith, who added: “I love Mark, I think he’s one of our best versatile talents.
“He can do drama, he can do comedy, he can do it all.”
Edith’s also the presenter of brand new festive watch T in the Park: Best Bits (available on iPlayer), which celebrates 30 years since the much-loved music festival began.
And the music event has always been close to Edith’s heart, as it was at the 1995 T in the Park that she got her first big interview after setting her starry eyes on none other than Aussie pop queen Kylie Minogue.
“They gave me an audio recording device and a couple of mics and said ‘go and see what you can get’. And I spotted Kylie Minogue going into the ladies toilets backstage.”
Undeterred by either Kylie’s star power or the less-thanglamorous setting, Edith waited outside the toilets for her “like a total loser”.
“It was my first ever interview,” said Edith, proudly. “I actually just found the cassette of it last week. I haven’t listened back to it yet! But I’m really looking forward to hearing it, even though it’ll be absolute cringe.”