This Christmas three Wise Women will be taking to the airwaves on BBC Radio 6 bearing gifts of wit, wonder and wisdom. Across Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, Jodie Whittaker, Beth Ditto and Sharon Horgan will be curating 6 Music each night from 6pm to 2am, including presenting their very own show which will feature the music that has inspired them, as well as looking back across the past year and ahead to 2018. The Wise Women will also be selecting their favourite 6 Music programming from the archive, with a mixture of shows from Iggy Pop to The First Time with…, and live music to documentaries.
Jodie Whittaker – Christmas Eve
The new incarnation of Doctor Who, Jodie Whittaker joins 6 Music to present an evening of programming and music choices. To kick things off, she selects some extraordinary music based around the theme of travel and guides listeners through some of her favourite tracks, from Elbow, First Aid Kit and Foy Vance. Jodie has long been a listener and regular Breakfast Show guest on 6 Music with Shaun Keaveny and is a huge fan of Shaun’s show.
Jodie says: “I’m absolutely over the moon to be asked to be a part of this year’s three Wise Women. I’ve never been called a wise woman before, but I’ll take it! Maybe even print up a t-shirt! It’s been brilliant revisiting shows that I loved listening to the first time round and also getting to choose two hours worth of my favourite tracks, most of which I discovered through listening to 6 Music. So thanks for that, and hope you enjoy it.”
Beth Ditto – Christmas Day
Beth Ditto begins her curated night with an hour of specially selected music featuring Bikini Kill, Nina Hagen, Cat Power and Nina Simone.
Throughout the evening Beth shares various anecdotes with the listeners – talking about the time she met Punk Priestess Nina Hagen in Berlin when Hagen gave her a mushroom felt key chain which she still owns; and when her bandmate Nathan was asked to buy The Slits’ Ari Up a burrito in New York. Plus, Beth shares some wise words from musical legends Patti Smith and Debbie Harry.
The former Gossip frontwoman made her name as one of music’s most bold and outspoken voices with the 2006 disco-punk anthem, Standing in The Way of Control, which challenged the Bush-era assault on civil rights and Gay Marriage. The American singer-songwriter has since legally married her now-wife Kristin Ogata, written an advice column and recently embarked on a solo career releasing her debut solo album, Fake Sugar.
Beth says: “On Christmas day I will be hosting my annual chosen family Christmas at my house in Portland, Oregon – it’s a big deal. I spend the day after Thanksgiving every year putting up all the lights, pretty much by myself: it looks like the Griswolds’. Its full colour, its full-on. Sometimes I have seven Christmas trees, sometimes I have one – I go all out.”
Sharon Horgan – Boxing Day
Sharon Horgan fronts an evening of music for the 6 Music listeners. The actor, writer and director from County Meath, Ireland, is best known for her comedy series’ Pulling and Catastrophe, both of which she starred in and co-wrote.
In 2008 Sharon won a British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Entertainment Actress for her performance in Pulling. Sharon co-writes the multiple-award-winning Channel 4 series, Catastrophe, with Rob Delaney, which is now commissioned for its fourth series and earned both herself and Rob a BAFTA TV Award for Best Writer: Comedy, a Primetime Emmy Award Nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and a BAFTA TV Award Nomination for Best Female Comedy Performance. Sharon is also the creator of the HBO TV show, Divorce, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, and has established Merman, an independent production company. She co-wrote and produced the new, critically acclaimed BBC Two comedy, Motherland.
Sharon says: “Last time I DJ’d was at my brother’s wedding. No one was listening. But once I forced everyone to stop having fun they all agreed my playlist was a goodie. Getting to front an evening of music for BBC 6 Music is a ridiculous honour. The only radio I listen to is 6. Morning to night. Weekends and weekdays. It inspires me, makes me laugh and takes me back to the dark little music venues I used to sneak into as a kid. I am the definition of an un-wise woman but that aside I will do my best to try and encapsulate what the station and music have meant to me over the years.”
