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Desert Island Discs: Blanchett, Spielberg and Young to appear on festive specials

Getty Images Director Steven Spielberg and actress Cate BlanchettGetty Images
Director Steven Spielberg and actress Cate Blanchett will discuss their careers in two separate episodes

Hollywood stars Cate Blanchett and Steven Spielberg, and former BBC presenter Kirsty Young will appear on Desert Island Discs in a series of festive specials next month.

Guests will join presenter Lauren Laverne as the BBC Radio 4 show marks its 80th birthday.

They will share which eight recordings, book and luxury item they would take with them if they were cast away on a desert island.

Episodes air on 11, 18 and 25 December.

Blanchett's episode will be broadcast first, during which the Australian actress will discuss growing up in Melbourne.

She will also talk about her rise to fame in the 1998 film Elizabeth, as well as her wider acting career, which has earned her two Academy Awards, three Baftas and three Golden Globes.

The following Sunday will see Spielberg talk to Laverne about his childhood mini-movies and his first big break as a director with the 1971 truck chase drama Duel.

He will also address some of his most famous works - E.T., Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, The BFG - and look at how they were shaped by a young person's perspective.

Kirsty Young
Kirsty Young will return to Desert Island Discs - this time as a castaway - for the festive special on Christmas Day

Christmas Day will see Young return to Desert Island Discs - this time in the guest chair.

The veteran BBC broadcaster hosted the show from 2006 to 2018, presenting nearly 500 episodes of the programme. She stepped away as host following health problems.

Young, who presented the Queen's state funeral and parts of the late monarch's Platinum Jubilee celebrations, will discuss these moments, as well as her career in Scotland and elsewhere.

On casting away nearly 500 people herself, the broadcaster said: "It was a slightly discombobulating and thoroughly enjoyable experience.

"Although making anyone narrow down their favourite discs to just eight is frankly unreasonable. It'll never catch on."

First broadcast in January 1942, the format of Desert Island Discs has yielded some revealing interviews with a wide range of guests.

During Young's time alone, stars such as Dame Judi Dench, George Michael, Tom Hanks and Bruce Springsteen appeared on the show.