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Scottish electropop artist SHEARS is live in session as she reflects on the past year and fills us in on what she has to look forward to in 2023.

Edinburgh’s Usher Hall is hosting an epic concert celebrating the very best scores from two of the greatest film composers of all time – Hans Zimmer and John Williams. Nicola is paying homage to these two titans by exploring their work as Film Critic and Lecturer Pasquale Iannone shares some of his favourite pieces, and Ivor Novello nominated composer Christian Henson gives insight into their influence and what it’s like to collaborate with Hans Zimmer.

Glasgow’s iconic Barrowland Ballroom is a highlight for artists all over the world and for those from Scotland it’s a venue many aspire to play – one musician who knows this all too well is Lewis-based Iain Spanish Mackay. He tells Nicola all about his new documentary The Barrowland Roar which follows him ahead of his first performance there, plus sound advice from the likes of Del Amitri, The Fratellis, Simple Minds, Amy MacDonald, Christy Moore, The Vatersay Boys, Travis and Mogwai. He will also share what he learned about the 100-year history of the venue and surrounding Barras Market, and what it was like to help out the roadcrew.

In 2017, writer Robert Macfarlane led a Twitter read-along of the children’s fantasy novel ‘The Dark is Rising’ by Susan Cooper to a huge response – both from people who loved Cooper’s book and from those who had never come across it. A few years later, Complicite’s artistic director Simon McBurney suggested adapting the novel for radio, and together they’ve created 12 episodes for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service, stuffed full of music, great actors and binaural sound! Robert joins Nicola to tell her why this is perfect for a bit of escapism at over the festive period – it tells the story of young Will who one snowy December learns that he belongs to a group of time-travelling beings, the Old Ones, who are caught in a war.

And ahead of her new monthly feature on the Afternoon Show, Gayle Anderson is in studio to give listeners and Nicola her 2022 Podcast recommendation round-Up.

All that and of course cracking tunes to keep you dancing until New Year!