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Kirsty Young will be cast away to Desert Island for Christmas

KIRSTY YOUNG, who stepped back from broadcasting to cope with a serious illness, is to return to Desert Island Discs as a guest.

The broadcaster will share the emotions she felt on the day of the Queen’s funeral in September as part of three special episodes marking the end of the Desert Island Discs’ 80th year.

Young, 54, will speak to Lauren Laverne, the host of the BBC Radio 4 show, about her early years on air in Scotland, her career in TV news and the eight tracks she could not be without.

During her time presenting Desert Island Discs from 2006 until 2018, Young interviewed almost 500 people about their music choices.

Speaking about her appearance on the show, which is being broadcast on Christmas Day, Young said: “It was a slightly discombobulating and thoroughly enjoyable experience.”

She joked: “Making anyone narrow down their favourite discs to just eight is frankly unreasonable. It’ll never catch on.”

The broadcaster came close to tears as she wrapped up the BBC’s live coverage of the funeral at St George’s Chapel.

She spoke of how many people would have been watching the day’s events with great affection for the late Queen and everything she had done.

Young, who had come back from illness to take part in the coverage, said of the late monarch: “She made history, she was history. Queen Elizabeth II has gone, but she will surely never be forgotten.”

Young retired from the limelight in 2018 while suffering from rheumatoid arthritis with secondary fibromyalgia, which left her too tired to walk up stairs and in constant pain.

In July 2019, the former Crimewatch presenter said she was “well on the way to feeling much better” but her enforced absence had “altered my perspective on what I should do next and so I’ve decided it’s time to pursue new challenges”.

Young’s appearance on Desert Island Discs will be preceded on Dec 11 by Cate Blanchett, who will discuss an acting career which so far includes two Academy Awards, three Baftas and three Golden Globes.

Blanchett will recall her early years in Melbourne, Australia, and her sudden rise to international stardom, playing the role of Elizabeth I in the acclaimed 1998 film Elizabeth.

Then, on Dec 18, it will be the turn of Steven Spielberg to share his choice of eight discs, a book and a luxury item in conversation with Laverne.

He will reflect upon a lifetime of filmmaking, starting with the childhood mini-movies which he says gave him power over the popular kids who usually ignored him.

Spielberg will also recall his first big break as a director, with the terrifying truck-chase drama Duel, and also consider why the child’s perspective has always been important, in films including ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The BFG and his forthcoming picture The Fabelmans.