Highlights

The Sunday Post •

Declan McKenna on Edinburgh show and Sabrina Carpenter tour

After playing Glasgow’s TRNSMT festival last weekend, Declan McKenna will be heading back north of the border next month as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. We caught up with him about the upcoming show at the Edinburgh Playhouse and preparing to tour with pop’s newest megastar, Sabrina Carpenter. From a festival goer’s perspective, it’s an opportunity to catch new music, maybe something you haven’t heard before and you just bump into something. It’s so important for new bands, I gu...
The Sunday Post •

Sudden Death: Rosco McClelland explores heart condition in Fringe show

Dying is a subject often avoided or talked about in hushed tones, but not for comedian Rosco McClelland. The stand-up, one of the brightest stars in the current wave of new Scottish comedy talent, feels acquainted with death as an old friend, and it’s even one of the only things that gets him really laughing. He has Long QT syndrome, a rare and life-threatening heart condition that gives an increased risk of an irregular heartbeat which can result in fainting, seizures, or, worst case scenario,...
The Sunday Post •

Nina Conti on donning monkey suit for debut feature film Sunlight

If it wasn’t hard enough to juggle starring in and directing her debut feature film, Nina Conti gave herself an extra challenge – do it all in a giant monkey suit in the blistering heat of the New Mexico desert. Best known for her ventriloquism work, she combines her usual hectic Fringe schedule this year with premiering dark comedy Sunlight at the Edinburgh Film Festival. In it she goes further than just lending her arm and voice to Monkey and goes for full immersion, playing Jane, a woman who...
The Sunday Post •

INTERVIEW: Katherine Ryan on the Fringe, fame and family

Having established herself as a familiar face on our screens, married her teenage sweetheart and played to sold-out audiences around the world, Katherine Ryan is aiming to tick off yet another life goal – becoming besties with Shania Twain. In the latest big TV job to come her way, the comedian will soon be jetting back to her homeland to take a seat alongside the country-pop superstar on the new judging panel of Canada’s Got Talent. If you go by her lyrics, Shania is famously hard to impress, b...
The Sunday Post •

Maureen Lipman on Edinburgh memories, Corrie, and staying busy

When she sits down for a Q&A in Edinburgh later this month, Dame Maureen Lipman will no doubt cast her mind back down the decades to her first visits to the city and its famous festival. Before she became a household name, the actor, writer and comedian appeared alongside Tamara Ustinov in Kerry Lee Crabbe’s play The Burn at the Fringe in 1965, hailed as a masterpiece by the renowned drama critic Sir Harold Hobson. Maureen, who says she still has that review in a ‘dusty scrapbook’ somewhere, wou...
The Sunday Post •

Richard Armitage on how roots of real life inspired second novel, The Cut

As one of the most popular audiobook voice actors, Richard Armitage has narrated some of the biggest page-turners, cliff-hangers and whodunnits. Now the star of The Hobbit, Spooks and Red Eye is having a thrill ride of his own in a surprise new career chapter as a novelist. Following the success of his first book Geneva, which has a TV adaptation in the works, Richard released his follow-up, The Cut, as an Audible exclusive earlier this week. A lifelong lover of the escapism of fiction, the Robi...
The Sunday Post •

Jo Nesbø on Scotland and Norway's cultural ties and solace in crime novels

Whether it be works inspired by shared rugged landscapes and unpredictable climates, or our respective genres of Nordic and Tartan Noir crime thrillers, Scotland and Norway have long shared strong cultural ties. Fittingly for a man who has sold millions of books worldwide, best-selling author Jo Nesbø, puts it perfectly, describing us as ‘national soulmates’. As the Norwegian crime writer heads across the North Sea to meet fans of his page-turner thrillers, he knows he’s almost coming to a home...
The Sunday Post •

Poet Liz Lochhead on revisiting her life's work for new collection

In her hands, Liz Lochhead is holding her newest book, and most of her life’s work. “There it is,” she says. “A great big stonking thing.” It is indeed quite a hefty tome. For the first time, all of Scotland’s second modern Makar’s published poetry has been put together in one release. Titled A Handsel, it also includes her first new poems since 2016. Although she daren’t look too closely in case she’s missed a typo, there’s a clear sense of pride in bringing her legacy together. The poet and
The Sunday Post •

Lucy Beaumont on reality and fiction colliding in marriage to Jon Richardson

Having attempted to fit herself into her own suitcase during a break in filming Taskmaster, the assessment of Lucy Beaumont as “consistently unpredictable” seems fairly fitting. The stand-up, writer and actor, who is one of the contestants on the current series of the Channel 4 panel game show, largely agrees with the words used by the show’s co-host, Alex Horne, in a recent interview. “You don’t really know sometimes that you’re odd until you see it in writing,” she laughs as P.S. catches up
The Sunday Post •

Love still burns bright for couple brought together by Glasgow fire strike

Rattling along the M8 at 30mph in a Green Goddess fire engine, a young RAF airman from Yorkshire had no idea his life was soon going to change forever. Steven Bentham-Bates was just 18 years old when he was drafted in to cover strike action by Glasgow’s firefighters 50 years ago this week. After a quick crash-course on how to extinguish blazes at Edinburgh’s Redford Barracks, he was assigned to a crew when they reached Maryhill. Little did Steven know that saying yes to a soldier, who asked h
The Sunday Post •

Lewis Capaldi on special bond with fans, new album and Big Weekend

As Lewis Capaldi clambers over a barricade to greet Janet Kirk, the moment encapsulates the special connection the singer has formed with his fans. For 80-year-old Janet, it was her first-ever gig and she made the journey just to see the singer-songwriter in action. He may shrug off national treasure status, but Capaldi’s honesty about his mental health in recent years – coupled with his immense talent, laid-back style and sense of humour – has formed a bond many artists could only dream of.
The Sunday Post •

Crying in the bathroom and a hug from Cate Blanchett: Lesley Paterson on her emotional rollercoaster Oscars

A big hug from Cate Blanchett was one of the highs in a rollercoaster night of emotion at the Oscars, according to triathlete-turned-screenwriter Lesley Paterson. Her film All Quiet On The Western Front was nominated for nine Oscars and won four – including Best International Feature Film – but missed out on Best Adapted Screenplay to Women Talking. “I’ve never experienced anything like it, really believing in your heart that you’re going to win something and then you don’t, but then your film
The Sunday Post •

Blackadder star and history presenter Tony Robinson on cunning new podcast

As Blackadder’s Baldrick, Tony Robinson captured hearts as the classic comedy presented a surreal, subverted version of British history. His character always had a “cunning plan” but when it comes to a 50-year career, the actor, author and presenter has simply been following his natural curiosity about the past. From documentaries ranging from Egyptian tomb hunting to the world wars, royalty and the climate, to two decades on Time Team, he is a font of historical knowledge – despite dropping o
The Sunday Post •

Implications of hurtling advances in tech to be discussed at Scottish AI Summit

We have, of course, heard it before and become used to news of technological advances threatening to upend our lives, take our jobs and transform our lives. Artificial intelligence (AI) is, according to experts and new converts, different. It is, they say, the real deal – capable of triggering change like the internet did but at a faster pace. We have only started scratching the surface of its capabilities, which seem to advance with every day that passes. From painting like Michelangelo and
The Sunday Post •

Katherine Parkinson on Significant Other, loneliness, and Taskmaster

Taking on her latest role, Katherine Parkinson found herself feeling a bit sorry for herself. Or, at least, her past self. In Significant Other, ITV’s new comedy drama, her character finds herself adrift, alone and with a heart that is sick in more ways than one. While a hectic schedule encompassing TV, theatre, interviews and the school run has her, perhaps, longing for a little solitude once in a while, playing Anna allowed her to cast her mind back to her university days where the company s
The Sunday Post •

Dreading the hordes? Experts assess post-pandemic theatre behaviour as staff report increased levels of abuse

To sing along or not to sing along has been the theatre etiquette question igniting debate since a showing of The Bodyguard in Manchester was stopped and police called to deal with an audience member insistent on giving their own rendition of I Will Always Love You. It was the latest in a string of incidents including a brawl during The Jersey Boys at Edinburgh Playhouse in January that has put theatregoers’ behaviour under the microscope. Impassioned debates over how audiences act in the thea
The Sunday Post •

Jings! Oor Wullie's American superfans cap off dream holiday with visit to Sunday Post HQ

A family of Oor Wullie superfans from Reno, Nevada, are heading home to the United States with a suitcase full of cartoons after a visit to the birthplace of Scotland’s favourite mischievous wee laddie. John Kitchen passed his love of the comic strip, alongside The Broons and classic characters from the Beano and Dandy, down the generations to his grandchildren Gracie, 14, Jackson, 12, and nine-year-old Caden. The youngsters love reading the adventures and antics so much that they even lapse i
The Sunday Post •

Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn: Meet the latest Scots to grapple with fame as WWE stars

There are now so many Scots wrestling for WWE that they’ve got their own WhatsApp group chat – with the Braveheart-inspired name “Freedom”. For the latest pair of warriors to get called up to the sports entertainment giant’s top shows, it’s a culmination of years of hard work that’s taken them from community centres across Scotland to the big arenas of the world. The tag team of Kayleigh Rae, who performs under the name Alba Fyre, and Courtney Stewart, who is known as Isla Dawn, were stunned t
The Courier •

Radio 1's Big Weekend: Jess Glynne can't wait to reintroduce herself when festival comes to Dundee

Thanks to seven number one hits, frequent radio airplay and her song Hold My Hand’s ubiquitous presence in summer holiday adverts, it feels like Jess Glynne has never been away. But when she appears at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Dundee, the London-born singer will be taking her first steps on stage for several years having taken time out to re-focus. Reintroducing herself at a festival in front of thousands of people is a nerve-wracking prospect, but riding high on the success of new single Sill
Press and Journal •

Katie Gregson-MacLeod on rubbing shoulders with Sting and Highland homecomings

As she rubbed shoulders with Sting at last week’s Ivor Novello awards, Inverness singer-songwriter Katie Gregson-MacLeod knew she was definitely on the right track. Complex, the viral hit which last summer that changed her life, was vying for Best Song Musically and Lyrically at the prestigious awards bash, hot on the heels of signing a record deal, moving to London, and making music her full time career.
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The Sunday Post •

Professor Brian Cox on his biggest science tour yet

Sitting behind a keyboard in his D:Ream days, Brian Cox thought his horizons were one day playing gigs on theatre stages that his musical heroes had rocked. Fast forward a few decades, and he’s achieved that and much more – just with a bit of a career switch. While his scope hasn’t quite expanded to taking his live science shows to every corner of the universe just yet, the professor is doing a pretty good job of making sure planet Earth is covered. He sold over half a million tickets worldwide...
The Sunday Post •

Mike Wozniak on Taskmaster, getting outfoxed by audiences and early Fringe memories

On Mike Wozniak’s first Edinburgh Fringe run in 2008, he might’ve been one of the few people praying for the rain. As is tradition at the festival, venues spring up in the unlikeliest of places and the stand-up found himself performing in a Moroccan-themed nightclub to crowds you could count on one hand, many years to go before he’d be a familiar face on UK TV screens. Fortunately, the weather was horrific and he managed to attract a few punters… mainly with a promise of being able to avoid the...
The Sunday Post •

Bella Hull on writing for SNL:UK and a milestone year for her career

When we catch up on Zoom just before the Edinburgh Festival Fringe kicks off, Bella Hull has colour-coded notes plastered all over the wall behind her. Arranged across her room are the themes, set-ups and punchlines that will all come together and form the rising star comedian’s latest show, Mad Cow Disease. “This is my third Fringe in a row and I always think that I’ll just be calm, but every year I’m waking up with the most monstrous anxiety, like I need 800 weighted blankets,” the London stan...
The Sunday Post •

A decade on from losing father to suicide, Kitty Falcon hopes to spark conversations with Fringe show Sitting (In Silence)

At 6pm every Sunday throughout August, an Edinburgh pub will come alive with conversations, stories, laughter and maybe a few tears. But it won’t just be the usual festival jollities, rather a timely celebration of real human connection amid what can be a very lonely world. Alongside the Empty Chairs campaign against loneliness, writer and performer Kitty Falcon and the team behind her Fringe show will host the gatherings to take the message of their dark comedy beyond the stage and into the rea...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - comrie sf

Scottish comedian, writer and composer comrie sf returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with his soothing, surrealist mixed-bill comedy night. Born from Comrie’s childhood insomnia, profits from Midnight Snacks go to mental health charity Mind. Here, he answers our Fringe Q&A… Thank you for having me. I feel immense gratitude. I was born, raised and emotionally repressed in Edinburgh. My mother went into labour in the front row of a magician’s tight five and I was incorporated seamlessly into...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Stephen Gordon

Edinburgh resident and Fringe obsessive Stephen Gordon is bringing together his comedy pals throughout the festival to pull back the curtain on the process that goes into the solo hours on show this summer. Rather than the meticulously rehearsed productions, Notes: Comedy B-Sides gives a glimpse into the messy but brilliant work that goes into producing a polished show via comedians’ Notes app scrawlings and voice memo ramblings. Each show four comedians open their phones and perform their mater...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Chelsea Birkby

After a magician predicted her every move, comedian Chelsea Birkby began to fear that her choices might not be her own. In her new show, through pop psychology, philosophy and culture – plus a snazzy PowerPoint – she tells how she took charge and self-helped herself… and can do the same for you. Here, she answers our Fringe Q&A. This is the most chill I’ve ever felt ahead of the Fringe! I’m approaching the festival more like how Erling Haaland’s approached the World Cup: don’t overthink it, do w...
The Sunday Post •

Daughter's joy as trailblazing architect Kathryn Findlay celebrated with V&A Dundee exhibition

Kathryn Findlay spent her career building extraordinary things in Japan, London and the Gulf, a long way from the sheep farm in Angus where she grew up in the 1950s. In 2007, the prestigious Royal Scottish Academy elected her its first ever female architect and now her work is coming home in a long-overdue celebration of a local hero inside the Tayside landmark she helped conceive before her death aged 60 in 2014. Surrounded once again by models and drawings at the V&A Dundee display on Kathryn’...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Rory Cargill

In his return to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, comedian Rory Cargill invites audiences on a hilarious trip through the golden age of British television. Through his larger than life character Beau Crème, inspired by a number of broadcasting legends, he explores the personalities, programmes and peculiar moments that defined 1980s and 1990s TV. Here, he answers our Fringe Q&A… I’m very excited, both to share what I’ve been working on and to spend the month among kindred spirits. Just about every...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Cecily Hitchcock

Cecily Hitchcock makes her Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut this year with Family Recipe, a show which revisits early 2000s Britain, from New Labour optimism through to the financial crash. Exploring identity, belonging and the pop culture moments that shaped a generation, in the absence of typical teenage fixations, boys and Tamagotchis, Cecily instead becomes obsessed with a wildly inaccurate vision of Gordon Brown as a doomed romantic lead… Here, she answers our Fringe Q&A. Excited, and slight...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Andrew Doherty

Andrew Doherty follows up successful Edinburgh Festival Fringe runs with his brand new show, Reviewers Welcome… TO DIE! Promising a frightening but tongue in cheek revenge fantasy that every performer can relate to, the show blends classic hallmarks of slasher movies with laugh-out-loud gags. Here, Andrew answers our Fringe Q&A… I’m nervous, but I’ve often been described as one of the most emotionally stable people in comedy, so I’m pretty confident it’ll all work out ok! It’s kind of a weird am...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Ruaridh Miller

Dumfries comedian Ruaridh Miller has, over the past few years, been establishing himself on the Scottish comedy scene and was a hit with audiences and critics at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His brand-new hour Autocorrect Thinks My Name is “Rubbish” covers topics such as gentrification, middle-class pets, hair loss, religion in football and people called Maureen! Here, he answers our Fringe Q&A… It’s hard to convey in writing, but I’d answer it the same way any other comedian would. My...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Phil Ellis

Phil Ellis has long been a hit with audiences in Edinburgh, and has now built up an even bigger following thanks to his fan favourite turn on Series 20 of Taskmaster. Having toured his latest show, Bath Mat, round the country, he takes a month-long stop in Scotland’s capital for another run at the Fringe. Here, he answers our Fringe Q&A… I’m feeling excited and ready to go. I love doing the Fringe and have been coming here since 2011 and doing a show a year since 2013. This year feels a little d...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Selina Mosinski

Best known as viral hit Charity Shop Sue, Selina Mosinski makes her Edinburgh Fringe debut with her part confessional-memoir, part riotous surreal character-comedy Puss In Boots – A Working Class Fairy Tale. The show is a surreal, glitter-streaked dive into her (mostly true) past before becoming Sue. She plays Randy Cain, an 18-year-old stripper from Derby with a big personality, bigger ambition and zero intention of staying small-town. Here, she answers our Fringe Q&A… Excited, definitely, thou...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Adi Parmar

Adi Parmar makes his Edinburgh Fringe debut with Sunny Boy, a show about queer identity, family expectation and the tension between honesty and safety. Now based in Amsterdam, he was raised in a deeply traditional North Indian family, and was the long-awaited “miracle child” his parents prayed six years for, who also happens to be gay, a fact they still do not know. Here, he answers our Fringe Q&A… I’m feeling both excited and nervous. I’ve attended the Fringe as a punter for the past two years,...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - MC Hammersmith

Based in Edinburgh, viral hit MC Hammersmith is posh West London’s leading freestyle rapper. His new Fringe show, Ice Ice Nepo Baby, sees him head on a quest to find his biological family the only way he knows how… by performing an hour of improvised hip hop comedy based on audience suggestions. Here, he answers our Fringe Q&A… I feel ready. The Fringe is all about stamina. So I’ve been hitting the gym for a while. Seven days a week actually. Pumping iron, bench pressing, weight lifting – I’m no...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Hannah Platt

After making her Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2024 with a multi award-nominated show, stand-up Hannah Platt returns to the festival with her brand new hour Cult Classic. In it, she’s exploring belonging, rejection and the seductive appeal of cults. Here, she answers our Fringe Q&A… I’m looking forward to it – it’ll be my second show and while it’s a new challenge to write a new show starting from scratch, it’s made me remember how much I love putting a show together. I always had in the back of my...
The Sunday Post •

Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Flo & Joan's One Man Musical

After a successful run at the 2024 Fringe, musical comedy duo Flo & Joan are bringing their One Man Musical back to the festival. This time round, Edward Easton takes on the role of ‘The Man’, an icon of the musical theatre world finally turning the spotlight onto the one story he’s yet to tell: his own. Here, Flo & Joan – Nicola and Rosie Dempsey off stage – answer our Fringe Q&A…   Very excited and horrified. But we’re not going to tell you which one of us said what. OMM is a comedy bio-musica...
The Sunday Post •

'Perhaps I can heal the world in an hour?': Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Reuben Kaye

Having won the Best of the Fest Award at this year’s Sydney Comedy Festival, Reuben Kaye brings his show Hard to Swallow to the Edinburgh Fringe. Promising to be sharper, sexier and more politically charged than ever, it’s billed as a comedic, theatrical spectacle packed with powerhouse vocals. Reuben also brings to the festival four performances of his infamous late-night variety phenomenon The Kaye Hole, backed by a live band and featuring some of the Fringe’s wildest acts. Here, he answers ou...
The Sunday Post •

Ruby Carr talks OCD and Invisalign in Edinburgh Fringe show

“It’s the dental mental crossover that no one’s ever done before,” laughs Ruby Carr as she describes the show she’s bringing to this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The stand-up comic, from Southampton, is drawing laughs from her experience of undergoing Invisalign treatment to straighten her teeth, while at the same time going through therapy for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Already grappling with her mental health, with some of her compulsions already centred around cleaning, she was...
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