Today, Edi asks her guests for recommendations which bring to mind the very best parties.

Singer Michelle McManus explains why Dean Martin's Christmas album reminds her of grand family gatherings, and today's Archive Selection is an interview with Dean Martin's daughter Deana, herself a singer.

Poet Iona Lee brings along the party atmosphere of the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense, and Muriel Gray talks about Virginia Woolf's day in the life of a woman preparing a party for her politician husband, Mrs Dalloway. And film critic and lecturer Pasquale Iannone chooses his favourite party scenes in film.

Plus Edi meets musician Phil Cunningham as he prepares for his touring version of a Christmas party, Phil Cunningham's Christmas Songbook. She visits him at home as he and fellow musicians Eddi Reader, John McCusker and Karen Matheson get together to rehearse. Show less