We finish one year and start the next with an ode to good food.

Emilia Fox is an English actress and presenter. She is best known for playing Dr Nikki Alexander in the popular long-running TV series Silent Witness, a role she has been playing since 2004, when Nick was still at university and Angela was on TV with Gordon Ramsay in Hell’s Kitchen. Emilia is with us to chat about the upcoming series of the show (its 29th!!) which lands on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in early 2026.

But before that, we have (just enough) time to go through Emilia’s likes and dislikes, which have been made into a novella with a limited print run... of three. Emilia is passionate about seasonal and Italian food, and could eat roast chicken every day, so immediately enters into Angela’s good books.

We begin the show by serving a perfectly chilled vodka martini with a twist. This is followed by a butternut & toasted pumpkin seed risotto, paired with a glass of Ricossa Barbera Appassimento Piemonte DOC. There’s no need for rice fear as Angela guides Emilia and Nick through her risotto method and top tips.

This is a heart-warming dish, recipe and guest with which to start 2026. We get Emilia’s love of great food, her stories of being a (very sackable) waitress and how she deals with dead bodies on set. Plus, a few thoughts for potential New Year’s resolutions. Bellissimo!

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A transcript for this episode can be found at waitrose.com/dish

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Emilia Fox, a butternut and toasted pumpkin seed risotto, and a vodka martini