Siw Malmkvist will be keeping viewers company on SVT this Christmas and will light the candles before Donald Duck kicks off the Swedish Christmas celebrations.
"It's a warm feeling I get about hosting on Christmas Eve," says the 88-year-old artist.
Siw Malmkvist has no direct connection to SVT and was surprised when she was asked about hosting the Christmas show by program director Eva Beckman.
I thought: “Me? Why then?” But I was told that it is an honorary assignment, she says.
Honorary mission
For many years, program host Arne Weise was the Christmas host, but since 2003 SVT has appointed a profile to the honorary assignment.
SVT's program director Eva Beckman chooses the Christmas host each year. She got the idea after watching the documentary about Siw Malmkvist, which is currently in theaters, but reveals that the beloved artist had to be persuaded to take on the honorary assignment.
"She was perhaps initially a little hesitant and wanted to talk to the children first. It took a little time, but I knew what I wanted. I knew this would be good," she tells TT.
Not nervous
After thinking for a while and consulting her family, Siw Malmkvist agreed and now hopes that viewers will appreciate her on screen.
I hope Christmas Eve will be positive and that people won't sit around getting annoyed with me.
Is she nervous about lighting the famous candle live? Not at all.
No, no. It doesn't sound wise to be nervous about lighting the candle. If I fail, I'll just have to do it again, it's not that hard!
Many lonely people, especially the elderly, have the TV as their company around Christmas. Siw Malmkvist is aware of this.
I can recognize it myself. When someone I like comes on the screen, I can even say "goodbye" when the program is over, she says, laughing.
And that's how it might feel to others who see me this Christmas, says Siw Malmkvist.
Sara Haldert/TT
Mikael Forsell/TT
Facts: Siw Malmkvist
TT
88 years old. Had her breakthrough in 1959 when she won the Melodifestivalen with "Augustin" and became the hostess of Lennart Hyland's television program "Stora famnen".
In parallel with her having big hit songs like "Tunna skivor", "Flickor bak i biolen" and "Mamma är lik sin mamma" in the 1960s in Sweden, she also became a big star in Germany - in 1964 she topped the German charts with "Liebenskummer lohnt sich nicht".
On stage, she played Pippi Longstocking in a production in 1980 and was a success in the musical "Nine" in 1983–84.
In 2016, she was elected to the Swedish Music Hall of Fame.
Since Arne Weise retired, SVT has appointed new Christmas hosts every year. 2003: Lotta Bromé, 2004: Ernst Kirchsteiger, 2005: Blossom Tainton, 2006: Ingvar Oldsberg, 2007: Anne Lundberg, 2008: Lasse Kronér, 2009: Lisbeth Åkerman, 2010: André Pops, 2011: Kalle Moraeus, 2012: Sarah Dawn Finer, 2013: Petra Mede, 2014: Henrik Dorsin, 2015: Gina Dirawi, 2016: Sanna Nielsen, 2017: Lotta Lundgren and Erik Haag, 2018: Kattis Ahlström, 2019: Marianne Mörck, 2020: Lars Lerin, 2021: Tareq Taylor, 2022: Babben Larsson, 2023: David Batra, 2024: Mark Levengood. 2025: Siw Malmkvist.
