Angelina Jolie lined up for stint as BBC Today programme editor over festive period

Hollywood actress and campaigner Angelina Jolie is set to guest edit the Today programme during the festive period.

The Hollywood star, 43, will take the reins of the flagship news and current affairs show on BBC Radio 4 for a one-day stint.

Outgoing Question Time host David Dimbleby, 80, will also guest edit, while the subject of “outer space” will be explored in a separate, theme-based instalment of the Radio 4 programme.

Mother-of-six Jolie has already begun work on the show and will explore some of the “pressing issues of our time”, according to her spokesperson.

“Angelina is grateful for this opportunity to draw on the BBC’s global expertise and network to explore practical solutions to a number of pressing issues of our time,” they said.

“She has already begun working with the Today programme team and is looking forward to engaging a broad and diverse range of voices in the programme.”

Last year, Prince Harry was among the guest editors of the programme, interviewing his own father, Prince Charles, and former US president Barack Obama.

Actress Carey Mulligan, comedian Sir Lenny Henry, House of Commons Speaker John Bercow and Professor Stephen Hawking have also previously steered the show for a Christmas special.

Sarah Sands is editor of the Today programme, leaving her role as editor of the Evening Standard last year to join the BBC.

Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire