Woman's Hour - 21/12/2009

Penelope Cruz talks to Jane Garvey about her latest film, Nine, a musical extravaganza with a star studded cast in which Penelope sings and shows off her ballet skills - she trained in classical ballet from the age of four. Penelope describes how much she enjoyed the experience of rehearsing intensively with the other stars on the film. She also discusses her successful working relationship with acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, with whom she has made four internationally-acclaimed films. And she reveals how she keeps to her Spanish timetable - eating late at night - whether in LA, London or Madrid. Last week many schools up and down the country marked the seasonal festivities with a celebration of one sort or another. But are they celebrating the Christmas story, the winter festivals or just a national holiday? The Nativity is no longer part of every school's winter activities, and with the commercial pressures of this time of year, how do we go about teaching children the meaning of Christmas? Jane is joined by author and former editor of the Catholic Herald Cristina Odone and writer Ariane Sherine, editor of The Atheist's Guide to Christmas. We've always been interested in reading stories about other people's lives. But when these tales are based on someone's real life experience they can hold particular intrigue for the reader. A new competition being held by the BBC is hoping to tap into the appetite for reality-based literature by inviting the public to send in their own extraordinary stories. The best five will be turned into books and published in the New Year. Jane and her guests discuss fact and fiction. And Christmas can put an extra strain on the finances of most families, and it's usually women who take on the responsibility of buying presents and managing the household budget. Many are tempted to overspend on credit and store cards, forgetting about the true cost until the bills arrive in January. So what can be done to help women in debt? We hear from some women who have formed a self-help group called United Maidens to tackle personal debt problems and discuss what can be done to help.