WEST Kilbride violin star Nicola Benedetti is set for a candid TV interview in which she reveals the moment she realised the importance of the violin.

In the latest programme of the Cuide Ri Cathy series on BBC ALBA, Cathy MacDonald meets Nicola at Glasgow's City Halls during rehearsals for her next performance before they sit down to discuss Nicola's career so far and future plans, plus her life outside music.

It discovers how Nicola has been playing the violin since the age of five, and quickly fell in love with the instrument - but while she may not have realised how dedicated she was to the instrument when she first started playing, a moment from her childhood underlined its significance to her.

She explains: "I do remember very clearly at seven or eight that I didn't want to practise one evening - which was quite unusual for me as I was usually very keen to play - and I remember my mum saying, 'Well you know, you don't have to play the violin, you really don't have to do it, but if you do want to do it, then you have to do some practise.' "I burst into tears. I was so upset and insulted that someone had said, had suggested that maybe I don't have to play the violin anymore. I think that was a real shock moment for me of how much personally I was choosing to play and it wasn't just something that was kind of forced upon me." The programme will be shown on BBC Alba at 10pm on Monday July 12.