Graham Norton

Growly Alastair Campbell, former Downing Street director of communications and strategy, diarist, Burnley supporter and ebullient Tweeter, chairs for the first time. So expect lots of needling from Ian Hislop, who'll doubtless have something to say about Campbell's appearances before the Leveson Inquiry (he's the first of tonight's Leveson alumni; Steve Coogan turns up on Graham Norton).

But the big question is will Campbell have the skill to rein in guest panellist, big, loud hirsute Ross Noble, who tends to overwhelm any panel show he's on if he's not kept in order? Returning to the show is Lord Sugar's flint-eyed right-hand man, and Countdown host, Nick Hewer.

Steve Coogan's last big attention-grabbing television appearance saw him sober-suited and angry giving evidence about press intrusion and phone-hacking to the Leveson Inquiry last year.

Tonight he joins Charlize Theron and Jon Hamm on Graham Norton's big red sofa, presumably to discuss his travails at the hands of an unforgiving press and the return of his monstrous, brilliant creation, embittered Radio Norwich DJ Alan Partridge. There will be a Partridge film later this year and a TV series is set for Sky Atlantic.

Monarchs of the entertainment world rather than royalty are the subject of this engaging three-parter celebrating some of showbusiness's most flamboyant performers. It does promise some serious intent, reflecting on how the likes of Paul O'Grady, Graham Norton and Elton John have changed attitudes to homosexuality. But it's the performances from the archives that really glitter.

This opener looks back to the Dark Ages in 1952, and features such shining stars as Danny La Rue and Liberace. Contributors include Cilla Black, Julian Clary, Ronnie Corbett, Boy George and Arlene Phillips.

Graham Norton nearly matches Piers Morgan in ratings

The Graham Norton Show rallied to a series high on Friday night (May 4) of nearly 4 million viewers.

Graham Norton's earnings top £2.5m

Graham Norton earned more than £2.5m in year to end July 2011 from his company So Television, which includes his £2m-a-year BBC presenting deal.

Graham Norton's plans surprise if Beyonce returns

Graham Norton has a jig surprise planned for Beyonce if she appears on his chat show again.

I plug rotten films, admits Graham Norton

Chat show host Graham Norton has admitted promoting "terrible" films simply to get stars to appear on his BBC1 show.

Graham Norton finds love again with new partner Trevor

Chat show host Graham Norton has found love again - with a tall, dark and handsome businessman. The popular television presenter is head over heels for Trevor Patterson - who he is said to have met before Christmas.

This is the third attempt to put JAM on the box, the BBC having done it previously in 1994 and 1999. Parsons and Merton appear in each episode, with guests appearing being Sue Perkins, Gyles Brandreth, Stephen Fry, Liza Tarbuck, Graham Norton, Josie Lawrence and Julian Clary. There are also a fair number of new contestants: Jason Manford, Miles Jupp, Ruth Jones, Phill Jupitus, John Sergeant and Russell Tovey.

The format is the same, but there are some obvious changes; for a start, there's no scorer sitting next to Parsons. Instead he just has the scores on a screen, and the clock is started by a large button next to him. There's also a little bell rang to indicate they are moving into the final round.

Some things do remain the same, though. The studio is designed to look like the art deco BBC Radio Theatre, where the radio series is normally recorded. For some reason, however, the studio lights change from blue to purple when the subjects start. Why they need to do this I have no idea. I find the camerawork even more irritating. There's no need to cut from here to there every three seconds.

However, there's still much to enjoy from this show. I for one enjoy the little amusing asides that go through out each episodes. My personal favourite was in the fourth episode when the panel kept making jokes about Miles Jupp being the supposed love child of Gyles Brandreth. The jokes just kept snowballing throughout.

With regards to the TV adaptation, I know that there will always be people who will insist that it's not as good as the one on radio, but there are always people who complain about TV adaptations of radio shows. If we rejected every TV adaptation of a radio adaptation out of hand we wouldn't have had the TV successes of shows like Whose Line is it Anyway? or Little Britain.

I'd love to see more episodes of the TV version of Just a Minute; but I doubt they'll produce them. Unless they want to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary, that is, and given that Parsons is 88 years old that might be a bit dangerous.

It's been a Radio 4 article of faith for 45 years. So the Beeb is celebrating the birthday of Just A Minute by sticking it on TV. Call it a midlife crisis if you like, because it's hard to see the point. The strengths and weaknesses of the radio version remain. Nicholas Parsons - who looks surprisingly nervous for such a trouper - still warms the main chair. Paul Merton, Sue Perkins, Phill Jupitus and Graham Norton make up a textbook panel. And everything's exactly the same. So why not just stick to the special anniversary versions of the radio show? Could it be that Just A Minute is really easy to transfer, has a guaranteed audience and can be passed off as 'new comedy'? We hope not. Still, on the plus side, you could ignore the pictures and still listen to it while doing the ironing.