Jackie Chan

For all his lapses in taste, it's hard to see a logical successor to Jonathan Ross as the BBC's flagship chat lord. Pally but vaguely presidential (the staggering volume of money that he earns must help here), he meets successful people on pretty even terms - and it's this general absence of forelock-tugging that's probably the key to his success. Tonight's show marks his parting of the ways with the BBC and sees the host meeting some fittingly high-profile names: David Beckham, Jackie Chan, Mickey Rourke, with music from his glam faves, Roxy Music.

It's the end of an era and not a moment too soon for many. Tonight, Jonathan Ross's rule as the BBC's most generously remunerated presenter comes to a close when he presents the last ever edition of his chat show. Once one of the sharpest hosts on television, Ross was brought low by his own failure to engage his brain before his mouth. Since "Sachsgate", a chastened Ross has been a shadow of his formerly audacious self and ratings for Friday Night have fallen by a million from their pre-scandal days. In what is bound to be a muted send-off, he's booked David Beckham and martial arts star Jackie Chan for chat and ageing rockers Roxy Music, headed by singer Bryan Ferry, for tunes.

So this is it. The end. The final curtain. The last ever Friday Night with Jonathan Ross after nearly ten years on BBC1. Ross was always an acquired taste; his blokey, jokey style was too smut-centric for some, while others thought him edgy and funny. None of that matters now, of course. Ross was all too willing to assist in the implosion of his BBC career when he and Russell Brand Went Too Far and left mucky messages on a blameless Andrew Sachs's answering machine during Brand's Radio 2 show. The reaction was ridiculously overblown - the sky didn't fall in - but it was the kind of national convulsion that could end only, eventually, with Ross's departure. Tonight's final guests are David Beckham, Jackie Chan, Mickey Rourke and Roxy Music.

David Beckham, Roxy Music, Mickey Rourke and Jackie Chan will be the last ever guests on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross which ends tonight. After the outcry over his £6million salary, and the prank phone call to Andrew Sachs that led to his suspension (and, ironically, jump-started Sachs' career) his position at the top of the BBC totem pole had become untenable. But it's not the end of Wossy.

He's already signed a deal with ITV for a brand new show which will appear towards the end of 2011, making him the third BBC presenter, after Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley to defect to ITV recently.

The move also means he'll have presented talk shows on three different networks, having made his presenting debut in the Last Resort With Jonathan Ross on Channel 4. It was that show which first shook up the staid and stuffy British chat show by injecting satirical comedy, irreverence and a fresh, American-style vibe. That style has now become so much the norm you couldn't imagine it being any other way.

Friday nights really won't be the same without him.

Jonathan Ross books Beckham for his final BBC show

Jonathan Ross is going out with a bang - after booking David Beckham as his final chat show guest at the Beeb. He called on Golden Balls after humourless BBC1 chiefs banned him from bringing on controversial pal Russell Brand. The host has also lined up actor Jackie Chan and singers Prince and Tom Jones.