Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Ross ends a television era at the BBC

He shook up television entertainment in Britain and became the chatshow king. Now his fans must wait for him to return on ITV.

Jonathan Ross rounds off his BBC career this week with his final chat show on Friday, and this love-letter to comedy duo Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Ross, a devotee of the pair's sardonic, surreal sketches, tells us that Pete and Dud were his first TV comedy love. Their series Not Only... but Also ran on BBC2 between 1965 and 1970. It will surprise no one to learn that the BBC subsequently wiped the tapes of many of its 23 episodes, some of which survive only in script form. Which is where we reach the chancy bit of Pete and Dud: the Lost Sketches. Ross's guests - including Alistair McGowan, Angus Deayton and Hugh Dennis - gather to re-create some of these vanished comedy gems. I hope it works.

It's one of the tragedies of 1960s TV that so many episodes coveted by posterity were wiped at the time, either because it was assumed they'd be of no further interest or simply to reuse the tapes. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Not Only... But Also fell foul of this folly. However, sketches have survived in script form and here Jonathan Ross assembles a contemporary cast including Angus Deayton, Ade Edmondson and Simon Day to recreate them, while Stephen Fry and David Mitchell among others consider Pete and Dud's legacy.

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross to Where Are They Now?

From 4 Poofs And A Piano to I Blame Coco - who will give these poor folk airtime now that Wossy has left the BBC?

Jonathan Ross & the changing faces of the TV chat show

As Jonathan Ross leaves the BBC for ITV, we look at the evolution of the TV chat show.

Right up until the late Seventies, it was common policy for the BBC to wipe reels containing previously broadcast programmes in order to make space in the archives and save money by reusing the tape. One of the most significant casualties was Dudley Moore and Peter Cook's seminal comedy sketch show Not Only... But Also, of which fewer than half of the 22 episodes survive - despite apparent efforts by Peter Cook to purchase the masters from the BBC before they were wiped. While some of Pete & Dud's famous routines have been recovered from other filmed performances, others now exist in script form only.

Hence this project, spearheaded by Jonathan Ross, to resurrect Moore and Cook's lost sketches by reperforming them with a group of contemporary comic actors, including Adrian Edmondson, Alistair McGowan (who is rather good as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling) and Outnumbered's Hugh Dennis. The scripts still sparkle despite the passing of time, but the performances, perhaps inevitably, make you miss the real Pete and Dud all the more. However, the film has undoubtedly been made with the best of intentions, and includes rare archive footage of the original duo in action too.

It's our fault Jonathan Ross lasted so long

It's the end of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross - but what made the BBC hire him as an interviewer in the first place?

TV's decision to sign up Jonathan Ross for a prime-time chat show is a magnanimous one.

In January, the foul-mouthed presenter announced Hayley Mills, the actress, as a guest on his Radio 2 show by saying: "She's now on ITV, which, I think, must be some sort of punishment."

Not all of his new colleagues may greet him with open arms. "Viewers have been put off watching Ross because he is beyond a joke,'' Lizzie Cundy, the presenter of ITV at the Movies, told Mandrake in 2008, after his suspension from the BBC for his shameful harassment of the actor Andrew Sachs, 80.

"On our show, we're not rude or condescending to anyone. We do nice interviews and don't make any crude comments. Angelina [Jolie] was meant to be on the Ross show, but she's coming over to us."

I know nothing could possibly endear Brand to the thousands of listeners appalled by the whole tawdry Andrew Sachs/Jonathan Ross farrago. Which is a shame. Of course it's his own fault, but the whole silly mess eclipsed Brand's gifts as a highly imaginative stand-up who's fantastically well read, with a true love of the myriad minor beauties of the English language. He's also carving himself a Hollywood career and his new film, Get Him to the Greek, has just been released, which is presumably why Channel 4 is showing this not terribly new gig, recorded at the monstrous O2 Arena in London last year. The title is the giveaway as Brand uses the gig to examine his risky exploits, including "Sachsgate" and his, ahem, controversial hosting of the 2008 MTV Music Awards.

Jonathan Ross takes on exuberant comedian and actor Robin Williams this week. It's been a while since Williams has carried a hit film, but his quick wit and improvisational flair should make him the perfect chat-show guest. Model and entrepreneur Elle Macpherson, the new host of Britain's Next Top Model, also joins Ross. Australian musician and comic Tim Minchin completes the line-up.