Jonathan Ross

Lock up your granddaughters: Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross are reunited for the first time since Sachsgate as one of the teams on this annual topical ding-dong. Expect edgy banter from the controversial pair, alongside fellow panellists David Mitchell, Claudia Winkleman, Rob Brydon and Newswipe's Charlie Brooker. Jimmy Carr keeps score.

Andrew Sachs probably won't be tuning in for this one. Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand are reunited on television for the first time since Sachsgate. However, this being Channel 4, don't expect a grovelling apology at the beginning but plenty of jokes about telephone calls, Spanish waiters and Satanic Sluts. Jimmy Carr is in the chair for what has become an annual festive highlight, poking fun at the biggest stories of the year. Ross and Brand have been cheekily paired together and up against them will be Claudia Winkleman and Rob Brydon and David Mitchell and the TV critic Charlie Brooker, making his first appearance. Peter Andre is among the celebrity questioners, but rumours that Tiger Woods will be appearing are wide of the mark.

Jonathan Ross accused of stealing US presenter's gag

Jonathan Ross is facing a fresh scandal after being accused of stealing a gag from U.S. comedian Jimmy Fallon.

The British Comedy Awards 2009 review

Was presenting the British Comedy Awards part of Jonathan Ross's punishment?

There was no danger whatsoever of anyone wresting control of Russell Brand: Skinned from its star, even though the second half of the title referred to Frank Skinner, whose sit-down interview with Brand formed the spine of this shapeless and curiously unrevealing documentary. Or at least it seemed unrevealing, because so much of Brand's life comes pre-revealed. Unfortunately for the programme-makers, their subject has built his stand-up career on confessional routines, so even when he was describing his most private thoughts to his fellow comedian, I felt like I'd heard it all before.

Still, neither man is ever less than engaging, especially when they're talking about themselves. Brand, much of whose recent Scandalous tour revolves around so-called Sachsgate, spoke intelligently about the affair. Clear-eyed when it comes to his own mistakes, he also argued convincingly that they were amplified by the context of the disputed BBC licence fee, Jonathan Ross's salary, and the hammed-up outrage of the press.

The most interesting moments of their conversation came when Skinner paralleled Brand's experiences with his own comparatively sedate career. Skinner admitted to having "done a lot of groupie-ing" in his time, but was troubled by the blot such behaviour might have left on his moral copybook. Brand agreed, but often, he said, he's simply overcome by the "oestrogen-filled mist" that descends on his gigs. He created his womanising, Byronic goth persona, he confessed, partly as a substitute for the drugs and alcohol that once sustained him. Now that it's brought him the fame he craved, he's stuck with it. "My personality does not work without fame," he joked. "Without fame, this haircut just looks like mental illness."

Skinner also praised Brand for having - with his distinctive estuary eloquence - made it cool to be articulate, a fantastic compliment from a comedian who'll probably always be associated with mid-Nineties laddism, which sadly had the opposite effect. At one point, Brand went into lyrical detail about his ritual, pre-gig poo, describing it as a physical and spiritual cleansing that prepares him to meet his adoring public. Hmm, Skinner replied, "Most comedians just call that 'the comedy shit'."

Personally, I found Alan Carr's recent statement that gay men make the best chatshow hosts because they are "gossipy" rather annoying - not only because it relies on a particular stereotype, but also because it would imply that Graham Norton is better in the field than Jonathan Ross. For all his faults, Wossy still has the edge on that score. That said, the last series of Carr's show was often hilarious with the right guests. Whether Noel Fielding and Mariah Carey fit into that category, we'll have to wait and see.

TV matters: The Graham Norton Show

Graham Norton's back - and he's parked his tanks firmly on Jonathan Ross's lawn.

The quasi-anarchic chat show switches channels from BBC2 to BBC1. Which to me seems less of a jarring move than moving Norton's antics to a Monday night, when they'd seem far more suitable nearer the end of the week - although I suppose that would then create a clash with Jonathan Ross.

Although Graham Norton was in his finest form about five years ago on Channel 4, his squawky chat show moves tonight to BBC One. The first guests are that rare combination of the incomprehensible and the ageless, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, chat show perennial Ricky Gervais (who was on Jonathan Ross's show just a month ago) and ballad mistress Olivia Newton-John.