Kenneth Branagh

Rob Brydon: "I've been accused of selling out."

Rob Brydon is earning great reviews in the West End alongside Kenneth Branagh - and Hollywood has finally come calling. Tim Lewis meets him for a private performance of knockabout comedy...

Review: The Painkiller with Rob Brydon & Ken Branagh

Often, critics suggest that a play from another era offers valuable lessons for modern audiences. No-one will be saying that about The Painkiller other than, maybe, let's never update decrepit farces again.

An abundance of Ks grace Norton's studio tonight as Kenneth Branagh and Keira Knightley drop by to big up their new action-thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Lee Mack gets his beak in about his new show Duck Quacks Don't Echo, while Katy B provides the music. Former Gunner Thierry Henry also dribbles by for a chat and although his name is K-free he is at least a striker. Let's hope the red chair cranks out a Kevin or a Kirsty.

Friends and colleagues, including Kenneth Branagh and Penelope Keith, remember the much-loved actor. Briers passed away last month aged 79 after a 50-year career spanning Shakespeare, Chekhov, voices for children's TV and two classic TV sitcoms in The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles.

Kenneth Branagh turns up to talk about his latest role as Laurence Olivier in the film My Week with Marilyn - an intriguing prospect, considering how, early in his career, Branagh was often referred to as a "young Olivier". Zach Braff (from the now defunct, underestimated US comedy series Scrubs) has a play, All New People, opening in London's West End next month. And Frank Skinner, now master of ceremonies in the revamped Room 101, is on the comedy end of the Norton sofa.

Madonna's much-trumpeted appearance last week may prove a hard act to follow, but tonight's line-up looks more down to earth at least. Frank Skinner makes his second appearance on our screens this evening, after his debut turn as host of Room 101, and Kenneth Branagh turns up after pulling out of a guest spot last month. Scrubs star Zach Braff, who's about to take his first bow on the West End stage in a play he's written, completes the line-up.

Norton has opted for a "best of British" line-up tonight, with thesp and director Kenneth Branagh in to discuss the prosthetic chin he wore to play Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn, comedian Russell Kane to push his DVD of innocuous Essex jokes, and actor Matt Smith to, hopefully, reveal all about the Doctor Who Christmas special.