Sarah Jessica Parker

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The Jonathan Ross Show was given a fairly low key launch last week given that it was the long-awaited return of a British talk show staple, and followed suit with a similarly muted episode.
Sarah Jessica Parker was candid and Adele as booming as ever but the line-up felt a little lacklustre for an opener.

This was rectified tonight however with an entertaining, albeit slightly random group of guests perching on the Jonathan Ross sofa.
Benedict Cumberbatch talked John Le Carre novels while The Saturdays were a little less prosaic with their insights into the pop industry, but Alan Carr proved the most interesting booking. An odd choice to invite a clear rival onto the show though perhaps, especially since the bespeckled comedian, along with Graham Norton, is arguably surpassing Ross in the talk show stakes at the moment.

With Friday Night With...'s pre-Jools Holland slot the BBC vehicle often saw some good live music and it was pleasing to see that this is to be kept up on ITV, with tonight's performance coming from legendary funksters The Red Hot Chili Peppers, sans departed guitarist John Frusciante.

Nearly three years after moral opprobrium was heaped on him following the "Sachsgate" scandal and just over 12 months since his departure from the BBC, Jonathan Ross returns to the chat-show format. He has, of course, already been a part of ITV1 Saturday nights this year, having fronted Penn & Teller: Fool Us. But this is the first time he's been back behind a desk interviewing celebrities.

Guests in this opener are Formula One champ Lewis Hamilton, Sex and the City's Sarah Jessica Parker and singer/songwriter Adele. The enticing prospect though for viewers will be seeing whether Ross still has an appetite for near-the-knuckle banter in the light of past controversies.

Three short years ago, foppish motormouth Jonathan Ross was the undisputed champion of TV chat. How times change. He was suspended by the Beeb in the wake of the Sachsgate scandal and, a year later, announced that he was leaving the Corporation. After 14 months off the air, he returns on a new channel with a new-look show. Gone are house band Four Poofs & a Piano. Also gone, sadly, will be the host's repeated mentions of his beloved black pug Mr Pickle, who died this summer while the two were filming a travelogue. So will Ross's signature near-the-knuckle questions, risqué repartee and scabrous wit survive the move to a commercial channel and earlier time slot? And will he still be able to attract A-list guests? For this opening edition, the guestlist is solid but not stellar. Waiting in the green room are racing driver Lewis Hamilton, on a break from the current Formula 1 season; Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker, whose new film I Don't Know How She Does It, adapted from Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson's novel, opens in a fortnight; and award-winning Brit singing sensation Adele, who performs the bluesy stomper Rumour Has It from her album 21.

Wossy's new show debut line-up released

The celebrity line-up for the upcoming first episode of The Jonathan Ross Show on ITV has been revealed, with Sarah Jessica Parker, Lewis Hamilton and Adele joining the floppy-haired showman on the couch in his first appearance since the Sachsgate scandal.

If you happen to find yourself relaxing in an armchair in front of the television as the end of the decade approaches, you can do much worse than titter away the last hour of the Noughties in the frisky company of Graham Norton and his lively chat show. Joining him in a satirical review of the year are Dominic West, the British actor and star of the American drama series The Wire, the evergreen comedian Joan Rivers, and Sex and the City's Sarah Jessica Parker. Followed by the New Year Fireworks over the Thames in London (BBC One, 11.45pm).

Olivia Lee is the pretty blonde practical joker from Balls of Steel who would try to interview minor celebrities holding a dildo as if it were a microphone. This new solo hidden-camera show gives her more room to expand, so to speak, and is themed around Sex and the City, with Olivia wandering around London in a frou-frou like some deranged, better-looking Sarah Jessica Parker putting members of the public in loony scenarios in showrooms, parks and a rap bar. There are some nice ideas, but as ever the supposed victims are too savvy and good-humoured and the gags tend to deflate.