The Graham Norton Show

Joining Graham on his sofa are Hollywood icon Johnny Depp, talking about his new film The Rum Diary; Oscar nominated actress Carey Mulligan, who is in the upcoming movie Shame; comedy superstar Ricky Gervais, who is introducing new series Life's Too Short; top stand-up Ed Byrne; and Snow Patrol, performing the single This Isn't Everything You Are.

Talking about Public Enemies, in which she played a prostitute to Johnny Depp's character, Carey Mulligan reveals "I had to kiss him several times. It was 16 times, but it was cut out of the film because I looked so uncomfortable. I was kissing Johnny Depp and I got really nervous."

On her rise to fame, Carey says, "I'm not comfortable with it yet at all, it's very strange."

And on her latest role, playing opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby, she says, "I grew up watching everything he's ever done and it's difficult as I have to hide my inner fan when I am around him - it's terrible. He claims not to be able to dance when we do a dancing scene and I have to hide the fact that I know he can because I saw him dance in Titanic!"

Describing her new film, Shame, about a character with sex addiction, as "A little bit racy," Carey say, "I didn't know much about the film, but knew the character was extreme so wanted to give it a go." When Graham reminds Carey that her father is in audience she says, "Dad hasn't seen it. He's not allowed."

Asked about his infamous comments at the Golden Globes and whether he offended Johnny Depp, Ricky says "He is alright, he's in the new show. People said, 'You've insulted everyone, Johnny Depp is furious,' so I sent him an email and said 'Sorry about the Globes,' and he said, 'I loved it, of course I wasn't annoyed." Asked if Angelina Jolie is in his new show too, he says, "I didn't ask her, she didn't look so happy!"

Ricky also reveals, "Robert De Niro called me up after the Globes and said, 'Good job, you were great, would you like me to talk to anyone?' I thought he was going to have someone whacked!" And when Ricky says, "I didn't buy the controversy about the Globes, who did I really offend?" Carey interjects, "I was there and I think you offended quite a few people!"

Joining the show hotfoot from the London premier of his latest film, The Rum Diary, Johnny talks about his friendship with Hunter S Thompson on whose diary the film is based, and says, "When I first met him people were screaming and he was parting the waves with a three-foot cattle prod in one hand and a taser gun in the other. We shook hands and then went back to his house where we built a bomb and I shot it with a shot gun. We had an 80 foot fire ball. It was huge."

Described by Graham as 'the best character actor in the world', Johnny modestly responds, "Good lord," adding, with tongue in cheek, "I think it's just some form of schizophrenia that has worked for me! My characters are born out of strange things like the extreme heat of a sauna and other things and then I bring them to set." On film executives' reaction to his acting methods, Johnny says, "The conversation normally starts with, 'What is wrong with you?'"

Asked why he had said yes to appearing in Ricky's series, Johnny says, "There was no way to reject it, it was just so perfect."

Recounting how he was stopped by customs on his way from Lima to Miami, Johnny says, "It's an interesting route and I think they were expecting something. When they asked me 'What's in the bag?' I told them, 'Stuffed piranhas and vampire bats,' but there also happened to be some vitamin powder in there and when I unzipped the bag the powder exploded and there were these piranhas and bats covered in white powder. The guy thought he had found the mother load."

Snow Patrol performs This Isn't Everything You Are live in the studio.

And finally to the delight of Johnny, Graham pulls the lever on foolhardy members of the audience brave enough to sit in the red chair and one lucky story teller gets to meet the subject of her tale.