The Graham Norton Show

Minnie Driver talks about being pregnant; Clare Balding says she doesn't deserve an honour; Stephen Merchant reveals all about his love life; and The Script talk about their friend will.i.am.

Minnie Driver gets comfy by removing her towering heels before telling Graham all about her upcoming movies. Talking about one in which her character is pregnant, she says, "It was weird being knocked up again. What I liked about it was when I was really pregnant I was the size of a house, but this was how everyone woman imagines she would look with the perfect neat bump."

Revealing that her four year old son was rather confused by seeing her with a bump and offered to marry her, she says, "I had to explain I was pretending to be pregnant and he was like, 'Are we having a baby?' He was genuinely waiting for there to be a baby and was very keen. When he said he wanted a brother or a sister I explained, 'you need a boyfriend or husband to have one of those,' and he said, 'ah, I can be that.'"

Talking about how weird it was when she first moved to LA, Minnie says, "I never really meant to move there but there were just an odd series of events. When I first went there I was assigned an agent as I didn't have one and this chap introduced me to everyone at a party as Mandy Dreyfus and I didn't correct him because I was too embarrassed."

Thanks to her massive contribution to the Olympics coverage, Graham jokingly insists on referring to Clare Balding as 'Dame Clare Balding', but asked if she got anything in the New Year's Honours List, modestly says, "I don't deserve anything, don't be silly. I was just doing my job."

On her new series, Britain's Brightest, she says, "I love it because lots of people come on who haven't necessarily done well in exams, which shows how bad exams are at testing whether we are bright or not. I think all round brightness gets you further in life than academic brilliance."

Talking her autobiography, and asked if she knew how eccentric her family was, she says, "It was my reality so no not really. I knew Dad wasn't great at health and safety when he tied our toboggans to the back of his truck and towed us across the downs and didn't realise my brother had fallen off about a mile back."

Chatting more about her childhood, she says, "I thought I was a dog for most of the beginning of my life. The dogs were getting a lot of attention so I thought I would be one. I don't see what's odd about that."

Revealing her book may be turned into a TV series, Clare says, "We're in big discussions at the moment about the dramatisation."

Talking about her early career aspirations she says, "I was an amateur jockey for a couple of years but I was a bit heavy to be a jockey. It was a real struggle and I just couldn't lose weight. I was obsessed and even cut my nails and hair but that didn't work." Revealing her weight did have some advantages, she says, "I won a championship and won my weight in champagne. The sponsors pulled out the following year!"

Stephen Merchant, asked if he is moving to America, says, "No, that would be madness. I like it there I like it a lot. I work there but I always like to come home. I like the weather of California obviously as I was just on the red carpet here with a vest and two pairs of socks, but this is my home."

Asked if his stand-up tour Hello Ladies which was about looking for love, has worked, Stephen says, "No. I discovered that most of the groupies that hang around the stage door were middle-aged men who work in IT. I've had some fun nights as you can imagine but there were no wives. And I've been everywhere, Australia, America, New Zealand. I've looked high and low."

Stephen reveals his tour has inspired a US TV show, "I did the stand-up in America and some people from HBO came and asked me if I would like to do a sitcom. The stand-up show is about my failure to find a wife and my pathetic life as a loser and they thought 'we want that on TV!'"

The Script perform their single If You Could See Me Now exclusively for the show before joining Graham for chat about their tour and upcoming album. Danny, talking about collaborating with his friend and fellow Voice judge, will.i.am, "He's always been a massive hero of ours and having him on a song like that means we have crossed so many boundaries all over the world; we are number one in Germany now and we've just done a million in America, which is unbelievable for a small band from Dublin."