The Graham Norton Show

Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron and Zendaya chat about The Greatest Showman, Suranne Jones says she's too busy for Doctor Foster, Gary Oldman talks about Churchill and Leading Ladies perform live in the studio.

Hollywood great Hugh Jackman, together with his The Greatest Showman co-stars Zac Efron and Zendaya; star of hit drama Doctor Foster, Suranne Jones; Oscar-nominated actor Gary Oldman; and the newly formed trio, Leading Ladies, join Graham in a New Year's Eve extravaganza.

Hugh, talking about playing P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman, says, "It was a great fit. I loved it. To be in a movie musical is a dream and it doesn't come along that often. I am a ham from way back and I thought, 'If I'm not good in this part then I will never be good again.'"

Asked about his dedication to getting the movie off the ground, Hugh says, "There was a lot riding on the final read through - there were a lot of people there with cheque books - but I'd had a skin cancer removed from my nose the day before and my surgeons said I must not on any account sing because it could rupture the 80 stitches. A stand in was going to sing my part, but when it came to the big final number I was so taken up by the moment that I sang my heart out. When I finished it was a good showbiz moment and everyone was happy but there was blood trickling down my face and I had to be re-stitched. But, it was so worth it!"

Hugh, talking about the end of Wolverine, says, "It's been 17 years of being on a diet!" Asked if he is going to miss looking so ripped, he says, "People ask me how they can look like that and I say, 'It's too much effort for what it's worth - it's a lot of time, a lot of dedication, a lot of pain and a lot of steamed chicken and not much fun! Don't do it. You can look 7.5 out of 10 and be so much happier!'"

Zac, talking about appearing in The Greatest Showman, says, "Just for a minute I took a step back and thought about not doing it, but in my heart, I always wanted to find my way back to my musical roots and when I heard Hugh was playing the lead, I was like, 'Hell yes!' It's a dream come true."

Asked about training with Hugh, he says, "I cycled with him in London but I'm not one to ride a bike early in the morning in traffic so it turned out to be quite dangerous. I followed Hugh around a few cars and suddenly there was a double decker bus right in front of me. I slammed on the brakes, went under the front tyre and narrowly missed death. Hugh was on the other side of the road and stuck up his thumb and just said, 'You good? Let's go.'"

Zendaya, talking about an embarrassing moment while rehearsing the trapeze for the movie, says "I was doing a stunt in front of Hugh and I was really nervous. I was on my A-game and I didn't want to mess up in front of him. I was in the air and I had to spin down and get caught - as I did it I heard a fart - as a professional, I carried on but everyone was laughing. It turned out they were laughing because the actor - a grown man, who will remain nameless - did it and blamed me! I couldn't deny it because then they would definitely think it was me."

Asked about her huge following of around 46 million people on Instagram, she says, "I try not to count but it's a lot of people. You can choose to look at it as a stress but I choose to look at it as a positive. 40 million people that care about me in some sort of way is a positive. I'm lucky to have that sort of reach and I try to use it positively and responsibly. Not like some people we know with Twitter accounts!"

Suranne, talking about the success of Doctor Foster, says "It just went crazy. I've never done a show before where people got so behind it. You couldn't binge watch it so I think it had that 'water cooler' effect and people loved it. People are quite disappointed that I am quite nice when they meet me and not mad like my character."

Revealing an awkward moment following one particular episode, she says, "I was walking in the woods with my two-year-old just after the hate sex scene aired and we are singing and picking up sticks when we passed some people who wanted to stop and chat about the scene. And, I'm like, 'Perhaps not right now.'"

Asked if there will be a third series, she says, "There are no plans because everyone is busy and I am working all of next year so I just don't know."

Gary, talking about just getting married in August, says, "I actually proposed to my wife on the set of Darkest Hour so was dressed as Winston Churchill and she still said yes!"

Asked about the attention to detail on the movie, he says, "I did choose special cigars and went through $30,000 worth - they were 50 quid a pop. Smoking 12 of them a day gave me nicotine poisoning. I basically had a bad stomach for the entire three months of filming. We had a Christmas break and everyone went off shopping and decorating trees and I had a colonoscopy!"

Praising Gary, Hugh interjects, "I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't say Gary is one of the greatest actors that has ever lived and a huge inspiration to me. If you haven't seen Darkest Hour, you haven't seen the greatest actor give the greatest performance of the greatest British characters of all time - it is astonishing."

Asked about a possible Oscar nomination and the dangers of getting caught up in the hype, Gary says, "It's not the most important thing in the world, but it is something so you have to surrender to the ride. I've done it before and everywhere you go they roll out the red carpet, they fly you to these places, they give you good dinners and say nice things about you so there is very little to complain about! I feel very lucky and privileged to be doing it."

Hugh channels P.T Barnum to give an incredible recap of the show.

Leading Ladies perform One Night Only live in the studio before Beverley Knight, Amber Riley and Cassidy Janson join Graham for a chat.

Talking about their newly formed trio, Beverley praises Graham, "You've got some 'bigging up' of yourself to do. When I was here before on the sofa I saw Amber perform and the idea was formed."

Asked if they will form a permanent group Amber says, "We've had so much fun doing the album but we don't yet know what this is. We will see what happens."