British Comedy Guide
The Graham Norton Show. Graham Norton. Credit: So Television, Christopher Baines
The Graham Norton Show

The Graham Norton Show

  • TV chat show
  • BBC One / BBC Two
  • 2007 - 2024
  • 514 episodes (32 series)

Comic chat show presented by Graham Norton. The biggest names in showbiz join the host on his sofa.

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Series 28, Episode 14 - Keeley Hawes, Noel Clarke, Rebel Wilson, Ant Middleton, M Night Shyamalan, Daniel Sloss, Jake Bugg

Rebel Wilson and Ant Middleton chat about Straight Talking; M Night Shyamalan talks about fake babies; Keeley Hawes says death can be funny; Noel Clarke says his mum prays for him; Daniel Sloss reveals his lockdown struggle; and Jake Bugg performs live in the studio.

Preview clips

Further details

Rebel Wilson and Ant Middleton join Graham remotely to chat about Straight Talking.

Ant says of the show, "The idea was to take Rebel out of her comfort zone and interview her over three days. That is a long time to interview someone, so I had enough time to dig deep and find out who she really is."

Rebel, asked if she was worried that Ant would worm things out of her given his interrogation skills, says, "I didn't know about that. They only told me when I got into the Mexican wilderness. I'm not sure what secrets I had to give up, but I am quite candid anyway, so he didn't have to squeeze that hard. I was down for the adventure and found out about the interrogation and all the dangerous stuff later!"

Revealing the most dangerous part of her adventure in Mexico was a rather embarrassing trip to the beach, she says, "We did all this crazy stuff in the show like swimming with sharks, horse riding and driving dune buggies, but the day after we finished filming I went the beach to do some 'hot' pictures for Instagram. A freak wave came up and knocked us and my friend's handbag into the ocean. I went running in like Baywatch to save the bag and got hit against the rocks, grazing my arm and bruising my ribs. I did all those dangerous things with Ant and a trip to the beach was my downfall!"

M Night Shyamalan joins Graham from the US for a chat about the second series of his hit show Servant. Asked about creating 30-minute television shows as opposed to hour-long dramas, he says, "One of the reasons I was hesitating to get into longform storytelling is because of the amount of material needed and the time and money you are given to achieve those results. By bringing it down to 10 half hour episodes I felt I could do it at a very high-quality level. I was able to take the time to do it properly."

Talking about the lifelike fake baby used in the series, he says, "Everything about it is like a real child which is quite disturbing. But we had some fun with it. My mother-in-law was visiting, and I was touring her around my new office, and I went, 'Oh my god, someone left a baby.' I handed her the baby, and she is holding it and tearing up and I realise I may have gone too far!"

Keeley Hawes, talking about her new series Finding Alice, which she co-wrote and stars in, says, "Death can be funny. As human we are always trying to find the light in any dark situation, I think. Everyone tends to have a funny story about death or about a funeral, it's that gallows humour and it's all very awkward. Hopefully the series is funny while being serious about the subject."

Asked about her husband [Matthew McFadyen] and his role in Succession, she says, "It was so odd because I knew what he was doing but I hadn't read the script, so I watched it along with everyone else, going, 'Oh my god, he's so weird and odd.' It was actually a really lovely surprise - he's played Mr Darcy and other brooding roles and suddenly there was this strange guy there. I can watch it as a fan and enjoy his performance."

Noel Clarke, talking about the success of Bulletproof, says: "I am really proud of it and we have just found out that series four has been commissioned."

Asked about his mother and her misgivings about his career choice, says, "I think maybe now she gets it, but there was a time when I'd been in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, I'd been acting five or six years, I'd won an Olivier Award, and Doctor Who was on the horizon, and she was on the phone to her friend and said, 'I don't know, he wants to be an actor!' She still prays for me all the time!"

Daniel Sloss, talking about the delayed release of his new book Everyone You Hate is Going to Die, says: "It has happened for a few reasons - the idea was to launch it in America but that couldn't happen because of COVID, then I had to rewrite the chapter on Trump because of what's happened in the last year. And, I added a chapter on mental health because I lost my mind last year. I went from 18 months of touring all over the world and getting my confidence and self-worth from a room full of strangers and then it was suddenly just me. My girlfriend loves me but not as much as 3000 Russians! I did a lot of self-reflection."

Jake Bugg performs All I Need live in the studio, before joining Graham for a chat about his upcoming album.

And finally, Graham pulls the lever on Daniel who volunteers to sit in the Big Red Chair on behalf of audience members telling their funniest stories from the comfort of their own home.

Notes

Rob Beckett was originally billed as appearing.

Broadcast details

Date
Friday 15th January 2021
Time
10:45pm
Channel
BBC One
Length
45 minutes

Cast & crew

Cast
Graham Norton Host / Presenter
Guest cast
Jake Bugg Guest
Rebel Wilson Guest
Keeley Hawes Guest
Noel Clarke Guest
M Night Shyamalan Guest
Ant Middleton Guest
Daniel Sloss Guest
Writing team
Rob Colley Writer
Dan Gaster Writer
Production team
Toby Baker Director
Jon Magnusson Series Producer
Pete Snell Producer
Graham Stuart Executive Producer
Catherine Strauss Line Producer
Perry Widdowson Editor
Chris Webster Production Designer
Mandy Furlonger Make-up Designer
Chris Rigby Lighting Designer
Jonathan Whitehead (as Trellis) Composer
Kerry Hussain Graphics

Videos

Matthew Perry and M Night Shyamalan story

M Night Shyamalan confirms Matthew Perry's story about them having a drunk night out did actually happen.

Featuring: Graham Norton & M Night Shyamalan.

Rebel Wilson's freak accident in Mexico

Rebel Wilson and Ant Middleton on how Rebel managed to injure herself trying to save her friend's passport.

Featuring: Graham Norton, Rebel Wilson & Ant Middleton.

Awkward kiss encounters

Keeley Hawes and Noel Clarke talk about having intimate scenes.

Featuring: Graham Norton, Keeley Hawes & Noel Clarke.

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