The Graham Norton Show

Having gentle fun at the expense of A-listers without making them look too foolish, Graham Norton's chatshow shtick is the best around. Tonight, with the summer blockbuster season well upon us, he welcomes Mark Wahlberg, promoting Transformers: The Last Knight, Tom Holland of Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Woody Harrelson and Andy Serkis, lately monkeying around in War for the Planet of the Apes. Plus, Alison Moyet performs.

Graham Norton says he'd like to make fewer chat shows

Graham Norton has revealed that, two decades after he debuted his first chat show, he's ready to scale back his hosting duties.

Ahead of what looks like a very good new King Arthur film, Guy Ritchie joins Graham on the couch. You didn't think he was exactly a mine of charisma and good yarns? Well then, you'll be relieved to know that his leading man, Charlie Hunnam, will be along, too. Rockabilly-turned-divorce rocker Imelda May is up to perform her new single, while fans of the word "excruciating" will enjoy the latest Red Chair stories.

Guests leave The Graham Norton Show but, as with the mafia, they keep getting pulled back in. Among the returning guests this week are Miranda Hart (slightly more awkward in interviews than you might expect), who's talking about her new role in Annie, Keeley Hawes and the good-value, expansive Peter Capaldi. Your big Hollywood hitter this week is Warren Beatty, plugging Rules Don't Apply, where he plays Howard Hughes.

After a tiny rest stop, a new series of well-rehearsed and lightly promotional chat begins. Jack Whitehall, very much the gift that keeps on giving on the red sofa, returns yet again - this time to discuss his current, and slightly underwhelming, starring role in BBC One's Decline and Fall. Operating at about the same level of old pro is the duo of Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, here to plug pensioner heist movie Going in Style.

TV humour is lewd, lavatorial & lacking any form of wit

The problem, however, is bigger than just one show. For the abject and high-profile failure of The Nightly Show raises a disturbing question. What has happened to British comedy? The sheer unfunniness of much of it is beyond depressing.

Preview - The Graham Norton Show

With the 2017 movie scene kicking off to a good start with the likes of award winning productions such as La La Land and Lion, and new music from Ed Sheeran and Coldplay, The Graham Norton Show's most recent series has had a rather star-studded guest line-up.