The Graham Norton Show

Graham Norton's new £4m TV deal

Graham Norton has landed a new mega £4million three-year deal with the BBC.

Graham Norton may have been made more family-friendly of late, but the dildo-brandisher of the past still capers somewhere at the back of his consciousness; his chat show remains peppered with arch humour, and sycophancy is earned by guests rather than doled out to all, as with Jonathan Ross. Tonight's instalment is a best-bits clip show, in case you missed his sparring with Hollywood heavyweights Tom Cruise, Michael Douglas, Amy Adams and Will Smith, plus UK talent such as Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch.

There have been some proper magic moments during the most recent run of the peerless Graham Norton Show, and you can relive them all in this compilation.

Probably the biggest moment was the Fresh Prince of Bel Air reunion when Will Smith, with son Jaden, introduced Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton in the show, to dance to "It's Not Unusual". It became a monster YouTube hit. And Star Trek: Into Darkness stars Chris Pine and Benedict Cumberbatch were good value when they hugged devoted audience members who'd travelled from as far as Japan just to see them on the show. Now that's love.

It's Graham Norton's last soirée of the series (next week's episode is a best-bits review) but he'll have to go some to top Chris O'Dowd's fly-eating moment. He's lined up a pair of Hollywood heavyweights for the occasion: Samuel L Jackson, talking about his latest role as campaign chairman of One For The Boys, a charity raising awareness of men's health problems, and Sandra Bullock, whose cop comedy The Heat is out next month.

Voicing characters in animated films has become a must-have on the CV of any self-respecting actor these days, so it's no surprise that Steve Carell, one of the more recognisable faces of US comedy, is bouncing around on Norton's sofa to champion his new role as Gru in Despicable Me 2. Jostling alongside Carell are Irish actor Chris O'Dowd (Moone Boy, The IT Crowd) - star of US mockumentary Family Tree, coming soon to BBC2 - and US singer Josh Groban, fresh from a gig at London's O2 arena. But will any of tonight's guests be as trigger-happy on the red chair lever as Russell Crowe was last week?

Graham Norton on why his friends are so important

He is self­ deprecating without being needy and isn't afraid to share the affairs of his own heart, only this week revealing that his two­ year relationship with Canadian software designer Trevor Patterson ended in the spring.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Henry Cavill, swooping in to flutter his cape at an appreciative Graham Norton as the latest incarnation of Superman in hotly tipped summer blockbuster Man Of Steel.

Cavill's co-stars Russell Crowe (Superman's Krypton dad Jor-El) and Amy Adams (feisty reporter cum love interest Lois Lane) will also be cosying up on Norton's sofa to give us the inside cape on the latest glossy blockbuster take on the classic superhero tale. Katy B provides the musical interlude.

It would be churlish not to mention that Henry Cavill looks very commanding in Superman's blue tights, if the trailer for the big summer blockbuster Man of Steel is any guide. You might also remember the Jersey-born actor looking good in a doublet and hose as smouldering Charles Brandon in The Tudors.

But it's Man Of Steel, where he dons the cape as the titular superhero, which is set to make Cavill an international star after years as a jobbing actor (he once guest-starred in Midsomer Murders).

It's a big, noisy affair, full of big, noisy special effects as wicked General Zod returns to capture the Earth. Naturally only one man can save us all, and the job appears to require him to remove his shirt a lot. Also on the sofa tonight is Cavill's Man of Steel co-star, the eternally sunny Russell Crowe.

Shimmying into Graham's studio tonight is Hayden Panettiere, one-time self-mending heroine of cult US sci-fi drama Heroes, now strutting her diamanté chic in slick US country soap Nashville. Also dropping in for a chat is Dan Stevens, Downton Abbey's Matthew Crawley - one of the few decent chaps in the period drama - who was controversially bumped off on Christmas Day. Just after he'd become a new dad, too. Such a harsh way to write out a character. The nation was not amused as we choked on our figgy pudding.

Jenny from the block - J-Lo to her mates (Jennifer Lopez to you and me) - parks her famous rear on Graham's celebrity seat to big-up Beyoncé's Chime For Change charity concert tomorrow at Twickenham Stadium, part of a campaign to empower girls and women alike. Also on hand is TV quiz show fixture, Peep Show actor and comedian David Mitchell, who'll be contemplating his next career move as the current run of daily news satire 10 O'Clock Live nears the end of its run.