The Graham Norton Show

On our letters page recently an RT reader quite rightly praised Bafta-winning Norton as "a breath of fresh air" on Friday nights. Norton is a great host and the show has become a joyful way to round off the week. He's warm and inclusive, and a smashing interviewer who doesn't fawn (though he teetered close to the edge of unctuousness with Lady Gaga a few weeks back). So enjoy the feeling of being at a pleasant gathering with a thoughtful host. Tonight's guests are Kim Cattrall, glowing with her London stage success in Private Lives and soon to star in it on Broadway, and British Soap Awards winner Jessie Wallace. The Saturdays provide the music.

Graham Norton: hail the king of chat

After a few years in the doldrums, Graham Norton seems to be back to his risque best. So has he regained his edge over chatshow rivals?

Old friends Liza Minnelli and Graham Norton have a lot of catching up to do.

She's been on his show numerous times before but the last time was on V Graham Norton way back in 2003 when she came with her then husband David Gest. A lot of water has passed under that particular bridge since then...

With a new CD to promote, Liza kicks off a tour at the Royal Albert Hall at the end of this month, with dates in Europe and Las Vegas - and she'll be singing tonight.

Joining her on the sofa is Shameless actor turned Hollywood star James McAvoy, who'll have all the goss from the new X Men movie in which he plays the young Professor X, and Lead Balloon star Jack Dee completes the line up.

When Jack Dee is only the third most interesting person on the bill, you know you're in for a good show.

Now this could be fun, because tonight a trio of really disparate guests make themselves comfy on the sofa: Jack Dee, James McAvoy and drum roll Liza Minnelli! We know how much Norton loves a gay icon, judging by his glee at recent appearances by Bette Midler and Lady Gaga, but surely Minnelli beats them all. She talks about her life and career, of course, and also sings live. It will be delicious to see what she makes of Jack Dee, promoting a new series of his doleful sitcom Lead Balloon, in that often uncomfortable juxtaposition of a megastar and a cheeky British comedian they've never heard of (remember Maggie Gyllenhaal's bewilderment when faced with Russell Howard?). Bona fide Hollywood action man McAvoy (hasn't he come a long way since Shameless?) will discuss his role in the latest X Men movie, X Men First Class.

Poor old Lady Gaga. It wasn't all plain sailing with her comeback single, Born This Way, and the supposed backlash from some of her gay fans is reported to have caused her some upset. Let's hope her appearance on tonight's Graham Norton Show, where she not only performs her latest single, Judas, but showcases a range of her "outfits", is like calamine to the burn. Norton also welcomes Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush, star of Pirates of The Caribbean and The King's Speech, on to the sofa. Wonder if he'll try the fire bra on?

Even before the final instalment of The Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn, finished shooting, British actor Robert Pattinson had moved on to bigger things.

His co-star in his latest film, which opened this week, is a pretty 600 stone elephant called Tai.

Sadly, Graham Norton's sofa probably won't be large enough for Tai to join him on the show tonight. Instead, he'll have to settle for Robert's other co-star from Water for Elephants - Reese Witherspoon. This is actually the second time the two have worked together, because despite the tiny age gap between them, Robert was actually cast as her son in the 2004 movie Vanity Fair. It was a less than auspicious start to his Hollywood career though because his scenes were ­eventually cut from the film and can only be seen in the DVD version.

We're sure Graham will be quizzing Robert and Reese on their love scenes together in Water For Elephants.

But the relationship R-Patz fans really want to hear about is, of course, the one with his Twilight co-star and real-life girlfriend Kristen Stewart.

Don't hold back, Graham - we want to hear everything.

If you made a movie of Jennifer Hudson's life, critics would say it was too far-fetched to be believable.

We first spotted Jennifer in 2004, getting grief from Simon Cowell about her dress sense on season three of American Idol.

She was eliminated in seventh place in the controversial "Battle Of The Divas".

Undeterred, she went on to become the first reality show contestant to win an Oscar for her show-stopping performance in Dreamgirls and she's recently played Winnie Mandela in a new bio-pic.

But in a tragic flipside to this meteoric success, in 2008 her mother, brother and nephew were all shot dead.

Her sister's estranged husband, William Balfour, is still awaiting trial for their murders. So Graham Norton certainly won't be short of things to chat to Jennifer about on the show tonight.

Alternatively, he could just ask her how she's just lost 80lb with the help of slimming giants WeightWatchers.

Jennifer will also perform the title track from her new album I Remember Me, and she'll be joined on the Norton sofa by singer kd lang as well as musical comedian Bill Bailey.

Yay, Graham's back and once again there is a reason to stay in on Friday nights. He's terrific, and has injected bright new life into the post-news chat-show slot vacated by you-know-who last year. I love the dynamic of the Norton sofa, where guests turn up en masse rather than separately, which leads to some funny and occasionally weird interaction, or lack of interaction (remember a worried-looking Maggie Gyllenhaal staring in bafflement at comedian Russell Howard?). So far in Norton's reign, my favourite odd couples are big, smiley Hollywood hunk Bradley Cooper, who took a shine to our own Jo Brand, and one of tonight's guests, Catherine Tate, who was "romanced" by rapper 50 Cent the last time she appeared. Tate, last seen as Howard Donald in Comic Relief's Fake That, joins her old mucker and former Doctor Who, David Tennant. Grammy Award nominee Josh Groban provides the music.

While we've always not minded Graham Norton, even during his mid-career slump - remember when he was on C4 every minute of the day? - it's only now that we've come to really admire him as a good broadcaster. Perhaps there's something about that 10am R2 slot that makes TV chat show hosts relax and reveal their true selves. It certainly did it for Jonathan Ross all those years ago. Or maybe its just winning on Just A Minute, but now Norton is more mature, more likeable and just downright good.

Tonight, he has David Tennant and his mate, the hilarious comedian Catherine Tate and music from Glee star Josh Groban. Even though this doesn't sound like a whole lot of material to work with - or indeed any good at all - somehow it will end up being very entertaining.

With a new series of Doctor Who fast approaching, the Telegraph's Graham Norton begins his new run with a vintage Who feel. David Tennant and Catherine Tate, both of whom starred together in a previous Who series, join Norton on the sofa to discuss teaming up again in a new West End production of Shakespeare's As You Like It. Lancaster-born comedian Jon Richardson talks about his tour, and the singer/songwriter Josh Groban promotes his Straight to You tour, before singing songs from his new album, Illuminations.