The Jonathan Ross Show

The Jonathan Ross Show is lagging behind its rivals

The Jonathan Ross Show was bolstered by high profile appearances from David Beckham and Jessie J, but remains less probing and less humorous than The Graham Norton Show and Alan Carr: Chatty Man.

Mega-watt stars join the chat show host tonight. Actress Keira Knightley arrives to talk about her role as mental patient turned psychoanalyst Sabina Spielrein in her latest film, A Dangerous Method, which is based on Spielrein's turbulent relationships with Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. David Beckham, who has a new line of underwear - being put out through high street chain H&M - to promote, joins her on the sofa. Scottish stand-up comedian Kevin Bridges completes the line-up.

Jonathan Ross's Miss Piggy interview fell flat

The Jonathan Ross Show saw the playful host being joined by Hugh Bonneville, Jack Whitehall and the Arctic Monkeys. But it was an ill-advised appearance from The Muppets that will stick in viewers' minds.

Jonathan Ross: I thought NTA gong was a fix

Jonathan Ross raised a few eyebrows when he bagged a lifetime achievement gong at the National TV Awards - and even he was convinced it was a fix.

There's a particularly challenging guest tonight - the voluptuous and very shrewd Miss Piggy who is joined by her adored Kermit to promote their new film The Muppets. Miss Piggy is well known for being wanton, so Ross had better watch out or she'll be all over him like a big pink fluffy duvet.

Hugh Bonneville, star of that unstoppable costume drama juggernaut Downton Abbey, who was recently seen smiling broadly as the series was showered with Golden Globes in Hollywood, turns up to talk about his life and career. Stand-up comedian and actor Jack Whitehall completes the bill, while Arctic Monkeys provide the music.

Ever since Rod Hull and the terrifyingly blank-eyed Emu gave Michael Parkinson a mauling on his programme in 1976, chat show hosts have been understandably cagey about inviting puppets into their studios. Top marks for bravery, then, to Jonathan Ross, who welcomes Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy onto his sofa tonight. They'll be there, ostensibly, to discuss the forthcoming Muppets movie, but it'll be a small miracle if Ross manages to avoid at least a mild handbagging.

The balance of civility should be redressed by his other big-name guest of the night, Hugh Bonneville, who - in spite of having become one of Britain's best-known actors for his starring role in Downton Abbey - remains the picture of a modest English gentleman. He'll be talking, amongst other things, about the much-anticipated third series of Downton, which is set in the Twenties and is due to begin on ITV1 in September. Completing the line-up, the young comedian Jack Whitehall - whose cocksure manner and fondness for one-liners is reminiscent of a young Jonathan Ross - is given a chance to crack wise, and Sheffield-born indie rockers Arctic Monkeys provide the music.

Jonathan Ross Show strong again

The Jonathan Ross Show's prerecorded format meant it wasn't very topical - Seal had no chance to answer rumours about divorcing Heidi Klum, for example - but this was another watchable edition of the show.

Penguins give Jonathan Ross a problem

Jonathan Ross has a p-p-problem with two penguins on his show tonight - as they refuse to leave.

There are two key questions for Ross to ask tonight's headline sofa-shufflers. Sir David Attenborough's appearance can't pass without a discussion about why it wasn't obvious to viewers that some of Frozen Planet[/i]'s scenes of a polar bear and her cubs were filmed at a Dutch zoo. And Daniel Radcliffe's role in the new Hammer version of The Woman In Black must provoke Ross to ask, "What did you think of the screenplay?" The only possible answer is "brilliant." Ross's wife, the very talented Jane Goldman, wrote it.

There's a strong line-up of guests for Wossy to grapple with obsequiously tonight. First up is former boy wizard Daniel Radcliffe, who talks about his first post-Harry Potter film role in the forthcoming spine-chiller The Woman in Black (a film adapted from Susan Hill's novel, incidentally, by Ross's wife Jane Goldman). Secondly, there's garrulous Mighty Boosh star Noel Fielding, who's about to launch his brilliantly surreal new E4 show Luxury Comedy. Finally, and requiring no introduction, is Sir David Attenborough. British soul singer-songwriter Seal also drops in to perform his new single, Backstabbers.