British comedy chat show, broadcast on BBC One
The Graham Norton Show
is a British
comedy
talk show
presented by
Graham Norton
. It was initially broadcast on
BBC Two
, from 22 February 2007, before moving to
BBC One
in October 2009. It currently airs on Friday evenings, with Norton succeeding
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
in BBC One's prestigious late-Friday-evening slot in 2010.
[3]
The show is characterised by Norton's opening monologue, adult humour, and
innuendo
-laden dialogue and flamboyant presentation, for which he has received a number of awards, including the
British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance
three times (2011, 2012 and 2018). The show also won
British Academy Television Award for Best Comedy Entertainment Programme
in 2015.
History
[
edit
]
BBC Two
[
edit
]
The show mirrors
So
and
V
with strong adult humour along with Norton's monologue at the beginning of the show and often a musical guest to play out over the credits. Although the rude objects in "Graham's drawer" did not survive, the phone calls and hidden camera surprises have. These surprises are sometimes centred on the guests, such as
Sarah Beeny
's dating website, a
TARDIS
on the South Bank when
David Tennant
appeared and a wine-tasting group drinking
Gerard Depardieu
's wine whilst he was on the show. Some of the surprises, such as the wine-tasting, have been arranged through ideas submitted by viewers, stating where they will be when the show is recorded.
[
citation needed
]
At the end of the show, after any band or artist performance, an extra five minute section of the show was recorded, known as the "Cooldown". This section was seen in an extended weekend repeat, called
Graham Norton Uncut
, and was also made available as a downloadable
podcast
. As well as showing the "Cooldown", it also included previously unseen parts from the original episode. This section often involved the audience, such as guessing an audience member's partner or playing mass
charades
.
[
citation needed
]
After Norton's short monologue, he always introduced two guests. If there was a third guest, they were usually introduced later in the show. If the two guests are connected in some way (for example,
Dustin Hoffman
and his wife), they were the only ones introduced at the start. If musical guests were involved in the show, one of several things happened. Some performers, such as
Enrique Iglesias
, were on stage from the very beginning. Others, such as
Gareth Gates
came on stage about 5 to 7 minutes before their performance for a short interview. Also, some musical guests only performed during the end credits and participated in the Cooldown section of the programme. However, all bands performed during the credits and were interviewed in the Cooldown segment.
[
citation needed
]
BBC One
[
edit
]
Once the show moved to BBC One, it moved to Monday nights and the guest list increased to three or occasionally four people with an accompanying reduction in Norton's signature pieces. A typical show consisted of one big celebrity name, a comedian sitting in the aforementioned
comedy chair
and a well-known musical personality who would all be introduced after the monologue. Sometimes, three guests are introduced at the top of the show with the musical guest brought in about 10 to 15 minutes before the end of the show.
Unlike the BBC Two show, the BBC One show does not end with the musical performance, but with a new audience participation segment called
That's All We've Got Time For
, where audience members sit in the famous red chair and begin to tell a humorous story. Norton and his guests listen to the stories and if Norton gets bored, he ? or occasionally a guest ? pulls the lever and the chair falls backwards, dumping the speaker from it.
[4]
The red chair segment was inspired by comedian
Ronnie Corbett
's long-winded armchair monologues.
[5]
Following the end of
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
, it was announced that
The Graham Norton Show
would be taking over the coveted Friday night slot.
[6]
The show premiered on 22 October 2010.
Series
[
edit
]
The first series began at 10 pm on 22 February 2007 on
BBC Two
and was originally slated to end on 24 May 2007 after 13 episodes. However, the series proved such a hit that it was extended for an additional six episodes. A 12-week second series began on 11 October 2007 and culminated with a Boxing Day special and a New Year's compilation from previous episodes.
The show made its North American premiere on
BBC America
on 2 June 2007, one week after what was supposed to be the final episode of Series 1 (before its extension).
Series 2 premiered on BBC America on 20 October 2007. Unlike the previous series, each episode premiered in the United States only nine days after its initial UK broadcast. However, the final three episodes were broadcast in reverse order (with Episode 12 being shown on BBC America a few days earlier than on BBC Two. The same thing occurred in Series 4 with the Christmas special airing on BBC America 10 days before the BBC Two broadcast.
Series 3 began its run on 17 April 2008. For series 3, the "Cooldown" segment had been dropped and the show was just the full uncut 45-minute version.
The show continued to be broadcast in a 30-minute version on Thursdays at 10:00 pm with
Graham Norton Uncut
, the uncut version, shown on Sundays at 11:00 pm in a 45-minute version. However,
BBC Two
in Wales sometimes would broadcast the Thursday edition later than the rest of the BBC Two regions, usually after
Newsnight
at 11.20 pm because they would usually have local programmes in the 10 pm slot.
BBC Two Northern Ireland
did the same and during series three, they broadcast Thursday's show on Friday nights at 10 pm on BBC Two Northern Ireland because of local programming on Thursdays.
Series 4 began its run on 3 October 2008 at 10:00 pm on BBC Two (however, both
BBC Two Wales
and BBC Two Northern Ireland broadcast the show at a later time due to their regional programming). The Sunday uncut editions have been kept, with the first uncut edition broadcast on BBC Two late on Sunday night.
Since its sixth series,
The Graham Norton Show
has aired on
BBC One
. As of January 2022, there have been 29 series of the show.
In late January 2017, it was confirmed that Norton had signed a new three-year deal with the BBC which, along with his BBC Radio 2 show,
Eurovision Song Contest
commentary duties and other projects for the BBC, would also keep
The Graham Norton Show
on BBC One until at least 2020. Norton said: "I think we've just done a deal for another three years, which, right now, feels like a long time."
[7]
The Graham Norton Show
had been produced from the ITV Studios on London's Southbank since it began in 2007. Norton had used the London Studios since 1998 for his first talk show on Channel 4,
So Graham Norton
. The show produced its final episode from The London Studios on Thursday 15 February 2018 which aired on BBC One on Friday 16 February 2018. At the end of the final show, a photograph was taken of all the crew on the sofa along with Norton with a caption reading "Love, thanks and goodbye to The London Studios".
[8]
The production of the show moved to Studio TC1 at
BBC Television Centre
in West London, operated by BBC Studioworks. The first edition to be recorded at Television Centre was on Thursday 5 April 2018, which aired on BBC One on Friday 6 April 2018.
[9]
[10]
Series 27, which began on 10 April 2020, adopted a slightly different format due to the continuing
global coronavirus pandemic
. Initially airing in an earlier timeslot of 9:00 pm and its running time reduced to 30 minutes, the programme was presented by Norton from his own home chatting to guests via video link. After four episodes, the show returned to its 10:35 pm timeslot.
Series 28, which began on 2 October 2020, saw the programme return to the studio, albeit with some layout changes to allow Norton and the studio guests to observe social distancing. Each guest had their own chair positioned 2 metres apart from each other with Norton sat in the middle of the semi-circular layout. Guests who are based abroad continued to join in remotely via video link and a reduced capacity audience, wearing face coverings, were allowed to attend the recordings. From the sixth episode onwards, the studio audience was replaced by a
virtual audience
, due to the UK entering a new national lockdown.
Series 30, which began on 30 September 2022, saw the return of the big red sofa with all guests sitting closer together, however the larger screen remains to beam in virtual guests.
Series 31 began airing on 29 September 2023.
Frequency of Appearances of "Notable" Guests (Not Conclusive as of 2024)
The programme is currently taping at
Television Centre, London
.
[11]
International broadcasts
[
edit
]
Across
Scandinavia
,
The Graham Norton Show
is frequently shown on cable and satellite channels
BBC Brit
, formerly known as
BBC Entertainment
. Episodes are usually shown a week after their original UK airing on BBC One, while reruns from past seasons are shown overnight or during the day. Swedish state television
SVT
streams the show with a delay of several weeks on its VOD service
SVT Play
.
In
Greece
, the show is broadcast on Cosmote Series HD which is a pay channel available on
Cosmote TV
. The episodes are shown in English with Greek subtitles and are broadcast a few days after the UK.
[
citation needed
]
In Latin America, Poland and several countries in continental Europe,
The Graham Norton Show
is aired on satellite channel
BBC Entertainment
. Episodes are usually shown a week after their original UK airing on BBC One, while reruns from past series are shown overnight or during daytime.
In the
United States
, the show began airing on Saturday nights in June 2007. Starting 11 April 2013, cable/satellite
network
BBC America
aired new episodes on Thursdays.
[12]
From 2014 to 2015, it then aired every Saturday night on BBC America, normally eight days after the BBC.
[12]
In November 2015,
The Weinstein Company
bought the series rights in the United States and took a break while negotiating a new contract with BBC America.
[13]
On 18 January 2016, BBC America aired the 2015 New Year's Eve episode.
[14]
On 21 January 2016, the network announced that the programme would be returning on Monday, 25 January 2016, with new episodes now airing three days after the BBC airing.
[15]
In 2017, the series moved back to its original Saturday time slot. In 2018, the show moved to a Friday night time slot, which airs new episodes a week after the BBC airing.
In
Canada
, it is broadcast by
HIFI
. Older episodes also air during the week on BBC Canada (now known as
BBC First
).
In
Ireland
, the show is broadcast on
TV3
and its sister channel
3e
one day after the BBC broadcast on Saturdays. In January 2015,
UTV Ireland
aired the show every Sunday night. TV3 Group continued to air "Best of" Specials recorded prior to 2015. This arrangement changed in January 2017 when the TV3 Group bought UTV Ireland and changed it to "be3". TV3 then moved The Graham Norton Show back to their main channel, where it airs every Saturday, 24 hours after UK transmission, usually at around 10.pm. In August 2018, TV3 rebranded to become Virgin Media One, with The Graham Norton Show remaining on the channel.
[16]
In
Australia
, the series is broadcast on
Network 10
on Friday nights, airing one week after the original broadcast in the UK.
[17]
[18]
Additionally, for Pay TV viewers (
Foxtel
), it airs on
UKTV
at 9.30pm Mondays, with repeats on Tuesdays and Saturdays. It previously aired on
ABC2
on Thursdays from 2007 to 2012.
In
New Zealand
, the show was originally broadcast on UKTV. Since the start of Series 11 on 4 May 2012, the show has been broadcast on
TV3
on Friday nights.
In
India
,
Pakistan
,
Bangladesh
,
Sri Lanka
,
Nepal
,
Bhutan
and
Maldives
,
The Graham Norton Show
airs Saturday nights on
Comedy Central
a week after the BBC broadcast.
Episodes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Jackson, Jasper; Sweney, Mark (21 February 2017).
"ITV to shut London studio with 40-year history of top programming"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
24 August
2018
.
- ^
Linden, Shaun (5 April 2018).
"The Graham Norton Show switches to TV Centre as ITV South Bank winds down"
. ATV Today. Archived from
the original
on 25 March 2019
. Retrieved
24 August
2018
.
- ^
"Graham Norton sells production company So TV to ITV"
.
BBC News
.
Archived
from the original on 4 November 2012
. Retrieved
28 August
2022
.
- ^
"The Graham Norton Show"
. BBC
. Retrieved
26 April
2013
.
- ^
The Graham Norton Show
, BBC One, 1 April 2016
- ^
"Graham Norton to take over from Jonathan Ross on Friday night chat show"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. 15 July 2010.
ISSN
0307-1235
.
Archived
from the original on 12 January 2022
. Retrieved
13 October
2017
.
- ^
Warner, Sam; Eames, Tom (26 January 2017).
"Graham Norton is sticking with the BBC for another three years ? and he's got his eye on a very special guest"
.
Digital Spy
. Retrieved
24 August
2018
.
- ^
"Sidcup Bloke ???????? on Twitter"
.
twitter.com
.
- ^
"SRO audiences ? the tv audience company"
.
sroaudiences.com
.
- ^
"ITV to demolish and rebuild South Bank site, TLS to close: ITV Daytime has left the building ? Page 50 ? TV Forum"
.
tvforum.uk
.
- ^
"Sro audiences"
.
www.sroaudiences.com
. Archived from
the original
on 24 September 2021
. Retrieved
17 January
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"About the Show | The Graham Norton Show"
. BBC America
. Retrieved
26 April
2013
.
- ^
Owen, Rob (6 November 2015).
"TV Q&A: 'The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,' 'The Graham Norton Show' and closed captioning"
.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
. Archived from
the original
on 8 November 2015
. Retrieved
6 November
2015
.
- ^
@grahnort (18 January 2016).
"For all @BBCAMERICA viewers who wondered what happened to the show. it's back tonight!!!! 10pm Eastern. Enjoy!!"
(
Tweet
) – via
Twitter
.
- ^
"The Graham Norton Show - Press Resources - BBC America Press Room"
.
- ^
"The Graham Norton Show - Saturday, 12 March 2022"
.
- ^
"TEN 2012 Programming Launch:TV Tonight"
.
David Knox
. 17 August 2011
. Retrieved
18 August
2011
.
- ^
"Ten 2012 - Knowfirst"
.
Elmer Fudd
. Archived from
the original
on 2 October 2011
. Retrieved
18 August
2011
.
External links
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]
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