The Graham Norton Show
| The Graham Norton Show | |
|---|---|
 Title card from Series 8 | |
| Presented by | Graham Norton |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 110 (as of 18 February 2011) (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer | SO Television |
| Production location | The London Studios |
| Running time | 45 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC Two (2007–2009) BBC One (2009–present) BBC HD (2010–present) |
| Release | 22 February 2007 – present |
The Graham Norton Show is a comedy chat show that is broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on BBC America in the United States. It was originally shown on BBC Two from February 2007 to May 2009 until it moved to BBC One from October 2009. Presented by Irish comedian Graham Norton, the show's format is very similar to his previous Channel 4 programmes, V Graham Norton and So Graham Norton, both of which were also produced by SO Television.
Programming
BBC Two
The show mirrors "So" and "V" with strong adult humour along with Graham'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" have not survived, the phone calls and hidden camera surprises did. These surprises are sometimes based around 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.
At the end of the show, after any band or artist performance, an extra 5 minute section of the show was recorded, known as the "Cooldown". This section is seen in an extended weekend repeat, called Graham Norton Uncut, and is also made available as a downloadable podcast. As well as showing the "Cooldown", it also includes previously unseen parts from the original episode. This section often involves the audience, such as guessing an audience member's partner and playing mass charades.
After Graham's short monologue, he always introduced two guests. If there was a third guest, they are 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 are involved in the show, one of several things happened. Sometimes 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 perform during the end credits and participate in the Cooldown section of the programme. However, all bands perform during the credits and were interviewed in the Cooldown segment.
BBC One
Once the show moved to BBC One, the show moved to Monday nights, the guest increased to 3 or occasionally 4 people, with an accompanying reduction in Norton's signature pieces. A typical show was made up 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 humorous stories. Graham and his guests listen to the stories and if Graham gets bored he pulls the lever and the chair falls backward dumping the speaker from it.[1]
After 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. The show premièred on Friday, 22 October 2010.
Some celebrities have been hesitant of being a guest because of the nature of the show. For instance Hilary Swank was originally supposed to appear on the first episode but then she decided to pull out.[2]
Series
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 New Year's compilation from previous episodes.[3]
The show made its North American première 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 premièred on BBC America on 20 October 2007. Unlike the previous series, each episode premièred in the United States only 9 days after the 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 Season 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 has been dropped, and the uncut show is just the full uncut 45-minute version of the show.
The show was originally recorded in studio 2 at The London Studios, but moved to studio 1, due to the slot of The Paul O'Grady Show and the high audience numbers.
The show continues 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 around 11:00 pm in a 45-minute version. However, BBC Two in Wales sometimes 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 10:00 pm slot. BBC Two Northern Ireland has also done the same, and they have during series three, broadcast Thursday's show on Friday nights at 10:00 pm on BBC Two Northern Ireland because of local programming on Thursdays.
Series 4 began its run on Thursday 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 to be broadcast on BBC Two late on Sunday night.
Speaking on ITV1's This Morning (TV series) on Wednesday 21 January 2009, Graham Norton said he would be back with the chatshow in March 2009. As he is appearing in a West End play at the time, he mentioned he would have to miss the Wednesday performance during the run of the play, as this is the day he records the show for the BBC.
International broadcasts
In America, cable channel BBC America broadcasts new episodes being first broadcast on Saturdays at 10 pm ET. Reruns of past shows occur several times a week at various times.
In Canada, cable channel BBC Canada broadcasts the show Thursday nights at 11:00 pm Eastern Time Zone.
In Ireland, Series 3 began its run on TV3 on 4 July 2008 at 9:00 pm, and in Norway on TV Norge.
In Brazil, the show is broadcast by VH1 Brasil once a week.
In Australia, Series 8 is broadcast on Thursday evenings at 9.30pm on ABC2, with a repeat the following night at 10:15pm on ABC1. Additionally, for Pay TV viewers (Foxtel and Austar), it airs on UKTV at 9.30pm Mondays, with repeats at both 3.30am Tuesdays and 9.15pm Saturdays (also two hours later each day on UKTV+2 for Foxtel viewers).
In New Zealand, the show is broadcast on UKTV, as of 1 May 2010, Series 5 is currently being broadcast. Series 8 began broadcasting from 3 December 2010 at 8.30pm on TV3 New Zealand.
In South Africa, the show began broadcasting Series 6 on BBC Entertainment, on July 30, 2010 at 21:30 replacing The Jonathan Ross Show when it ended its run.
In Norway, the show is broadcast by TV Norge once a week.
Episodes
Series 8
The Graham Norton Show has broadcast eight series since its debut in 2007. The BBC premiered a new series on Friday 22 October 2010 on BBC One and BBC HD.[4] It has inherited the coveted spot once held by Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. The new series resembles the old So Graham Norton series. Ten episodes aired in 2010. 10 other episodes have been confirmed, and will air the week after the New Year's special. [5] The show will then take a one month break and return on 15 April for Series 9. [6]
References
- ^ [1]
- ^ Lisa Devaney's Blog, Close Encounters of the Graham Norton Kind, 22 Feb 2007
- ^ So Television, news & press, Norton Back in the Autumn, 29 June 2007
- ^ [2]
- ^ [http://www.radiotimes.com/ListingsServlet?event=10&channelId=92&programmeId=138785101&jspLocation=/jsp/prog_details_fullpage.jsp
- ^ http://www.sroaudiences.com/