Graham Norton has revealed who will be stepping into his shoes and taking over his talk show next month.
Norton has been hosting The Graham Norton Show for a total of 32 seasons over a whopping 18 years on BBC.
The Irish TV presenter has announced that he will be taking a break from his chat show in February, dropping the bombshell on today’s episode (10 January) episode of his self-titled programme.
The 61-year-old revealed that he will be making his way to the land Down Under before his Australian live tour.
Norton will be visiting the cities of Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne in March, though he will be in the country from February for some well-deserved time off.
His live show, called An Evening with Graham Norton, will be in Australia for the first time, as he will share stories from his life and career, even getting the audience involved with a Q&A session in each show.
However, the Irishman’s absence doesn’t mean that his show is going on a break too, as he has announced that there will be a stand-in celebrity presenter while he is away.
The temporary host was actually one of the guests on the show, as it was none other than The Traitors host Claudia Winkleman that would be taking over the reins, albeit for just one episode.
Winkleman will be presenting The Graham Norton Show on 28 February in Norton’s absence, and after he thanked her for covering him, she joked: “I apologise in advance!”
The Strictly presenter was a guest on the iconic red sofa alongside Brie Larson, Billy Porter, Myles Smith and Tom Hiddleston.
Following last year’s emotional rollercoaster of an ending, Winkleman admitted she is ‘very nervous’ about how the new season of The Traitors will fare.
“I am always very nervous that people aren’t watching and then incredibly grateful that they are. I feel about Traitors like people feel about an offspring – you’re so glad when people love it. I can’t say much but the producers are so clever and there are lots of twists and turns coming,” she candidly admitted.
Winkleman has established herself as an iconic figure on British TV, as her fashion choices are also a talking point for fans of her shows.
Speaking about her outfit choices on this year’s series, she admitted: “We always like to have a muse – for Strictly it has been Anita Dobson and this year it was Demis Roussos. For Traitors it’s Princess Anne meets Sarah Brightman.”
The 52-year-old joked: “We’ve already decided on next year’s – I’ll be dressing as Gerald from Clarkson’s Farm!”
