Viewers watching The Graham Norton Show were left confused on New Year’s Eve, wondering how Robbie Williams managed to ‘dash across the world’ after performing in Sydney, Australia.
Williams, 50, took to the stage in the Australian city, performing at their New Year fireworks display during the countdown to 2025.
With Sydney being ahead of the UK, Australians rang in the new year 11 hours earlier. But people were confused as to how Williams managed to perform Down Under before appearing on the UK chat show just hours later.
One person wrote on X: “Hang on a sec – Robbie Williams is on #GrahamNorton right now but BBC News showed him counting down to the New Year in Sydney. You can’t believe anything, can you?”
While another said: “Truly remarkable how Robbie Williams launched New Year celebrations in Sydney earlier today – and now there he is on Graham Norton’s sofa in London just hours later. Either Robbie has gone supersonic from Oz – or Norton’s hogmanay bash was recorded days or perhaps weeks ago.”
And a third added: “Robbie Williams did well seeing in the New Year in Sydney and then dashing back for The Graham Norton NYE show!”
Meanwhile a fourth commented: “What gave it away… Robbie Williams cannot be in two places at the same time […] at Sydney harbor and the Graham Norton Show.”
It seems some viewers forgot that Norton’s show is pre-recorded. Although it’s usually recorded on a Thursday and broadcast on a Friday, the schedule was likely a little different over the festive period, giving Williams ample time to get over to Australia for his Sydney performance.
In the past, Norton has spoken about the fact the show is pre-recorded, explaining on This Morning: “We could do it live. It’s just better not. Because then we can cut out the boring bits. If we ask someone to tell and anecdote then you think, well ‘I did ask him to tell that anecdote, I didn’t know it was twenty minutes long and I didn’t realise it wasn’t funny. On paper, it looked hilarious. So then we cut it out.
“If we were doing it live, we’d make it a very different show, probably.”
While appearing on Norton’s New Year special, Williams spoke about his new biopic, Better Man, in which he is portrayed as a CGI chimp.
He explained: “There needed to be a creative difference because the biopic genre has got a bit long and a bit tired, so we needed a unique selling point.
“When I heard everyone else in the film would be human and I would be a monkey I thought, ‘Yes! This is an eccentric idea, it’s a huge swing, I can instantly see it, it’s incredible.’
“It was only when I told my wife I realised it might be contentious.”
