If I was commissioning a chat show I’m not sure if I’d have picked John Bishop as host. He’s a great talker and a great teller of stories but is he a great listener? Michael McIntyre has already had a crack at the talk show format and that wasn’t a great success, so can Bishop do any better?

Well, his first show suggests that given the right star name in the chair opposite he can. In this in-depth series Bishop has chosen the guests himself and he kicks off with James Corden, who he clearly knows already and has an immediate rapport with. 

This means that the interview is relaxed from the start as the Carpool Karaoke king talks about his shock at his success in America before spooling back and talking about his childhood in High Wycombe and his Salvation Army dad going off to the Gulf War.

And Corden, of course, is a chat show natural, even if it does feel as if some of the stories have been told before. Though there was a new one to me about the time his child vomited on him while flying first class.

What you don't get here, for better or worse, is anything combative. Bishop doesn’t push Corden hard, although he does briefly touch on the period when fame seemed to go to Corden’s head after Gavin & Stacey. Nor, however, do you get a Piers Morgan-style blubfest, with the guest baring their soul as if on cue. 

If you want to watch a brutal grilling you have come to the wrong place. This is a nice amiable chat which has plenty of room to breathe given the longer slot. Bishop never tries to be the star or crack unnecessary gags and seems genuinely interested in his guests. Not the new Michael Parkinson, but, thankfully, not the new Piers Morgan either.  

Sept 1, 9pm, W.