I'm afraid Sherlock Holmes did not return my calls so I'm unable to tell you who all the guests are on the second edition of The John Bishop Show. I did a bit of sleuthing myself and by trawing social media managed to find out that Michelle Keegan is one of the guests, but apart from that there is no sign of another guest havng been announced on any websites*
The ITV press release isn't much guide but it does offer some generic information: "John Bishop is to present a brand new topical chat show Saturday nights on ITV, The John Bishop Show.
The comedy superstar and actor, currently on a huge arena tour with his new stand-up show Right Here Right Now and star of the latest Doctor Who series, is getting ready to bring his all-round comedic brilliance to ITV for six weeks.
Each week John will open the show with a topical stand-up routine and then chat to some very special celebrity guests. Star interviewees will include the hottest names in film, TV, sport, music and more. John will also be checking the global comedy pulse with a team of stand-ups from all over the world. The show will be recorded a few hours before transmission, in front of a live studio audience. "
The first week featured guests Sarah Millican and James Nesbitt. I thought that maybe ITV1 was setting Bishop up to be a talk show host to give Jonathan Ross a run for his money, but, despite the fact that Bishop has fronted an in-depth one-to-one talk show on other channel in the past, the guests here were given the very lightest of grillings while seated together from the start, with the trade-off being Millican getting to plug her tour and Nesbitt plugging his Netflix thriller Stay Close.
The show is recorded close to the wire so that Bishop can deliver some topical monologues at the start and finish - Boris Johnson was inevitably the subject last week and I expect he'll be the subject again this week. There was also a report from Australian stand-up Matt Okine about the Djokovic story. There is no word in the ITV press information about whether Okine will be back this week or whether there will be another guest stand-up chipping in**.
Basically ITV seems to be being pretty quiet about plugging what is in this show despite it going out in a fairly important slot. Maybe the idea is that we will watch it regardless of who is on, but given so much viewing choice at the moment that feels unlikely. Maybe they want it to bed in quietly and will give it a bigger push once it has found its feet as a cross between chat show and stand-up comedy showcase. But if they don't tell us who is on we may not watch it and it won't have a chance to find its feet.
Anyway rant over, if I can spot who else is on the show tonight I'll update this story*. And if anyone out there knows the answer please tell me. Otherwise I'll just have to leave another message asking Sherlock Holmes for his help.
*Update - since posting this piece I've now been told that the other guest is twinkle-toed comedian Bill Bailey
**this week the guest stand-up is Emmanuel Sonubi
The John Bishop Show, Saturdays, 9.30pm, ITV1
Picture: ITV1
