On tonight’s show (7th January), Graham kicks off the new year with double-Oscar-winner Denzel Washington, British actors Martin Freeman and Nina Sosanya, comic Josh Widdicombe, and singer songwriter James Morrison.
Denzel joins Graham from the US to chat about his new film The Tragedy of Macbeth. Asked about playing a slightly older Macbeth, alongside co-star Francis McDormand, he says, “It actually helped because the clock was literally ticking, we are old, and time is running out – we were expecting to get the crown and we take it.”
Talking about the discipline of the text as opposed to his usual adlibbing, he says, “It’s hard to adlib Shakespeare which is part of the challenge and the fun of it.”
Asked about paying the acting tuition fees for Chadwick Boseman, he says, “When I found out it was him, he wasn’t known yet, but it obviously worked out very well for him and he had great success and was a brilliant actor. It was a very sad end to his life – he was a brave, talented young man.”
Martin Freeman, talking about his new police drama The Responder, says, “It has a beautiful tone and a lovely pace. One of the things I do like is a script that doesn’t feel like it was written by a committee. It does have a truly authored voice and I loved the tone of it.”
Asked about his authentic Liverpool accent, he says, “I knew I had to take it very seriously so for a good year and a half I was just wandering about the house talking to my myself in scouse. As an outsider, I didn’t want to go to Liverpool and mess up their accent – it was really important to me that I got away with it.”
Nina, talking about her new prison drama Screw, and asked if she is now just offered parts, she says, “No, not at all. I have to do hard auditioning graft.”
Recalling an early embarrassing experience, she says, “I once went to an audition and realised I didn’t have anything nice to wear so I went to the market and bought a skirt. I managed to get through the whole thing and on the way out I looked in a full mirror and stuck to the back of my skirt was a huge, large star-shaped tag with ‘Sale £6.99’ on it. I did actually get the part – maybe because they thought I was cheap!”
Josh, talking about his One Night In… series, says, “Alex Brooker and I had such fun doing exactly what we wanted to do. It was an amazing experience. At Alton Towers we went on Oblivion. It was terrifying. So much so that at the top Alex and I actually said we loved each other!”
Josh Widdicombe is the co-host of Parenting Hell with Rob Beckett. The series started off during lockdown to help other parents of small children during Covid and make them realise they are not alone. It is now going to go onstage with a show in London at the Hackney Empire later this month and no doubt more dates if it works out.
James performs his new single My Love Goes On live in the studio before joining Graham for a chat about his new album and upcoming tour.
Talking about his greatest hits album, he says, “I didn’t feel comfortable putting all my songs together on a list – I wanted to do something fresh so it was a great opportunity to go in and re-record them so I could take out all the stuff that annoys me.”
The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, Friday 7th January and available on BBC iPlayer.
Next week (14th January) Graham’s guests include Kate Blanchett, Ricky Gervais, Ant and Dec, and Elvis Costello.
Graham Norton Picture: BBC/So Television
