In a landmark TV moment, and to the huge delight of the studio audience, Graham welcomes the heir to the throne, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales on to tonight’s show. Also on the sofa are Cate Blanchett and Hannah Waddingham, and conservationist Robert Irwin, all of whom are involved in The Earthshot Prize. Singer songwriter Jorja Smith completes tonight’s lineup.
Prince William, talking about The Earthshot Prize, and asked how it all came about, says, “For many years I was hearing stories about environment issues and one thing that struck me was the negativity and doom which got me down. I thought we could do something more powerful and more optimistic and the idea of an awards’ ceremony came about and we could talk about urgency and optimism together. It’s all about getting excited.
“There are some amazing people out there doing things to protect the world. We could really highlight what is being done and scale them to the next level to have more impact around the world.”
Revealing he is a proper fan of The Celebrity Traitors, Prince William says, “I love it, the family love it. Charlotte and Louis are obsessed with it. It’s really good telly.” Adding, “I saw Ross Kemp the day after the first episode and I couldn’t help but try – in the most appropriate way – to touch him to see what reaction I got from him. Turns out he was really jumpy!”
Asked how he switches off, he says, “It is music and film. I love getting immersed in deep-thinking films. I like action films too, but I like something a bit different. I’m a big fan of everything Christopher Nolan does. His films are are fantastic – The Dark Knight series is psychologically dark and deep and I absolutely love that. He takes concepts that are completely out there and makes them incredibly entertaining.”
Asked if he ever fantasised about doing anything other than being King one day, he says, “I did want to be a policeman when I was younger, I thought I could make a good one. And then I went through a phase of wanting to be a DJ – I wasn’t very good.”
Cate, talking about playing alternate roles with Nina Hoss in her play Electra/Persona, says, “Every night we toss a coin to see who will play each role. We didn’t know and the audience didn’t know. We had to know the whole play which was so hard to rehearse.”
Hannah, talking about Ted Lasso, says, “I thought it had so, so stopped but hoped they would bring it back and with a women’s team. When we made the first season I said, ‘I don’t think this show knows what it is.’ But when it came out something amazing had happened in the edit and it was genius. It is beautiful, positive, and very funny.”
Robert, asked about growing up as the son of Steve Irwin, says, “It was very special. I’m following in dad’s footsteps as my job is to conserve the animals and make sure they are living a great life and that his legacy lives on.”
Jorja performs Dancing live in the studio before joining Graham for a chat.
And finally, Prince William helps judge the foolhardy audience members brave enough to sit in the world-famous Big Red Chair to tell their funniest stories.
The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, Friday 23 rd October 10.40pm. Also available on BBC iPlayer.
Next week (30 th ) Graham’s guests include Michael Douglas, Glen Close, Kieran Culkin, Naomi Ackie, and the Sugababes.
