Graham Norton Defends Claudia Winkleman After Talk Show’s Mixed Reviews

As is often the case with a brand new TV format, there were a couple of bumps in the road when The Claudia Winkleman Show launched last week.

Claudia’s BBC talk show premiered on Friday 13 March, and was quickly met with somewhat mixed reviews from critics.

The Guardian gave it just two stars, branding the debut episode a “mess”, although it fared slightly better in The Telegraph, where it received three stars even if it was described as a “bit of a bore”.

In The Independent’s three-star review, the outlet’s critic compared her interviewing style unfavourably to Graham Norton, claiming that the format “might need a few tweaks” to achieve its “brilliant potential”.

Radio Times questioned whether the show was “too reliant on its audiences participation”, lamenting there aren’t more of the “off-script moments” Claudia has excelled at in her past, although The Times called it a “respectable first shift” and The Sun gave it a glowing five stars, calling it “awkward, endearing, and full of fun banter”.

Graham Norton – whose production company helped create The Claudia Winkleman Show – has now weighed in on the Traitors host’s first outing, praising the presenter for doing things her own way.

“What Claudia did was The Claudia Winkleman Show, and that’s what she’s supposed to be doing,” he told the Daily Mail.

“She shouldn’t be trying to be me. She should be trying to be Claudia, and she nailed that.”

The second instalment in The Claudia Winkleman Show’s initial seven-episode run will air on Friday night on BBC One.

Her guests this week include pop singer Niall Horan, musical theatre legend Rachel Zegler, actor Guz Khan and comedian Joanne McNally.

When her new show was confirmed in December, the former Strictly Come Dancing presenter said in a statement: “I can’t quite believe it and I’m incredibly grateful to the BBC for this amazing opportunity.

“I’m obviously going to be awful, that goes without saying, but I’m over the moon they’re letting me try.”