Graham Norton

Radio 4 panel games come and go. In some cases they come, then stick around for decades after you wish they'd disappeared. But not this one, which might still be the best of the bunch. Nicholas Parsons, Paul Merton and other regulars are back for the show's 66th series - and in the first episode, fans will be holding their breath for 60 full seconds as Graham Norton achieves the rare feat of speaking for a minute without hesitating, deviating or repeating himself. Pam Ayres and new BBC2 sketch-comedy star Kevin Eldon round out a great panel.

As any JAM fan will tell you, it's not often that a panellist speaks for the whole minute, uninterrupted, without deviation, hesitation or repetition, but that's exactly what Graham Norton does here. Admittedly, he does have a distinct advantage with his subject matter - it's the Eurovision Song Contest - but even so, it's a rare enough event to inspire a warm and spontaneous round of applause from the audience.

And Nicholas Parsons takes some gentle ribbing from Paul Merton when he manages to work his forename into a round entitled "Fur coat and no knickers" - "You've been waiting 45 series to use that gag," says Merton.

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Beaming into Graham Norton's starry ship tonight, Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch talks about venturing over to the dark side for a warp-factor adventure in Star Trek Into Darkness. Also in for a chat is Cumberbatch's co-star Chris Pine, who's stepping into the shoes of the legendary Captain James T Kirk. While Sex And The City's Kim Cattrall goes along for the ride, Bonnie Tyler tries to totally eclipse the lot of them with her rendition of Believe In Me, the UK's entry for Eurovision 2013.

In the first two episodes, the gap left by the departed Tim Vine's character was filled with farcical plots. Tonight, things calm down and we veer as close to emotion as this endearingly flippant series gets. Lucy is doing night classes in psychotherapy, so Lee (Lee Mack, a Graham Norton guest tonight) mocks the whole idea - before submitting to counselling himself. Perhaps his failure with relationships has roots in his upbringing?

Enter Bobby Ball as Lee's dad. There are deeper waters than usual under the gags, but dim friend Daisy keeps it light. Daisy: "You said you wanted to damage the bike!" Lucy: "No, I said I wanted to break the cycle."