The Graham Norton Show. Graham Norton. Credit: So Television, Christopher Baines
The Graham Norton Show

The Graham Norton Show

  • TV chat show
  • BBC One / BBC Two
  • 2007 - 2024
  • 494 episodes (31 series)

Comic chat show presented by Graham Norton. The biggest names in showbiz join the host on his sofa.

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Series 10, Episode 14 - Dame Judi Dench, Dev Patel, Sue Perkins, Will Young

Judi Dench reveals she has given the kiss of life to a fish, Dev Patel talks about his mum and denies he is engaged, Sue Perkins talks about baking and eating and Will Young performs live in the studio.

Further details

Cheekily reminding Graham that she once directed him in a play, Judi Dench says, "Shall we gloss over it?" He explains, "Judi shouted at me. I have seen her angry and it's not good. I was very poor." Judi teasingly says, "It's true and he did almost nothing!"

Talking about filming the latest Bond movie, Judi won't be drawn on the plot, "I can't tell you a single word about it. I would be shot when I get back on set tomorrow."

On her three recent film releases, Judi reveals, "I haven't seen two of them. I haven't seen My Week with Marilyn or J Edgar." Responding to Graham's assurances that she is good in them and his suggestion that she watches them, she says, "Well thank you. I will when I am a bit removed from it. I am still quite close to them and can't take in the story."

Asked if being the most nominated actor in the history of the BAFTAs has taken the edge off a) her nerves and b) her interest, Judi says, "Never nerves, that's the petrol. I thrive on nerves. And, no of course I'm interested."

On her movie success, she says, "It came late (in life). It came with Mrs Brown and I suddenly I got a movie career and I went back to America after 38 years. I went back and everyone in America said, 'So apart from Mrs Brown and 'M' in the Bond film, what other work have you done?' and I thought, 'Well, that would be the whole of Shakespeare and Chekov!' But, it was wonderful. Thrilling."

Crediting Harvey Weinstein for her Hollywood career and revealing she found a special way to thank him, Judi says, "I told him, that because I was so grateful to him I'd tattooed his name on my bum. He laughed and said 'Oh Yeah' so when we went out for lunch at the Four Seasons in New York I got my makeup lady to actually paint his name on my bum. I said to him, 'You don't believe me? Okay I'll show you.' So I did show him in the restaurant... I haven't been back since!"

On co-owning a race horse, Judi says, "My driver, who has driven me for years and years is absolutely mad about racing and I wanted to give him a present, something he would really like. So, we share this horse."

Revealing she doesn't much like to see the horse race, she says, "I watch him on telly a bit and I go and visit him but I am nervous of seeing him race in case he doesn't come in. I'm happy when he gets back, is in his stable with his feet up eating a bit of hay."

Talking about her love of animals, Judi recounts a curious incident with a fairground fish, "I once gave the breath of life to a fish that was dying. I blew in his mouth which I knew I shouldn't because he had gills but nevertheless he's now called Lazarus and is double the size!"

Dev Patel, talking about working with Judi and the other seller actors in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, says, "The week before I flew out to India was the worst week of my life. I looked at their IMDb pages and you see the amount of work they have done and then I looked at mine and I felt slightly incompetent. I then got out there and they were all so cool and gracious."

Judi says of Dev, "He had so much energy and we all thought, 'Who is this incredible young man?'"

And, on filming in India, Judi says, "I didn't have that great a desire to go but, within 24 hours I was not only attracted by it, I was completely caught by it. I can't wait to go back and take my family. I was just bewitched by it."

Asked about their fame in India, Judi says, "I'm not very famous and if famous at all, it's for James Bond. Surprisingly, it goes everywhere." Dev adds, "I am not a generic Bollywood superstar so I don't stand out as a likely kind of guy. They are all eight-packed, chiseled and handsome so I go under the radar."

On the rumours that he is engaged to his Slumdog co-star Freida Pinto, Dev says, "No. We are not engaged. I am 21! There are so many rumours about us but no, we are just working hard."

Talking about his mother, he says, "She is a force of nature. She is cool and is so unfazed by everything. She came to the set (of his new film) and I was kind of worried so told her, 'Mum, you have to be good when I am on set. Do not pester anybody,' and I came home and she showed me her camera and she's got 50 different poses in eight different locations with Maggie Smith!"

Sue Perkins, talking about the "Extreme, awful stuff" she had to eat in The Supersizers, says, "I've eaten some terrible things including, bread and butter pudding made from spinal cord, stir-fried fallopian tube and half a pint of chicken's blood. There is an outtake, I think, that is a 15 minute, four-letter rant where I was just worried I was going to die."

And on The Great British Bake Off, she says, "It is really intense and I thrive on making a series of ill judged double entendres - it's like I'm doing a Carry On bit while there is a Merchant Ivory piece going on."

Will Young joins graham for a chat before performing Silent Valentine live in the studio.

Broadcast details

Date
Friday 10th February 2012
Time
10:35pm
Channel
BBC One
Length
45 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Monday 13th February 2012 11:35pm BBC1

Cast & crew

Cast
Graham Norton Host / Presenter
Guest cast
Sue Perkins Guest
Will Young Guest
Judi Dench (as Dame Judi Dench) Guest
Dev Patel Guest
Writing team
Rob Colley Writer
Dan Gaster Writer
Production team
Steve Smith Director
Jon Magnusson Series Producer
Mike Altman Producer
Pete Snell Producer
Alan Thorpe Producer
Graham Stuart Executive Producer
Perry Widdowson Editor
Chris Webster Production Designer
Jonathan Whitehead (as Trellis) Composer

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