Throng

BBC One Controller, Jay Hunt, confirmed today that The Graham Norton Show will move to a new prime time Friday night slot from October 22.

Speaking at the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, Jay said: "Graham's show has gone from strength to strength since moving to BBC One and I'm sure the audience will love his unique blend of comedy and entertainment on a Friday night."

Graham Norton, responding to the announcement, said: "I'm thrilled that BBC One like the show enough to move it to Fridays. It's the night the show started on many years ago so it's nice to be back."

Now in its eighth series for the BBC, and celebrating its 501st episode, the show will return in the autumn with a 12-week series featuring a stellar line-up of celebrity guests.

Absolutely Fabulous actress Joanna Lumley and evergreen rock hero Jon Bon Jovi join Graham Norton for this week's edition of The Graham Norton Show on BBC Two.

Nicotine fan Joanna reveals a soft spot for Paris Hilton: "She's one of those blonde mystery girls, I think she's adorable!"

And her own plans for coping when the smoking ban comes into force in England on 1 July: "I can't think what's going to happen, it's mad ... I'm inventing bike sheds to attach to buildings so it's somewhere people can go to smoke ... a sofa, a visit from Paris Hilton, it'll be such fun!"

Jon Bon Jovi talks about his forthcoming Live Earth appearances: "I was the first one to volunteer because I thought it's something I could help with. You don't have to be a rock 'n' roll star to get involved, just switch a light off!

"I think Al Gore's the smartest man I've ever met. It's a question of getting educated. Al's doing something great."

And he reveals his surprise at being unable to play Wembley last year: "The two nights at Wembley sold out last summer, they took me there, took pictures, I came back ... [but] I didn't think to go look inside, there was nothing there!"

Tonight (26 April) Graham Norton plays host to Mr and Mrs Dustin Hoffman, making a rare TV appearance together in this week's The Graham Norton Show on BBC Two.

Oscar-winning Hollywood star Dustin Hoffman, married to wife Lisa for 27 years, jokes about the secret of their marital success: "The only way a relationship can exist successfully is if on some fundamental level the man is scared shitless of his wife!"

Lisa talks about the reality of living with a movie star: "If Dustin's working in a movie you get to live through the whole experience together. I loved it when he was doing Tootsie. I really missed Dorothy ... she would come home from work and I had a friend!"

And Dustin reveals that his worst habit is "farting in bed, she (Lisa) calls it microscopic shit."

Hoffman also gives his views on young movie stars who don't appreciate their public: "Nothing's changed since I first started studying in 1958, only 10% of actors work. The 10% that act aren't necessarily the best. To be one of the lucky 10% and have stardom thrust on you, I don't understand those who act that way."

Louis Walsh talks about his shock departure from X Factor when he meets Graham Norton tonight on BBC Two.

Walsh claims that he was completely in the dark about plans to drop him as a judge from the ITV show.

He tells Graham: "They said they had bad news for me, I had no idea at all."

But Walsh reveals on The Graham Norton Show that he is planning a tell-all expose.

He says: "I've been offered a really good book deal to tell all about the music business, I could burn a few bridges [but] get even with a lot of people, it'll make up for the X Factor. Time will tell who got the best deal [out of the X Factor]."

He also talks about his continuing allegiance to fellow X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne.

"She's a great woman, she's real. If you're a friend, it's forever," he says.

As for his replacement, he says: "They're getting a new male presenter and one male and one female judge."

Comedienne Jenny Éclair completes this week's line-up.

Multi-award winning comedy talk show host Graham Norton presents the first edition in a 13-week run of his brand-new BBC Two series The Graham Norton Show.

The celebrity guests trading quips with Graham in his first show are Kim Cattrall, also known as Sex and the City's Samantha, and Hollywood A-lister and Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood.

The Graham Norton Show is based on the people, trends, stories and aspects of celebrity culture that interest him most, with trademark Norton comedy monologues, celebrity chat, eccentric stories and characters and home-grown weirdness from the great British viewing public.

Each week, there will be a repeat showing on Sunday nights at 11pm – an extended, enhanced version of the show, with previously unseen material.

A So Television production for BBC Two.

The Graham Norton Show, Thursday 22 February 2007, 10pm, BBC Two.