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Excitement was high at Graham Norton’s production company this week as it geared up for the launch of its shiny new project, The Claudia Winkleman Show.
The highly anticipated programme, which aired its first episode last night on BBC1, has taken up a lot of So Television’s time in recent months after it pulled off a hugely lucrative deal with the broadcaster to make it.
It should be a dream, say those familiar with Claudia and the project. After all, she’s Britain’s most sought-after and, indeed, talented television presenter.
Her glittering CV boasts Strictly and The Traitors – two of the corporation’s most popular entertainment shows. Earlier this month she also joined the Channel 4 presenting team at Crufts.
But as the days counted down to the first episode, which was filmed a fortnight ago, some connected to the programme were starting to feel a little uneasy.
Could we have reached ‘Peak Claudia’, they fretted. ‘She’s absolutely everywhere,’ said one source. ‘Will people begin to tire from her? Probably.’
And while last night’s show was undoubtedly a ‘good watch’ – and the top brass at So Television, the BBC and Team Claudia are said to be ‘thrilled’ with it – there is a lingering criticism that she failed to attract the stardust Graham Norton does.
Away from the cameras, Claudia has a brimming contacts book thanks to her networking skills and well-connected film producer husband Kris Thykier. I’m told her new show even has the same celebrity booker as Norton.
Her glittering CV boasts Strictly and The Traitors and earlier this month she also joined the Channel 4 presenting team at Crufts. Pictured with Clare Balding
Yet eyebrows were raised at the calibre of stars on the billing.
Her headline interviewee was Jeff Goldblum, star of films Jurassic Park, Wicked and Independence Day, and while he may be a huge tick in the ‘A-list’ box, Jeff has been somewhat overexposed since he arrived in the UK last month to promote his new jazz career. He was even at the Brit Awards a fortnight ago.
Then there was Jennifer Saunders and Vanessa Williams, who currently stars in the West End theatre adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada which has been widely panned, plus comedian Tom Allen.
It is, say sources in the industry, a slightly disappointing line-up when you compare it to the superstars Norton attracts. ‘It is literally impossible to get a celebrity on to the Graham Norton show,’ says my insider. ‘Slots are booked up months in advance, they are so careful about getting the mix right so unless you are a Hollywood A-lister, it’s very, very tough.
‘There is no space for people who are just so. He has had Tom Hanks, Taylor Swift, Will Smith, Ryan Gosling, Idris Elba, you name a huge celebrity, they have been on his sofa with very little persuasion.
‘The bar is very, very high. In comparison, I’m afraid, Claudia’s line up was lacklustre.
‘It all feels pretty second-rate.’
Of course, the programme is currently aired in the same Friday night slot as Norton’s while his show is off air.
When I first revealed that Claudia was leaving Strictly to launch her own chat show (something she desperately tried to keep a secret while leaving the dance series), I was promised it would be wall-to-wall A-listers – and that money would be thrown at it to ensure she didn’t join the list of cursed female chat show hosts, such as Davina McCall and Charlotte Church.
To counteract this, Claudia’s own production company Little Arrow has been involved from the start, making sure she has a say behind the scenes and also directly cashes in from the project.
And to be fair to Claudia, she did put on a good show.
In her typical self-deprecating style, she opened by walking to the front of the stage and telling her audience: ‘I’m so nervous I just need to touch people,’ while shaking hands with audience members in the front row, to enormous applause.
Claudia has a brimming contacts book thanks to her networking skills and well-connected film producer husband Kris Thykier
Her headline interviewee was Jeff Goldblum. Then there was Jennifer Saunders and Vanessa Williams, plus comedian Tom Allen
Clearly enjoying the adoration, Claudia mouthed: ‘Stop, stop!’
She then welcomed Jeff, 73, Vanessa, 62, Jennifer, 67, and Tom, 42, to the sofa with her trademark faux modesty: ‘I can’t believe it, thank you for coming on the first and possibly last show.’
There were good moments: Jeff chatted with an audience member from Wolverhampton about where to eat and drink locally while he is on tour there – including the nearest Nando’s. Jennifer revealed she and Dawn French once bought an ecstasy tablet planning to taking half each – and kept it on Dawn’s mantelpiece for six months until it disappeared.
A cockapoo called Percy also made an appearance on stage, prompting Claudia to be asked if she has a dog herself.
‘Of course I have a dog, I breastfeed him,’ she replied.
The show was chaotic, the atmosphere playful.
Indeed, comedian Tom Allen summed up the format by saying: ‘I think that’s what this show is about, it’s like Question Time but for drunk celebrities.’ That, say friends of Claudia, will delight her. ‘She loves people to think she’s scatty when she most certainly is not,’ says one pal.
‘She is very, very clever. It’s all part of the shtick. The problem is that the British public are starting to rumble that.’
This is something that Claudia, who insists she suffers imposter syndrome, refuses to recognise.
Sources close to her say she has been working on the show for ‘many, many months’ as it is said to be her ‘dream project’.
Friends agree she is ‘brave’ to launch a chat show. Even the loquacious Davina McCall couldn’t make it work when she tried back in 2006.
But with 11 years at the helm of Strictly and four series of The Traitors under her belt, Claudia felt ‘it was time’.
Those watching last night would have noticed that what aired on their screens seemed somewhat familiar.
Dressed by her long-serving stylist Sinead McKeefry, Claudia wore one of her signature tailored dark trouser suits – similar to her Traitors wardrobe.
The set also had echoes of her previous hit show, including a dark teal sofa, matching armchair and round table in the middle. One source tells me ‘the whole set-up is very reminiscent of the plush furniture inside Ardross Castle’.
And while her new role will certainly catapult Claudia into the realms of a television interviewer, it will also net her and her husband Kris a pretty penny.
They are already said to be worth around £30million courtesy of her highly paid television shows and a very lucrative deal with Marks & Spencer where she is the face of its Jaeger clothing line.
She and Kris, who have three children, have properties in both central London and the Cotswolds.
In 2024, Claudia left celebrity talent agency YMU – home to the likes of Ant and Dec – to be represented by her husband Kris’s new talent agency.
Therefore, there will be no agents’ or other fees; the BBC refuse to divulge how much a production company gets paid to make their programmes as they deem it commercially sensitive.
‘Claudia is a very clever woman, especially when it comes to money,’ says a source who is familiar with the project. ‘She will be making sure she gets what she deserves from this.’
Back to last night’s show, which Claudia wrapped up by asking the guests: ‘Right that is it, I just want to check. Do you feel like you’ve covered everything? Is there anything you want to sell a bit harder?
‘Well thank you all, we are so grateful. We are off to eat salami.’
On to next week and sadly the guest list looks to be even more underwhelming.
She will welcome Irish comedian Joanne McNally, Guz Khan – another comic – and One Direction singer Niall Horan.
‘There might be a 1D star but he’s the boring one,’ muses a television insider. ‘But the other two, well it’s fair, to say that most people may have to Google them to find out who they are.’
But ‘Team Claudia’ remains optimistic. ‘Everyone who loved Claudia really hopes it works,’ says a source close to her.
‘Claudia doesn’t fail, everything she touches turns to gold, she is a trailblazer in so many ways and she is very hands on. If anyone has the qualifications to do it, it’s Claud.’
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