Jennifer Saunders opened with a memory that felt like it belonged on a sofa: the time she and Dawn French decided to be “really daring” and planned to take half an ecstasy tablet together. It surfaced on the first episode of The Claudia Winkleman Show, where claudia winkleman presided with a host’s curiosity and an audience ready to be let in.
Jennifer Saunders on The Claudia Winkleman Show
On the new show’s debut, Saunders described the plan with French in meticulous detail: they bought one pill, kept it on the mantlepiece, and waited months for the right moment. Water ready, nerves high — and then it was gone. Relief, she said. No drugs for them. Tom Allen, sharing the same sofa, cut the tension with a line about a dog “jumping up and down, ” and the room shifted into laughter.
In a nod to the stakes and the fun of live conversation, Saunders dressed for the room: an all-black look, a lacy blouse, and layered silver necklaces with ornate cross pendants. The story — equal parts bravado and anticlimax — landed as the kind of lived-in tale that a late-night audience tends to remember in the morning.
Claudia Winkleman brings Jeff Goldblum, Vanessa Williams and Tom Allen
The premise of The Claudia Winkleman Show is straightforward: a studio audience, and guests from film, television and music who know how to tell a story. The first line-up delivered on that promise with Jeff Goldblum, Vanessa Williams, Jennifer Saunders and Tom Allen taking their places. The production team behind The Graham Norton Show is also behind this new outing, a sign of the vibe viewers can expect.
There is an ambition to widen the circle beyond the sofa. Ahead of launch, Winkleman promised to get the audience involved at home as well as in the studio. She also struck a self-deprecating note about the scale of the opportunity. “I can’t quite believe it and I’m incredibly grateful… I’m obviously going to be awful, that goes without saying, but I’m over the moon they’re letting me try, ” she said. For claudia winkleman, the ask is familiar and fresh: lead the room, keep the stories moving, and make viewers feel like they are part of the exchange.
The Late Late Show faces a new rival for St Patrick’s Day
Across the sea, The Late Late Show has its own reasons to expect attention tonight, with Patrick Kielty hosting a St Patrick’s Day edition after a short break. His guest list leans into home energy and range: comedian Joanne McNally, actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers and entertainer Tommy Tiernan are slated to join, alongside the hosts of the How to Gael podcast. Music comes from Irish artists Glen Hansard, Mick Flannery and Biird, with poetry by Daragh Fleming.
The two formats arrive with different rhythms but a shared goal: a lively studio that lets big names be human. One side banks on the chemistry of Goldblum, Williams, Saunders and Allen in front of a new host. The other draws on the ritual pull of a long-running franchise on a holiday night, with performers who know how to play to a national mood.
There is also a question of what kind of late-night feels right. The Claudia Winkleman Show positions itself as a place where wit and audience involvement travel together. The Late Late Show returns after a week off with the familiarity of a Friday-night tradition and a crowd primed for celebration. For viewers, it is a choice between a new room with a proven production hand and a studio they already know by heart.
Back on that debut sofa, Saunders’s tale — a single tablet, months of planning, and then nothing at all — framed what the night was reaching for: stories that breathe because they are told in the moment. As Jeff Goldblum, Vanessa Williams and Tom Allen share their turns, the new show steps into the contest for where to spend the evening. And for Saunders, whose anecdote set the tone, it is already clear what a warm welcome sounds like when a host invites an audience to lean in.
