The Graham Norton Show - Series 16, Episode 16 - David Attenborough, Gary Lineker, Jessica Chastain, Harry Hill, McBusted - British Comedy Guide (original) (raw)

David Attenborough flirtatiously explains how Paradise birds mate, Jessica Chastain reveals she knows the real-life agent behind her Zero Dark Thirty character, Gary Lineker says football management is a dreadful job and McBusted performs live in the studio.

David Attenborough, admitting not to be much of a football fan, says, "I went to a terrific match. The goalkeeper was McLaren and the Left Wing was Danny Liddle. It was Leicester City and it was 80 years ago. That was the last match I went to!"

Asked whether he was responsible for Match of the Day when he was controller of BBC Two, he jokes, "I was, but I didn't have to watch it!"

Talking about his new show Attenborough's Paradise Birds he says directly to Jessica Chastain, "I'm there to explain what the male birds do to ingratiate themselves to the female birds. They hang upside down and whistle and they have long quills coming out of their tail which they flick across the face of the female." Jessica says, "That wouldn't impress me at all," to which David cheekily responds, "It would. I can show you later!"

Jessica also admits to a rather limited knowledge of football, "I know you guys call it football here, I know that much. And I know who David Beckham is but that's because of his underwear ads!"

Talking about her award-winning role in Zero Dark Thirty, she reveals she knows the identity of the secret service agent she portrayed, "I know her and I've met her since. She's a real person. When we were working on the film I got a lot of information from the screenwriter who is an investigative journalist, but since then I have met her. Everything's above board and there's no illegal activity in me meeting her. She was exactly as I expected her to be. She's an incredible woman and she has not been outed thank goodness."

Gary Lineker, who is accompanied by the FA Cup, talks about Match of the Day. Discussing why fans are so annoyed by the running order in show, he says, "It's a big deal but I don't know why. Probably because they want to go to bed half way through!" Talking about his much-discussed beard, he says, "It's just a mid-life crisis. It divides opinion!"

Asked if he was ever tempted down the football management route, he says, "Not in the slightest. It's just a dreadful job and everyone hates you. There's no job security, you've got to deal with players, which is difficult - a lot of them are awkward, agents, boardrooms that want to fire you instead of blaming themselves, and every supporter thinks they can do it better than you. It's just a really tough job. Talking about football is a lot easier than doing it yourself!"

Harry Hill, asked if he likes sport says, "No, I never went for it. I was the little skinny kid with the glasses so the PE teacher always picked on me. For pretending to do sit-ups he kept me behind and made me miss the bus. I swore after that, about aged 14, I would never do any physical exercise again. And I may well die young just out of spite!"

Talking about his new series, Stars in Their Eyes, which he describes as, "Silly and cheesy," he says, "I don't know how I ended up as the host. ITV approached me and it made me smile. Every time I told someone they wanted me bring back the show they would laugh so that was funny to me. People are competing just to win it. It's not going to change your life, but the good news is, it's not going to ruin it either! I'm just hoping one or two people tune in thinking it's The Voice!"

McBusted performs Get Over It live in the studio, before joining Graham for a chat about their first album.

Talking about the new band, Harry Judd says, "It's great. It's different but we are enjoying it more this time round." Matt Willis adds "It's way more fun."

Dougie Poynter, revealing he's David's number one fan, excitedly admits just how much he likes him, telling David, "I'm a really, really big fan of yours. So much so that when I was looking to move and didn't quite know where to move to I just Googled where you live because it must be the most serene place ever I thought. So I live just up the road from you. I see you quite a bit - on the way to the dry cleaners I go past your house!"

The band demonstrates their red-carpet pyramid formation before Graham pulls the lever on more foolhardy audience members brave enough to sit in the Red Chair.