Jamie Lee Curtis talks about being scared, Gary Barlow chats about the highs and lows of his career, Jeff Goldblum says music is now a big part of his life, Rowan Atkinson says never say never about Mr. Bean and Imelda May performs with Jeff live in the studio

On tonight's show (5th October) Graham welcomes American actress Jamie Lee Curtis, pop star Gary Barlow, Hollywood king of cool Jeff Goldblum, comedy genius Rowan Atkinson and singer songwriter Imelda May.

Jamie, talking about reprising her role of Laurie Strode in the new Halloween movie 40 years after the original, says, "The film connects the stories between 1978 and 2018. Laurie has gone the way trauma takes you without good mental health support! It is incredibly intense and scary."

Talking about being the child of two Hollywood stars (Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh), she says, "I didn't think I would be an actor. I was a very bad student but I wanted to be a police officer because I thought I would be good at it. While studying to be a cop I became an actor by accident."

Gary talking about his new autobiography A Better Me, reveals the low points of his life and career, he says, "We had those years in the 90s when everything was 150%. We were touring the world, being screamed at and everyone telling us we were brilliant and all of a sudden, I lost my deal, Robbie went off into the sunset and I was left with no job.

"There was nothing else I was trained for, music is all I have ever done. I was a new dad at the time and as a man, I felt pretty useless. I put on a lot of weight and had a lot of depression. Looking back, there were some really serious issues but I've enjoyed getting in there and talking about what happened."

And, on 30 years of Take That and touring, he says, "It's amazing. The sets are being built now. It's a great project to be involved in. Asked by Jamie, if they will tour in the US, he says, "Maybe."

Asked about his tiny role in Star Wars, he says, "I went twice to see the movie and missed it! In the end, I needed the pause button to actually see myself!"

Rowan joins Graham for a chat about his new film Johnny English Strikes Again.

Talking about the film, and asked if he ever makes himself laugh, he says, "I find film very difficult and stressful. Only very, very occasionally do I find what I do funny. When they tried to make a blooper tape of Blackadder, they couldn't find anything of me laughing or making mistakes. There was nothing of me even being remotely amused."

Asked if there will ever be more of Mr. Bean, he says, "I doubt he will ever reappear. There does come a point when you've done all you can. But, never say never."

Talking about being recognised, he says, "I get half recognised a lot. One man once said, 'You are the spitting image of Mr. Bean.' When I told him that I was the actor that played Mr. Bean, he laughed and said, 'I bet you wish you were. The resemblance is so uncanny you could get lookalike work. You'd make an absolute fortune!'"

Jeff and Imelda perform Straighten Up and Fly Right live in the studio.

Revealing it was a previous appearance on Graham's show that led to his new work, Jeff says, "Last year, after I had been asked by the show to play the piano for Greg Porter, Decca Records contacted me and suggested the album."

Asked if music is now a bigger part of his life than acting, he says, "It is taking more of my emotional availability."

And finally, Graham pulls the lever on more foolhardy audience members brave enough to sit in the Big Red Chair.

The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, Friday 5th October 10.45pm.

Pictures are available from Press Association.

Notes to editors – All quotes in this release were said during the recording of the show but won’t necessarily appear in the final version.

Next week (12th October) Graham’s guests include Whoopie Goldberg, Rosamund Pike, Jamie Dornan and Harry Connick Jr.

For further information please contact Mary Collins 07769 670516 or at mary@marycollins-pr.com 

4th October 2018