On the show this week (11th November), Graham welcomes rock legend Bruce Springsteen, Queen’s Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy, Anna Maxwell Martin, star of Motherland and Line of Duty, award-winning comedian and chat show host Mo Gilligan, and rock band Florence + The Machine.

Bruce, talking about the inspiration for his 21st studio album Only The Strong Survive, says, “It was during Covid and I was at home with nothing to do so I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll sing someone else’s songs.’  I had all these songs I was brought up on as a kid and all these soul singers whose work I have studied very hard and whose music I have loved for such a long time. It’s very joyful music so it was easy to have a good time.”  

Talking more about the album, he says, “I am really a bar singer and have a good voice for five sets a night and can go on for hours and hours as I usually do.  I’ve a great voice for that, but I lack the finesse, precision and tone of my greatest heroes so on this album I really focused on the singing and took it up a notch.”

Asked about his longevity, he says, “I have been singing professionally for 60 years and have been playing with my band for 50.” Adding jokingly, “Imagine this – you are with same people you went to high school with, working with them  every day for the rest of your life!”

Talking about his children and asked if they were aware that their father was a superstar, he says, “When they were really little they would ask why people would come up to me so I told them it was because where I worked I was like Barney for adults so they understood.  Now they have virtually no interest in music or in that part of my life but as I always say, ‘They don’t need a hero, they need a father.”

Anya, talking about the success of The Queen’s Gambit, says, “It all happened during lockdown so the craziest thing was that I was in my house and the internet was telling me that things were happening so I didn’t believe it.  And then when I landed in New York (and was recognised), I was like, ‘This is different!’”

Asked about her new horror-comedy The Menu, and working with Ralph Fiennes she says, “I learnt English reading Harry Potter so it was a bit of a big deal but my subconscious does this thing of barring me from information that I can’t handle if I have a job to do, so I was cool and we got along really well but the second it was over I like, ‘Oh my God!’ and rang my mum and said. ‘The last person that faced-off with Voldemort was Harry and now it’s me!’”   

Talking about all the gourmet food in the film, she says, “I don’t eat much in the movie but I have to tip my hat to Nick Hoult who devoured everything each take.  By take 37, I was like, ‘Dude, you are going to die!’”  

Anna, talking about her new drama A Spy Among Friends, and asked if she did a lot of research for her role, says, “Not a lot.  What I do is just read my bits, I don’t need to know what is going on in the rest of it because I am not there.  I didn’t even realise my character had a surname until the press junket!”

Asked about her character’s accent, she says, “It was roaming around the North East.  I was supposed to be from Durham so I initially thought of Ant and Dec, but then I found out a few weeks in that they are from Newcastle!”

Mo, talking about his new music entertainment show That’s My Jam, which is coming soon to the BBC, and filming it in LA, says, “It is hard to call it work.  Being at Universal Studios was incredible, sensational.  It is such a fun show and it was an honour to do it.  I am a young man from South London so to go all the way to LA and do a show, I still can’t believe is a possibility.”

Florence + The Machine performs Dream Girl Evil live in the studio, before joining Graham for a chat about her album and upcoming tour.

And finally, Graham pulls the lever on more foolhardy audience members brave enough sit in the world famous red chair to tell their funniest stories 

The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, Friday 11th November, 10.40pm. Also available on BBC iPlayer.

The Graham Norton Show returns on 25th November when Graham’s guests include Daniel Craig, Emma Thompson, Clive Myrie, Sir Ian McKellen, John Bishop, and Charlie Puth.

Picture: So Television