Has a talk show ever been as badly promoted as The John Bishop Show? This week's guests are Shania Twain, Ashley Banjo and Faye Ripley, but I only found that out when I saw a tweet this morning. When I looked on the ITV press website it listed the guests as Sue Perkins and Mo Gilligan, who were actually on the show a few weeks ago. In fact Perkins and Gilligan seem to have been the guests for the last few weeks according to this ITV press information page.

This will be the sixth and final episode in this current series, but did anyone notice that it didn't go out last week because of the Brits? I'm not sure why it is so poorly plugged, even if the guests are not as A List as the ones that Graham Norton gets it's a still an easy-going way to spend 45 minutes.

And with the greatest respect to the guests this week, I think you'd have to say that Norton's show last night beat Bishop if you judge things on Hollywood status. Norton had Michael Douglas, Paul Rudd, Judi Dench, Hugh Jackman and Pink. OK, so Bishop has Shania Twain, but she's been all over the shop in the last few weeks – including The Graham Norton Show, where she revealed that she has a train named after her.

I'm sure John Bishop's publicists could put a spin on it and say that they want to support homegrown talent, but I would guess that if they were offered the Hollywood royalty that Norton bags they would not be rushing to turn it down. But that's purely my opinion.

Bishop is a great stand-up with a warm, engaging personality, but this has been an odd series. Not just for the guests but for his overtly political monologues which seem to have divided viewers. We live in strange times when the most outspoken critics of the government are Ant and Dec, Carol Vorderman and a stand-up from Liverpool with big teeth who is currently appearing in panto. But, hey, you don't need a weatherman to tell you that these are strange times. 

The John Bishop Show, Saturday, February 18, ITV1, 9.40pm.

Picture: ITV1