Graham Norton has finally spoken out about Claudia Winkleman securing her own BBC chat show.
The Traitors presenter Claudia is poised to share the BBC's Friday night chat show slot with Graham and front a seven-part series, titled The Claudia Winkleman Show, after executives were bowled over by her presenting abilities whilst covering for Graham Norton in February 2025.
During Thursday's (January 8) instalment of ITV's Lorraine programme, it wasn't long before Graham faced questions about how he felt regarding his dear friend treading in his footsteps.
Lorraine said: "So you're not really job sharing with Claudia are you because they are two different shows."
Graham said: "When I finish at the end of February, I used to come back and do kind of April, May series, so I stopped doing that a few years ago and this idea came up that Claudia could come and do it."
He went on: "It's a very kind of stand alone show. She stood in for me last year and she had an amazing job. I thought she was very Claudia and this is going to be even more Claudia because, you know, it's her own set, her own everything."
The chat show presenter added: "That starts in March, towards the end of March I think."
As the BBC's inaugural female chat show host, Claudia will allegedly welcome "the very best guests", , reports the Irish Mirror.
Discussing her appointment to the prestigious role, Claudia remarked: "I can't quite believe it and I'm incredibly grateful to the BBC for this amazing opportunity.
"I'm obviously going to be awful, that goes without saying, but I'm over the moon they're letting me try."
Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment Commissioning at the BBC, said: "Claudia is a true national treasure – warm, witty and endlessly entertaining.
"She has an extraordinary ability to put people at ease and bring out the very best in them, whether they're global superstars or members of the audience.
"It's very exciting that she will be fronting her very own show on the BBC, and we can't wait for viewers to join Claudia and her sofa full of stars."
Graham Stuart, Managing Director of So Television and Executive Producer, said: "Graham Norton has made the Friday night talk show slot a dazzling appointment to view.
"How can you possibly follow that? By booking a host equally as brilliant. So we have."