The Jonathan Ross Show is back for a brand-new series, and on this week’s episode Jonathan is joined by stage and screen icon Brian Cox, award-winning Mad Men star Christina Hendricks, queen of the dancefloor and Dancing on Ice judge Oti Mabuse, hilarious stand-up and reigning Strictly champion Chris McCausland, plus the multi chart-topping Snow Patrol will be performing live in the studio.
Jonathan speaks to stage and screen icon Brian Cox about his new play The Score currently showing at Theatre Royal Haymarket. Jonathan compliments Brian on looking trim who replies, “I know because…Ozempic. No, it’s true. I am a diabetic and Ozempic is for diabetics, it is not for fat people.”
Reflecting on his time shooting Succession and keeping the final season storyline a secret, Brian reveals “I said that I should be at the funeral because I know the paparazzi are going to want to know who’s funeral it is. If I appear they’ll think it’s someone else's. As soon as I walked out of the car, there were hundreds of paparazzi there taking photographs.”
With Brian’s two onscreen sons - Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin - each nominated for an Academy Award, Jonathan quizzes Brian on who he’ll be rooting for. Brian says, “The problem is I won’t watch anything that is to do with Donald Trump. Donald Trump is in The Apprentice, Jeremy is playing the lawyer. I have seen Kieran’s film and he’s wonderful. And I’m sure Jeremy is wonderful so I can’t really judge because I will not watch anything to do with that man - I’m talking about Trump.”
Speaking about ‘normal’ jobs before fame, Brian reveals, “I did work in a gym at one point. At the beginning of the 80s I was at the National Theatre in a play - in those days you were only in that play and you appeared once a month and it drove me nuts. I got a job in a gym and I used to book people’s bikini waxes.”
Brian reflects on proposing to his wife and says, “We were at the point of splitting up which is a very good basis for a proposal. My wife had been to India and I hadn’t seen her for a while - I was doing a film in Austin, Texas. We sat down and we were talking. She's wonderful my wife, she’s a fantastic person. We made a decision to split and I thought the other alternative was to get married. She thought about it for about 25 seconds and she said ‘I think that’s a good idea’.”
Jonathan reveals that Brian is also currently working alongside his wife in his new play, Brian says “She plays my wife in the play, ironically. It’s a play about Johann Sebastian Bach.”
On whether he has any plans to retire from acting, Brian adds, “I love the job. It’s very satisfying. It’s taken me to all kinds of places. I don’t want to give it up, it’ll give me up before I give it up. We’re very lucky in our profession. We do what we love and there’s not many people who do that. I’m very blessed.”
Later, Brian reveals how he credits Laurence Olivier for saving his life. Brian says, “I was working at the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. I had this appointment with him and I was supposed to fly down to London to see him. I was packed ready to go and I had a note from Olivier’s people saying that he couldn't see me because he had other things he had to do so he needed to cancel the interview.
“It was those days when you could get late night flights from Edinburgh. I was sitting there and I thought I won’t go to London. I went home and the following morning I got up and there was a Sunday Post and it said in the back that ‘Edinburgh flight from Turnhouse crashes at Heathrow killing everyone on board’ and that’s the flight I would have been on. In a way, he saved my life. I was bowled over by it.|”
Also, Jonathan is joined by award-winning Mad Men star Christina Hendricks ahead of the launch of her brand-new television series Small Town, Big Story. Jonathan asks Christina about her experience being a part of Mad Men and she says, “A very special decade. It was a dream. Our dysfunctional family but we all keep in touch, we’ve got text chains and check in on the holidays and things.”
On saying goodbye to the series, Christina says “We always partied but we had a very grand wrap party - it went on all night long. We had a whole hotel and everyone stayed in different rooms. We didn’t want to say goodbye after that long.”
Quizzed by Jonathan on whether she took any mementos from the set, Christina says, “If it wasn’t glued down, I took it! The special thing about that show is a lot of the stuff is in the Smithsonian - some of the costumes travel around to different exhibits still to this day. I’ve got some ash trays and I took a piece of art, a few things that were in Joan’s apartment.”
Jonathan asks whether she would ever return to the franchise, Christina replies “I would do it in a heartbeat. It’s been a long time but everyone’s off doing different jobs. I think we all have a love for it. If they wanted a reunion, I’d bet we’d all come back.”
Revealing she has dual citizenship, Christina says “My father was born in Birmingham. I’ve actually never been to Birmingham - I’ve still never been. I would love to go. I hear there is a great shopping centre. I have a friend who used to sing the Bullring shopping centre song.”
Speaking about her brand-new television series, Christina says, “There is a bit of a supernatural lean to it. It’s really about this small town in Ireland and bringing a Hollywood production - sort of like a bad Game of Thrones to Ireland where my character was raised.”
On working alongside Chris O’Dowd for the project, Christina says, “He directed some and he starred in half of them and wrote it. He is hilarious, he is just a bizarre human. His sense of humour is so bizarre and so unique. It’s special.”
Later, Christina reveals her husband’s alien encounter and says, “We went to Dublin to get ready to shoot the show. My now husband was outside, waiting to have a mattress delivered to the house. George comes in and he is white as a ghost and I asked ‘what happened?’ And he said ‘you’re never going to believe this - I just saw a UFO.’ I know this man so well and I looked at his face and I’m like ‘he saw a UFO’.
Christina then reflects on getting engaged to her husband, “We had been talking about getting married and we read an article that a lot of lesbians were proposing to one another and it seemed really sweet and fair. I thought ‘I want to be able to do it too’ so he said ‘lets do that but I want to go first’. Even though we proposed to each other, he proposed first.”
Jonathan chats with queen of the dancefloor Oti Mabuse about her role as a judge on the current series of Dancing on Ice plus her upcoming dance tour.
Speaking about critiquing the contestants, Oti says “I try to be positive and then the red light comes on and it just comes out of my mouth. I’m trying to help, that’s how I see it. I’m trying to be as honest as I can and bring my latin and ballroom experience.”
Reflecting on her four years on the programme, Oti says “I have the best, best time. I’m sitting next to Jayne [Torvill] and Chris [Dean] who are the best in the business, best in the world. How they’ve guided me with grace and kindness has been so amazing. And Ashley of course, Ashley [Banjo] is amazing.”
Jonathan quizzes Oti on who she thinks is going to win while referencing some of the contestants. Oti replies, “She’s [Michaela Strachan] brilliant - doing it for the ladies. He’s [Anton Ferdinand] brilliant. He’s bringing strength and athleticism.” When Jonathan mentions The Only Way Is Essex’s Dan Edgar, Oti replies “Everybody loves - I love the face. People love the way Dan skates and looks.”
Jonathan asks Oti if she misses being a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing and she says, “It was a huge part of my life. I’m always grateful to Strictly but now I enjoy it as a fan and I choreograph on the show. I still dance, dance will always be a part of my life but now I’m watching Strictly with my baby girl and a glass of wine.”
Oti also reflects on recently becoming a mum, she says “She’s one now - one with all the attitude! She doesn’t like to be told what to do, she tells us what to do. We haven’t slept really in a year. She wakes up in the middle of the night and just starts dancing.”
On whether she’d like her daughter to follow in her footsteps, Oti says, “I think as a dancer you don’t always want your child to do the same thing. I’ll support whatever she does but I’m hoping she’ll be like an astronaut. I want her to try other things. For me, dancing has brought me a lot but I’d love her to explore other things.”
Speaking about her upcoming dance show Viva Carnival, Oti says, “It’s about most carnivals that are really special to me - we’ll be covering the Brazil Carnival, the Argentina Carnival, the African Carnival and we’ll also be doing Glastonbury and I think it stems from desire to travel and see the world.”
Oti also recounts when her husband proposed to her and says, “He wanted to go watch the movie Planet of the Apes. He was really nervous. He took me to Hard Rock Cafe and they were playing metal rock and it was not my vibe. We went to the hotel and it was his birthday and I was about to go to bed and he said ‘wait before the day ends, will you marry me?’ And he gave me the ring. Minus the monkeys, it was very nice!”
Fresh from his Strictly Come Dancing win, Jonathan speaks to hilarious stand-up and reigning champion Chris McCausland. Chris reveals the toll the training takes on you physically and says, “You start like you’re an athlete and you’re not an athlete. It’s eight hours a day, six days a week - it’s relentless. The first few weeks you pick up injuries that relate to the dance you’re doing. The jive - you feel like you’ve been on a mule for a week. The first time you do a bit of ballroom - your knees take it because you’re not used to it. It’s amazing more people don’t get injured permanently on that show.”
Touching on his worst injury during the process, Chris reveals, “Dianne tried to do this move with me that she’d seen on TikTok. I had to pull her vertical body up straight and it literally ripped me apart from my left arse cheek to my right shoulder.”
Speaking about the moment he and Dianne were declared the winners, Chris says, “It was emotional Jonathan, it was so emotional. Me and Dianne were meant to link arms at the end of that and walk off. As we linked arms, she crumpled and then I crumpled and the two of us were in bits. It was a lot, you know.”
Revealing how his daughter felt about him taking part in the show, Chris says, “My wife and my daughter watched it at home. My daughter really got into it. She was so nervous, I think she fed off my anxiety. She was so nervous on the first episode that it wouldn’t work or I’d make a fool of myself or fall over or something. When we did that first move where we danced off, she burst out crying and missed the whole thing!”
On whether he has been dancing at home with his wife, Chris says “She kept on trying to get me to show her some of the moves and what I realised quickly is that I do not have the patience to tell anybody else how to dance.”
Speaking about whether Dancing on Ice could be his next challenge, Chris reveals “I said on Strictly that you’re capable of more than people think but I didn’t really mean it. Even I've got a line, I would literally be in a double cast within an hour. I do not ice skate.”
Talking alongside his fellow guests about taking mementos from set, Chris says “I took my Strictly Come Dancing embroidered dressing gown and I haven’t had the face to wear it at home yet in case someone knocks at the door and I forget I’ve got it on.”
Speaking about how his audience at his shows has changed since appearing on Strictly, Chris says, “I think I was lucky enough to get enough of my daft sense of humour across in the show that I think they know what they’re getting if they’ve only seen me on Strictly and they’re coming along.”
At the end of the show, Jonathan asks Oti if she would like to perform some carnival moves to celebrate her new tour. Oti replies, “I would love to. Can we all do it together?”
Chris replies, “I’ll have a go.” Oti then teaches Chris some batucada dance moves.
Finally, Snow Patrol perform.