'It's a lot of cash. This is going to be huge': The staggering amount Claudia Winkleman will be paid by BBC for new talk show as insiders tell KATIE HIND 'top secret' plot behind move... and what it means for Tess Daly
In fact, I can reveal Claudia's successful stint on BBC1's The Graham Norton Show in February was something of a practice run, or even a pilot, for a much larger project.
When Claudia Winkleman stood in for her friend Graham Norton to host his long-running chat show earlier this year, many fans probably thought little of it.
After all, it was hardly an eccentric decision by BBC execs to ask Claudia – the corporation’s top-rated female star – to fill Norton’s shoes while the Irishman jetted off to tour Australia.
It was only one episode, but the impact was huge. In fact, I can reveal Claudia’s successful stint on BBC1’s The Graham Norton Show in February was something of a practice run, or even a pilot, for a much larger project.
For yesterday, the Beeb confirmed my story from October – that Claudia is to have her own Friday night chat show, and Norton’s production company So Television is to make it.
In a statement yesterday, Claudia, 53, said: ‘I can’t quite believe it and I’m incredibly grateful to the BBC for this amazing opportunity,’ before adding with her trademark modesty: ‘I’m obviously going to be awful – that goes without saying – but I’m over the moon they’re letting me try.’
Now Claudia seems set to become a Terry Wogan or Michael Parkinson for our times, with The Claudia Winkleman Show, which will run for seven episodes in the spring, making her the BBC’s first high-profile female chat show host.
It is also, I’m told, a deal worth ‘an absolute fortune’ (some suggest ‘the low millions’) which will ensure once and for all that Claudia will be going nowhere near the BBC’s rivals, ITV.
Claudia Winkleman tries her hand at hosting The Graham Norton Show in February
‘It’s a lot of cash,’ reveals my source. ‘People are always circling around Claudia and she would never sign a deal that would tie her to one network. But this does mean that there will be little time, or need, for her to do anything with ITV.
‘The BBC share her with Channel 4, which they are fine with – but ITV is a different ball game.’
I’m told nothing is being left to chance, and that ‘cash will be thrown’ at getting ‘the very best guests’, including Hollywood A-listers. No doubt Claudia and her husband, movie producer and communications expert Kris Thykier, will use their impressive contacts book to lure the biggest names in showbusiness for the initial episodes.
There is even chatter that the show might air in the US.
‘Claudia won’t just be sitting in front of a camera interviewing people,’ says a friend of the star. ‘She will be working all-out to make sure that it’s absolutely amazing. It’s a passion project for her; it’s what she has wanted since she started out in television.