The Jonathan Ross Show | Preview (ITV1)

On this week’s The Jonathan Ross Show, the first exclusive chat with Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards following the release of her much-anticipated solo single, legendary comedian Frank Skinner, BAFTA award-winning comedian actor and writer Aisling Bea, Strictly star Johannes Radebe, plus the BRIT award-winning and multi-platinum selling Kasabian will be performing in the studio.

Perrie Edwards speaks to Jonathan following the release of her debut single Forget About Us. Speaking about appearing on the show without her bandmates, “It’s really bizarre not having them with me, it does feel really different. I think it was just the right time for us to part ways, do our own thing and I just want them to win so it’s nice seeing them do their own thing as well.”

On how she feels about going solo, Perrie says, “Terrified. It’s so different and it’s not what I’m used to. From being 16 I was in Little Mix so I don’t know any different so it is quite daunting but I’m having such a good time so far.”

Touching upon the struggle of deciding what to name her album, Perrie says, “It’s really hard - I can’t think of anything. Everyone says ‘Just call it Perrie’. It’s hard. I don’t know.”

Speaking about her relationship with footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and whether it’s difficult being apart while he’s playing football in Turkey, Perrie says, “I can’t lie, it is hard. When he was playing for Liverpool and based in Manchester, it was so easy to do the back and forth but Turkey is a little bit further and he doesn’t get a lot of time off. I’m trying to launch a solo career whilst having a two year old so it is a lot to juggle but we make it work for the ones we love don’t we?” Perrie adds, “We’ve never lived together anyway - the whole eight years we’ve been in a relationship we’ve never actually lived together.”

Jonathan reveals that one of Perrie’s songs is about her relationship which she co-wrote with RAYE and Perrie says, “Full disclosure, me and my partner don’t argue, we’re very laid back and very chilled. But at the same time, I can be a little bit of a petty b***h and I can’t help it. I don’t know whether it’s my star sign - cancer. I’m very stubborn, I’m very emotional but not in the best way. I will hold a grudge for anything he might say. I just can’t help the way I am, I’m just like that but we just started writing a song about it and I just thought the lyrics were super relatable.”

Fellow guest Frank Skinner recounts seeing Slash live when Perrie reveals Slash was her first crush and says, “He was my first crush. The top hat and the hair.” Jonathan jokes that he is there in the studio and Perrie replies, “I would actually pass out. I love Slash.”

Speaking alongside the other guests about the prospect of taking part in Strictly Come Dancing, Perrie says, “I think I’d be really scared. In the band at the very beginning, we went to rehearsals and I remember crying my eyes out and I went to my manager ‘I’m going to have to leave the band. I can’t really dance, I don’t want to dance.’ I was just so terrified and uncomfortable dancing that I just didn’t want to do it - I just wanted to stand and sing.”

Perrie adds, “Now, I love it. I absolutely love dancing. I actually would love it [Strictly Come Dancing]. Jonathan then asks whether she would take part if she was offered the opportunity and Perrie says, “Yeah.”

Speaking about the television programme Naked Attraction that she loves to watch, Perrie says, “I just find it fascinating. It’s like you shouldn’t be watching it but you can’t help but watch it.”

Perrie adds, “When we lived in Manchester our TVs were connected in every room so whatever TV channel you were on, it was linked. I went to bed and it was on, I’m watching it minding my own business and the door bursts open and it’s my mother-in-law. Bear in mind, she’s quite a well-to-do lady, she’s very respectful and a bit of a prude and she went ‘What on earth is on my TV?’ I was so embarrassed.”

Later, Jonathan asks Perrie about the possibility of Little Mix getting back together and Perrie says, “I’d definitely never say never. We just love each other so much. We thought we’d been together for 12 years since we were babies and we just wanted to do our own thing and see what happens. We’d definitely love to get back together in the future.”

Jonathan is also joined by Strictly star Johannes Radebe who is currently on tour with his own show House of Jojo.

Exclusively announcing his next project, Johannes reveals, “It’s my musical debut. I’m a late bloomer. I have the opportunity to play Lola in Kinky Boots. Everything I’ve done in my career has led to this moment. I’ve followed it since its inception.”

Revealing he’ll be singing in the musical too, Johannes says, “A first for me. It’s been two years I’ve been taking my singing lessons because I’ve known about the job for two years. I just wanted to respect people who have come before me and put in the work before I could say yes. I’m grateful that the producers waited until I was ready.” 

Talking alongside his fellow guests about encounters with the Royal Family, Johannes reveals he has met the Duchess of Edinburgh and says, “Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh. She would love the opportunity to [compete in Strictly Come Dancing] but she can’t obviously. She has personally told me this.” 

Speaking about his House of Jojo tour, Johannes says, “For me, it’s a blessing obviously, to be able to dance to my own music - that really humbles me. When I tell you, it’s a spectacle - it’s gay pride on steroids.” 

Fellow guest Frank Skinner praises Johannes on his partnership with John Whaite and Johannes becomes emotional and says, “I have to say I’ve spent the last seven years in this country and it has been absolutely wonderful. I feel seen and that experience really brought a certain confidence to me that I cannot tell you - I’ve never had that. It’s restored my faith in humanity, that experience. To hear people give feedback as to how beautiful it was, that really humbles me.”

On whether he’ll be returning for the next series of Strictly Come Dancing, Johannes says, “I’m still waiting for that phone call. Fingers crossed. Jonathan, everybody wants this job. It is great to be a part of it because there are people waiting in the wings to snatch the job.”

Quizzed by Jonathan on whether he ever gets frustrated when teaching the celebrities how to dance, Johannes says, “It’s terrifying I always think to myself, as the celebrities walking in, it’s terrifying. For me personally, I always think ‘Give this person the best experience of their life’ Because they only get to do this once, I come back. That’s always my main focus. I want to get my celebrities to fall in love with the artform of ballroom dancing because that’s what I’m about.”

Speaking about being lifted by John Whaite, Johannes says, “He lifted me like I was a piece of feather. I’m a well built man and I’ve always lifted women and I know the level of care that goes into that. For me to experience it for the first time was quite special and I have to thank John Whaite for being really caring with me. He was quite patient while I was trying to figure it out. The truth is for the first time in my life I’ve had somebody say to me ‘I’ve got you.”

Asked by Jonathan on how long he plans to continue dancing, Johannes replies, “I will do it for as long as my bones will allow and then after that I will come for Craig’s job.”

Legendary comedian Frank Skinner who is on tour with his 30 Years of Dirt comedy show also joins Jonathan. 

Speaking about his marriage inspiring his comedic material, Frank says, “We’ve been together for 23 years and I think it’s good for a comedian to be in a long-term relationship because it means awkward silences don’t frighten me. When we do argue, I’ve always said when you watch us argue, it would be like going to a gig to see a band - we start with some new stuff and then eventually we roll out our greatest hits.”

Talking about spending time with his son who is interested in heavy metal music, Frank says, “He’s absolutely mad for heavy metal, my son. In the last year, we’ve been to see KISS, Slipknot, Metallica. Slash did a solo which lasted about 15 minutes and during the solo all my problems, all the problems of my life - the things people said to me at school, getting sacked by my radio show - just washed, it was like a fabulous, cleansing, meditative experience. It was so brilliant.”

Speaking about his own musical roots, Frank says, “I was in a band called Olde English which I persuaded them to name after my favourite cider. I was eventually thrown out of it for being drunk at gigs.” Frank then jokes, “To be honest, the music was getting in the way of the drinking.”

Revealing the reasoning behind the name of his tour 30 Years of Dirt, Frank says, “My stand-up career has almost been an endless stream of filth and it’s not really been my idea. I often start out with a lot of clean material in it but then the audience laughs a lot louder at the dirty stuff so I got rid of the clean stuff and stuck with it. They were the opposite of a filter, the audience - they left all the muck in.”

Asked by Jonathan how his material is perceived by the Church based on the fact he is a devout Catholic, Frank says, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with dirty jokes, it’s about targets and stuff like that. I’m personally very happy about the woke movement because I don’t have any desire to go up and be cruel or unkind to anybody.”

Frank then reveals he has been asked to take part in Strictly Come Dancing several times, “I’ve been asked to do Strictly - a few times.” Frank then jokes, “My partner persuaded me to go on a lads weekend to Amsterdam instead - she thought there would be less temptation.”

Frank adds, “I’m so self-conscious. I love Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel and I got offered to be on it today and I can’t do it. I love the show but there’s a bit where they dance.”

Quizzed by Jonathan on whether he wants to continue touring, Frank says, “Definitely - I just want to keep on going, forever. Until I get it right! I love touring. I love motorway services, I love hotels.”

Jonathan is also joined by BAFTA award-winning comedian, actor and writer Aisling Bea ahead of her upcoming appearance in comedy-drama series Avoidance. 

Speaking about working alongside friend and fellow comedian Romesh Ranganathan, Aisling says, “We’ve been friends for about 15 years but this is the second series of his show that he wrote and it’s all about a man going through a divorce and then in comes my character in series two - sparks fly perhaps, sure.” 

Aisling then reveals she was recovering from a serious injury during the filming of the series and says, “I was supposed to have keyhole surgery on my shoulder from an accident two days beforehand but when I went in, they found out my arm was hanging off. They had to go in and totally reconstruct my shoulder while I was asleep. I got knocked down off my bike in the pandemic.”

Aisling adds, “We were scheduled to film for a week and a half. Out of my head on painkillers. I just remember it as one long day. We had to make my sling part of the character but I really couldn’t move very much.”

Talking about filming intimate scenes and whether it’s more difficult being close friends with your co-star, Aisling says, “Totally harder. The two of us had one scene where we had to kiss for the first time for as long as Jessica Knappett, who is an amazing actress, came in the back and we’d split our heads apart and Jess would be there. It took longer for her to open the door than we thought! I knew I was doing bad kissing. When they finally called ‘cut’ I said ‘You’re not going to tell Josh Widdicombe, James Acaster and all the lads about us kissing are you?’”

Recounting appearing in Doctor Who, Aisling reveals her family's reaction to the news she’d secured the part, Aisling says, “Oh mam, they’ve offered me Doctor Who.” And then I rang my sister after that and she said ‘Oh my God - I heard you’re doing Call The Midwife?’ and I said ‘No, I’m doing Doctor Who’. I called my mother and she said ‘I thought it was a medical drama.’”

Touching upon her future project with Nick Frost, Aisling says, “I did a film with Nick Frost called Svalta. That’s murder, horror, comedy and we had a ball doing that. That’s out maybe towards the end of the year so I can’t wait to see that.” 

At the end of the show, Kasabian performs in the studio. The Jonathan Ross Show airs Saturday at 10pm on ITV1.