Claudia Winkleman's new chat show splits critics

Claudia Winkleman's hotly anticipated new chat show has divided critics after it aired on BBC One on Friday night.

The Traitors host was joined by stars Jeff Goldblum, Vanessa Williams, Jennifer Saunders and Tom Allen on the green sofa for the inaugural episode of The Claudia Winkleman Show.

The Sun's Felicity Cross gave it five stars, saying that despite being "awkward", it was "endearing, and full of fun banter".

But there was much less enthusiasm from the Guardian's Lucy Mangan, who described it as "a mess" in a two-star review.

Chat shows are difficult to get right, so there was a lot of build-up as fans waited to see how Winkleman's primetime take on the format would be received.

It's the latest step in the 54-year-old presenter's rise through television, which has continued even after she stepped down from Strictly Come Dancing.

The Telegraph's Anita Singh reflected on Winkleman's popularity in her review, saying her new show "arrives on a wave of goodwill" with the host approaching "national treasure status".

But she warned the first episode "suffered from first-night nerves", concluding it was "a bit of a bore".

"Jeff Goldblum names his favourite pencil and a random Midlander describes his hometown... Friday nights on BBC One are now cosy but mundane," she wrote, in a three-star review.

The Independent's Nick Hilton also gave it three stars, calling it "a classy, witty affair that has brilliant potential, but might need a few tweaks".

"The Traitors host's daunting foray into the chat show genre will only improve over time. Graham Norton's, after all, was not built in a day," he wrote.

The show saw Wicked and Jurassic Park star Goldblum talking about his new album, Night Blooms, the latest offering from his band, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.

Elsewhere, Saunders talked about her new film, The Magic Faraway Tree, and also recounted the time she and Dawn French thought they were "really daring" and tried to take drugs together.

Actress Williams talked about her turn in the West End play The Devil Wears Prada, while comedian Allen discussed his new book, Common Decency.

Hilton acknowledges that Goldblum and Saunders are "always good value" on the chat show circuit, but cautions that the line-up felt "a bit underwhelming for a series launch".

But Cross was much more impressed by the guests, calling it a "top notch line-up".

"And they'd all got the memo to play ball and deliver an opening episode full of sizzling chemistry, cheeky banter and decent anecdotes," she wrote.

Comparisons with Graham Norton

The Times' Carol Midgley also felt the guests were "solidly amusing" and said that while Winkleman is not a comedian, "she is funny (she made a joke about breastfeeding her dog)".

"This is a job that is more difficult than it looks. Claudia, despite her self-mockery and nerves, put in a respectable first shift," she wrote.

The new show is produced by Graham Norton's company So Television, which is also behind his own show.

And online, fans have been inevitably comparing the two shows. One X user called Winkleman's new show "a welcome contrast" to Norton's, while another wrote there was "not that much different... but I love her anyway".

Ahead of the show airing, there had also been much speculation about how it would involve pre-selected members of the audience.

In the end, we heard from a number of people in the crowd, including a man from Wolverhampton who recommended his city's Nando's, and a woman who designs pencils.

In a three-star review for the Metro, Rebecca Cook welcomed the audience engagement, writing: "In Winkleman's world, the spectators are just as interesting as the sofa.... Some of these interactions struck better than others, but they offered a nice point of difference."

But the Guardian's Mangan disagreed, saying audience participation "should have been outlawed generations ago. We are not a camera-ready nation and we never will be".

Throughout the show, Winkleman is characteristically self-deprecating, thanking her guests "for coming on the first and possibly last show".

Goldblum reassured her, promising that in the blink of an eye, we would fast forward decades into the future, where it would be "the longest-running show ever".

Will he be right? For now, it appears the jury is out.

The first episode of The Claudia Winkleman Show is available now on BBC iPlayer.