BBC announces "dazzling" The Claudia Winkleman Show amidst Strictly exit
"I'm obviously going to be awful, that goes without saying, but I’m over the moon they're letting me try."
Claudia Winkleman will be hosting her very own chat show next year, the BBC has confirmed.
Produced by So Television - the same production company behind The Graham Norton Show - The Claudia Winkleman Show will see Winkleman welcome the biggest names from the worlds of film, television, music and beyond to her sofa for lively conversation with the help of a studio audience.
The TV presenter certainly has quite the 2026 ahead of her, with The Traitors season 4 beginning on New Year's Day, followed by The Celebrity Traitors later in the year.
Claudia Winkleman said of the news: "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."
Earlier this month, the TV presenter stepped down from her hosting duties on Strictly Come Dancing, marking the end of her and Tess Daly's tenure on the show.
"We were always going to leave together and now feels like the right time," the pair said in a joint statement. "We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show. They’re the most brilliant team and we’ll miss them every day."
The Graham Norton Show often has a break during the spring and summer months, often concluding each series in February, and now allows for Winkleman to fill the primetime slot.
Further details, including exact transmission dates and who will join Winkleman in the studio, are yet to be confirmed and will be announced in due course.
Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment Commissioning at the BBC, added: "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, commented: "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."
The Claudia Winkleman Show launches on BBC One and iPlayer in spring 2026.
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Authors
Katelyn Mensah is the Senior Entertainment Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.
