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Overall, critics were pleasantly surprised by The Claudia Winkleman Show when it graced screens on Friday night.
Claudia secured a top notch line-up of Jeff Goldblum, Vanessa Williams, Jennifer Saunders and Tom Allen.
The former Strictly Come Dancing host has taken over from Graham for seven weeks in a new London studio.
While the show fell flat with viewers, who claim Claudia could ‘never replace’ Graham Norton, there were a mixture of feelings from the critics.
Nick Hilton of the Independent gave the show three stars for the ‘classy, witty affair that has brilliant potential’ but added it ‘might need a few tweaks’.
Making clear they ‘love Claudia’, The Guardian‘s critic says Graham is just too difficult to replace before branding the chat show ‘a mess’.
Overall, critics were pleasantly surprised by The Claudia Winkleman Show when it graced screens on Friday night
Claudia secured a top notch line-up of Jeff Goldblum, Vanessa Williams, Jennifer Saunders and Tom Allen
Giving the show a poor two stars, Lucy Mangan writes: ‘Claudia has been faster and wittier than at least three fifths of her guests’.
Carol Midgley for The Times pens: ‘Claudia is not a comedian but she is funny (she made a joke about breastfeeding her dog). She should relax more and have the confidence to be herself. And, dare I say it, be a bit less nice.
‘This is a job that is more difficult than it looks. Claudia, despite her self-mockery and nerves, put in a respectable first shift’.
Anita Singh at The Telegraph says the show was ‘quite random, reassuringly nice. A lovely way to end the week, but not yet appointment-to-view TV’.
Meanwhile, viewers claimed the chat show is ‘nowhere near as good as Graham Norton’ – and even Claudia’s charisma can’t save it.
Taking to social media as the first episode aired on the BBC, viewers shared their many criticisms of the show, including that they hated the recorded audience noise.
Another criticism for viewers were the that experts planted around the audience primed to chime in when each celebrity told anecdote made for awkward viewing, with one person saying: ‘So flat, even the guests look bored.’
Elsewhere some people thought the interviews were unstructured and ‘all over the place’, adding that the celebrities appeared to talk over each other.
Fronted by The Traitors icon Claudia Winkleman, the new chat show takes on a similar format to The Graham Norton Show with a moodier, after hours vibe
Taking to social media as the first episode aired on the BBC , viewers shared their many criticisms of the show, including that they hated the recorded audience noise
However not all viewers were left disappointed, with several gushing over Claudia’s presenting skills and the late night set up
And even the set took a beating, with viewers claiming the lighting, furniture and outfits were all too dark and merged into one.
Taking to social media as it aired, they wrote: ‘So Goldblum assumes the A lister seat and Tom Allen the British comedian seat. It’s no different to #thegrahamnortonshow,’;
‘The set has too many shades of brown and it’s very dark, the audience sound is terrible and sounds too prompted. I love Claudia but it’s setup to fail,’;
‘So Television is Graham Norton‘s production company, they also produce The Claudia Winkleman Show which is why, despite a set change, the format is identical. A shame nothing different was attempted with this chat show!’;
‘This show is probably a bit like making pancakes. The first one is a bit iffy but things do improve going forward,’; ‘the laugh track is getting irritating’.