Who are our dream daytime chatshow hosts?
Chatshows are a perilous business. Juggling celebrities on the plug, eye-boggling real-life stories and the occasional foul-mouthed guest who forgets the whole thing is live, hosts have to be up to the task of holding everything together without ever losing their cool.
Not everyone given a chatshow has made it work: Nigella Lawson couldn’t bring in the ratings, Vanessa Feltz allegedly interviewed fake guests and even the mighty Sharon Osbourne couldn’t survive longterm on daytime.
We reckon, though, that Mel and Sue will do a fabulous job with their forthcoming ITV show. But who else has the charm, wit and confidence to front a daytime chatshow? We’ve picked our top five dream hosts – see if you agree.
Adele
She’s been out of the spotlight enjoying some down-time with her husband and newborn son, but it’s time for the amazing anecdotes and downright dirty laugh of Adele Laurie Blue Adkins to return to our lives – and how better than on our TV screens weekdays at 3pm? She needn’t let the show get in the way of promoting her new album, either – why bother with the hassle of having other musical guests on at all? She could just sing a different track from the album at the end of every episode: job done.
Margaret Mountford
Appearing as Alan Sugar’s aide on The Apprentice, Margaret became renowned for her direct approach with contestants and her gruelling interview technique, which would be a refreshing change on daytime TV, quite frankly. Imagine Margaret chatting with a man who had penis enlargement surgery, for example. Imagine the questions she’d ask. Imagine how poorly she’d be able to hide her feelings. Imagine the facial expressions. Imagine.
Natalie Cassidy
The fact that a Natalie Cassidy chatshow hasn’t happened yet is a major TV crime. Being one of EastEnders‘ biggest personalities (and mouths), every one of her guests would have to battle to make themselves heard, but that would be half – well, let’s be honest, most – of the fun. Something tells us Denise Van Outen wouldn’t be invited to appear on Nat’s sofa, though.
Vanessa White
The least media-trained and therefore most interesting of The Saturdays, Vanessa’s take-no-shit approach combined with at least a little bit of light afternoon drinking would make for television gold. Drinks With Vanessa, anyone?
Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart
Aside from being a source of so many potential GIFs it could break the internet, this is a total no-brainer. Hollywood’s favourite not-actually-a-couple power couple together have the light touch integral to the best daytime TV, but aren’t afraid to speak their minds either. Best of all, the combined good-guy power of Gandalf and Professor Xavier could be strong enough to finally vanquish bile-for-hire like Katie Hopkins once and for all. The campaign starts here.
Who would you like to see hosting a daytime chatshow? Let us know in the comments section below.
> Find out more about Mel and Sue’s upcoming daytime show here