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When the BBC revealed Claudia Winkleman was to be given her own chatshow, she deployed her trademark self-deprecation to note that it “might be excruciating”. Yet after just one series, it is the presenter – rather than the audience or guests – that has found the show to be too much of an ordeal.
The all-conquering host of The Traitors and former Strictly Come Dancing presenter has quit The Claudia Winkleman Show after just one series, saying she was “too nervous to enjoy” the conversations with the great and the good who visited her sofa.
“I’m incredibly grateful to the BBC for giving me the opportunity, to the guests who agreed to come and chat to me, and the production team who were simply excellent,” she said. “Sometimes you have to try something to see how it fits, and I realised I was just too nervous to enjoy it.
“Maybe one day I will give it another try, but for now I already have the best jobs in the world and absolutely love the shows I’m doing.”
It is a surprise move from the presenter, who was handed the show after seeing her stock rise to stratospheric levels after the success of The Traitors and its celebrity spin-off.
Her chatshow only launched in March, with just seven episodes made. Winkleman took on her own programme after occasionally filling in for Graham Norton, seen as the master of the format in the UK. His show commands more than 2 million viewers per episode.
The ratings for Winkleman’s programme attracted an average combined audience of between 1.5 million and 2 million viewers, according to the BBC.
While Winkleman remains a popular figure, her chatshow divided critics.
“We loved her on the radio, we loved her on Strictly Come Dancing, we revere her on The Traitors, we wish to be her when we grow up or at least sport a modicum of her Traitors wardrobe,” wrote the Guardian’s Lucy Mangan of the opening episode.
“This is obvious. This is a given. And all of this remains true despite the unholy mess of the opening instalment of the long-and-loudly-heralded Claudia Winkleman Show.”
Her departure appears to confirm the chatshow format as one of the most perilous in the television industry, with several prominent hosts struggling to get to grips with the pressures and spotlight of small talk, celebrities and a live audience.
Winkleman is not alone in rethinking her role on the format. Fellow presenter Davina McCall, whose chatshow struggled in a prime slot in 2006 when her stock was similarly high, has since said she regretted making it in the format.
Winkleman had already experienced the stress of live interviews early in her career when S Club 7’s publicist halted an interview with her on Liquid News, the BBC’s former celebrity news show.
Several senior TV insiders had questioned whether she would enjoy the format, given its formulaic approach to chat. Winkleman has always specialised in her knowing looks and wry takes on The Traitors.
As with all television, TV chatshows have faced increased competition as a result of the growth of digital formats, with a new generation of celebrities preferring new formats like long-form podcasts or YouTube shows such as Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Chicken Shop Date.
Ed Havard, the director of entertainment at the BBC, said: “Claudia’s warmth and quick wit made The Claudia Winkleman Show an absolute joy.
“Whilst we loved the show, we fully respect her decision and would like to thank Claudia and the brilliant team at [the show’s producers] So Television for bringing the series to screen on the BBC.
“As the host of the country’s most-watched show, Claudia will be back on the BBC very soon when The Celebrity Traitors returns later this year, and we can’t wait to see what she has in store for the new band of celebs.”
