THE JONATHAN ROSS SHOW TONIGHT: MEET THE FAMOUS GUESTS ON THE SOFA

On The Jonathan Ross Show this week, Jonathan is joined by award-winning actor Martin Freeman, star of The Last of Us Bella Ramsey, comedians Romesh Ranganathan and Sindhu Vee. Plus, musician Jarvis Cocker chats before a special Pulp performance. 

Actor Martin Freeman talks about The Office, 24 years on from filming the  iconic series he says: “2001… it’s 24 years ago we were filming the first series. My overriding memory of doing it, we were all genuinely very proud of it. People were very good in it. [Ricky] Gervais, as a central performance, still one of the best performances I’ve seen.”

He adds: “One of my overriding memories is it was a thing of trying not to laugh for 10 hours a day - and that’s a lovely way to spend your life.”  

Discussing filming heavier series, including Bafta-nominated The Responder, he says he doesn’t go method: “I like to stay in a zone of concentration rather than ‘I’m staying in character.’ You’re definitely speaking to me as Martin.”

He adds: “That’s how I keep sane about it. There are some days where if it’s ‘front loaded’ in that the first three scenes aren’t going to be particularly easy. I let people around me know, I’m not going to be gagging. It’s going to be the slightly more distant me, but it’s still me. It’s not what I’d call a ‘method’ performance. I think it is polite to let people know what version of you is going to turn up.” 

The Last of Us actor Bella Ramsey says: “Every time there’s been a take that’s been super intense, I’ll grin manically at the camera. It’s an instinct I’ve had. That’s my way of letting me know they’re fine to speak to me like normal… I hate the thing where people tip toe around you. So I try and cut that out by just being funny.” 

Discussing accents Martin says of his Minnesota accent in Fargo: “There were a couple of guys from Minnesota I’d just listen to speaking. I 100% stay in it all the time. I’m not staying in character, but for me I liken it to like athletics; if you’re going to run a race you’re going to warm up and stretch first. That’s a totally different way of moving everything in your mouth.” 

And on The Responder he adds: “It’s a Liverpool accent. That is certainly not a city that is backward at coming forward if they think you’ve done a bad job. That was something I was very aware of, not being from there and going there and doing the accent.

“My thing is, I don’t want to watch it on telly and think, ‘I could have done that better, if I’d concentrated more or worked harder.’”

Speaking of watching himself back Martin adds: “I will always watch something at least once. I think there’s something to be learned from it.” 

By contrast Bella says of Game of Thrones: “I’m only at a point now I can watch it. It made me cringe a bit. I found it so bizarre it was me. You do get used to it.” 

Joining Jack Lowden on stage for The Fifth Step play Martin says: “I knew I had to do it. Brilliant writing and also, frankly, Jack was already doing it and I like Jack. I could see him doing it… He’s a really solid, down to earth, self-deprecating person. I was very fond of him. It was something rare for me that I thought ‘yeah’ straight away.” 

Martin also touches on going to a Sherlock-themed escape room, based on the series in which he plays Watson and subsequently not escaping in good time: “It did take us a while. I went with my other half and my two kids… it wasn’t even a Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes, it was [the BBC one]. I’m aware it did feel a little bit maybe t***ish to go to my own thing… but my kids said it was going to be fun. It is a really good one…” 

After Romesh joking queries why Martin went to this, Martin laughingly adds: “My voice is in it… I hadn’t seen or heard myself enough in that week, so I thought… and I wasn’t stuck, I just wanted to stay in there longer.” 

Discussing the next series of The Last Of Us and the popularity of co-star Pedro Pascal, Bella says they get on really well: “Thankfully we do. He’s really wonderful and funny and I can understand why the whole world has a crush on him. The amount of people who come up to me flustered… he’s made quite an impression.” 

Bella adds of the secrecy around the show’s plot: “I really enjoy keeping the secrets. It’s good for me [as I can’t keep my own secrets]. People ask me very specific questions. I say no to everything. I should start saying yes to everything.” 

Speaking about doing the stunts personally, Bella says: “I did. I always do. Second season’s a lot more [of that]. It’s really fun. I have got hurt. I got hit in the eye by a dying clicker and I got a black eye. Second season I got a proper bust lip [from another fight scene]. I love it. I really love it. I’m very good at getting injured just enough that I can keep working and not stop.” 

Bella adds: “Horse riding I learnt for Game of Thrones. They gave me way too much training for that. But I did train again for this season. There’s boxing, some Brazilian jiu jitsu - you can be small and take someone down.”

In the show Bella shows this off by performing a move on Jonathan and throwing him to the ground. 

Conversely, Romesh Ranganathan admits he prefers hosting League of their Own as it means he doesn’t have to do the more stunty moments. But that didn’t quite go to plan when his panellists had other ideas: “They had to answer questions while doing a [rugby themed] scrum thing and they just dragged me into it. I wasn’t wearing the sports gear. I was wearing the hosting gear. They were throwing all this stuff, mud in and around me everywhere. I went up to my dressing room trying to sort myself out. I was finding mud everywhere. Sorting myself out, cleaning myself out… as I’m finishing I see there’s a text on my phone, it’s my driver waiting outside saying, ‘You might want to close your blinds’. It was where all the audience comes out of the show…”

Romesh also talks about running marathons and says: “I ran a marathon last year and I’m running the London Marathon this year. Listen, I’m not a hero. I’m doing it for the Teenage Cancer Trust. It was OK… I didn’t really train enough. 

“My big issue with it is I went to the toilet too much. During [the race]. Basically I was nervous of being dehydrated. So I drank a lot of water… there were lots of water stations…  then I needed to go to the toilet.”

After it’s discussed that Romesh ran it in 6.5 hours, with the average being 4.5 hours, he quips: “The average is actually most people don’t run it, so….”

He continues: “It wasn’t my fault. There’s queues for the toilet. 20 mins a time! There was a guy in the queue not even running, he’s just stood there in the queue.” 

Bella adds: “I did not even consider that you stopped to go to the toilet. I just thought you either wouldn’t go… or just go.”

Romesh replies: “I did think about doing that… imagine saying to somebody, ‘I just went in my shorts as I needed to get under that 6.5 time.’ I understand if you’re an elite athlete…”  

He adds: “I am just going to go [next time]. I’m going to get shorts [that change colour] so people know I’m having a situation.”

Romesh also talks about writing a children’s book following a girl who’s really into gaming: “I’ve got three sons and they’re really into video games. I play with them a lot. One of the things I’ve noticed [when doing] reading around gaming culture… They’ve [girls] got to prove themselves in a way that boys don’t. I felt it would be great to have a female character to show that could happen and tackle it in a lighthearted way.” 

He adds: “My kids are really into Fortnite. I started playing it with the kids. Suddenly you’re in Fortnite and it’s like they’re your parents saying things like, ‘Can you not do a simple thing?’”

Comedian Sindhu Vee talks about her kids saying she should get their permission to use them in her comedy, but she says: “I just do it. As the kids have got older they say, ‘Mum you need my consent.’ I say, ‘Shut up.’ I’m not really telling the truth, truth. They’re not that funny! They’ll deal with it.”

Of whether his kids watch his work Martin says: “They still don’t want to watch Love Actually. That for them is like, ‘Nah.’” 

Romesh adds: “I actually worried about it a little bit. The kids are going, ‘You’re talking about me!’ I say, ‘Look around, it paid for everything. You don’t want a PlayStation? Shut up then.’”  

Speaking about her tour Alphabet, Sindhu says: “I lost my mother and then my sister and then my father in a very short time. It’s the first time I’m being funny on stage - or not on stage - without them around. It didn’t occur to me how novel that would feel in a strange way. We were a very funny family. We had a lot of humour.”

She adds: “It was [an incredibly difficult period]. You can’t crumple up into yourself. You keep putting one foot in front [of the other]. A sibling is very unexpected. You have to move through it…. I have to say humour has been the greatest tool I’ve had. I think the worst things can happen to you, if you can find a way, even for a second to make them funny it gets you through… Everyone loses someone, if you’re not going to laugh, you’re going to cry.” 

Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker chats ahead of their performance and discusses his recent nuptials: “My wife is in the audience. We got married at the circus. It was good. I was thinking of learning a circus skill, but I didn’t manage to do that. But I did enlist people from the circus to help for the introduction to the party [on the day].” 

He adds: “I proposed in a traffic jam. We’d been to Mexico. I thought about it a lot there, but something stopped me. We were in a traffic jam near Shepherd’s Bush and the conversation stopped and I thought, ‘I’ll do it now…’. When the muse speaks to you, you have to answer.”

Jarvis continues: “Being an older man, I wasn’t going to do the normal thing, so I had my stag do at a cement works. It’s got a really nice social club. We had a tour round and we saw the furnace and the quarry and everything. We were cementing a very important event…”

Jarvis adds of his well-known quirky fashion style: “When I first started clothes for myself it was jumble sales…. You could get a whole bin bag of things for 10p, so I could experiment. Sometimes it would fail, but you try things. It would be like people’s reaction, if people laughed as I walked past, I’d think, ‘I won’t wear that again’. I evolved through that. 

“My mother’s brother had married a German woman and her family would send over clothes for us and one Christmas these lederhosen arrived, they were grey suede with green leather edging and braces. Obviously going to school with those on in Sheffield was not the best thing. My mum thought I looked cute.”

Discussing Pulp’s new music, Jarvis explains: “We just decided to see how many songs we could write and ended up with a record. Which we’re going to play one of [tonight]. It’s [the record] called ‘More’.” 

The Jonathan Ross Show airs Saturdays on ITV1.