Graham Norton was paid €3.3m last year for TV work, accounts show

Gordon Deegan

Chat show host Graham Norton enjoyed a bumper increase in his TV pay last year to reach £2.77 million (€3.32 million), new accounts show.

ITV subsidiary So Television sells The Graham Norton Show to the BBC and to TV stations across the world, including Virgin Media in Ireland.

Accounts filed by So Television Ltd to Companies House in the UK show that Norton’s pay from the firm surged by 24 per cent from £2.23 million to £2.77 million last year.

Two of Ireland's best known stars, Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan, will be appearing on Friday night’s edition of The Graham Norton Show on BBC One.

The pay to Norton works out at an average £138,707 per episode for each of the 20 Graham Norton Shows he presented in 2023.

The £537,665 pay increase for 2023 followed Norton sustaining a £788,530 cut in pay from So Television in 2022.

Norton’s pay – made up of presenter fees, production fees and royalties – soared last year after So Television’s revenues and profits increased sharply.

So Television relies on The Graham Norton Show for the bulk of its revenues. Company revenues in 2023 increased by 23 per cent, from £11.75 million to £14.5 million.

The accounts show that UK revenues increased slightly to £10.7 million, while "rest of world" revenues more than tripled, from £1.1 million to £3.76 million.

The firm's revenues increased despite producing three fewer hours of TV in 2023 – 28 compared to 31 in 2022 “due to a reduction in one-off shows/pilots from 2022”.

The directors said The Graham Norton Show “continues to be popular in the UK and internationally.”

The company’s operating profits increased by 123 per cent to £2.55 million and benefited from finance income received of £1.37 million, resulting in pre-tax profits surging to £3.9 million.

The entertainer, who celebrated his 61st birthday in April, departed from his weekend presenting role on Virgin Radio UK earlier this year after declaring he wanted his weekends back after 13 years.

Norton’s novels are also bestsellers and his critically acclaimed works of fiction – Holding, Home Stretch, A Keeper, Forever Home, Frankie and The Swimmer – have generated millions in sales in Ireland and the UK since 2016 according to Nielsen BookData.

However, the author receives only a small fraction of the sales figure in royalties.

Norton’s chat show continues to be the main outlet for Hollywood stars and singers promoting their movies and albums in the UK and Europe.

During the period under review, guests to appear on the show included Kylie Minogue, Michael Fassbender, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks and Margot Robbie.

Born in Dublin and raised in Bandon, Co Cork, Norton first shot to prominence in 1996 for his part of Father Noel Furlong in Father Ted before he moved to Channel 4 to host his own chat show.