Graham Norton's pay soars to €166,362 per show

Norton — who celebrated his 61st birthday in April — departed from his weekend presenting role on Virgin Radio UK earlier this year after declaring that he wanted his weekends back after 13 years. Picture: Victoria Dalton 

Chat show king Graham Norton enjoyed a bumper £537,665 (€644,786) increase in his TV pay last year to £2.77m (€3.32m), 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 here.

Now, new accounts filed by So Television Ltd to Companies House in the UK show that Norton’s pay from the firm surged by 24% from £2.23m to £2.77m last year.

Two of our best-known stars, Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan will be appearing on this Friday night’s edition.

The pay to Norton works out at an average £138,707 (€166,362) per episode for each of the 20 Graham Norton Shows Norton 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 and company revenues in 2023 increased by £2.76m or 23%,  from £11.75m to £14.5m. The directors state that revenues decreased “largely due to an increase in distribution channels”.

The accounts show that UK revenues increased slightly to £10.7m while ‘rest of world’ revenues more than tripled from £1.1m to £3.76m.

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

The directors state “The Graham Norton Show continues to be popular in the UK and internationally.” The company’s operating profits increased by 123% from £1.1m to £2.55m and it benefited from finance income received of £1.37m resulting in the pre-tax profits surging by 145% to £3.9m.

Norton’s TV fees are the entertainer’s main income stream. Norton — who celebrated his 61st birthday in April — departed from his weekend presenting role on Virgin Radio UK earlier this year after declaring that he wanted his weekends back after 13 years.

Norton’s novels are also best sellers 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, though the author receives only a small fraction of the sales figure in royalties.

Norton’s show continues to be the 'go-to’ show for Hollywood 'A listers' 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, 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.

Numbers employed by So Television last year decreased to 23 and staff costs increased at £2.29m. Accumulated profits at So Television in December 2023 totalled £27.8m.