The Graham Norton Show

It's like the saying goes: you wait for one bus and then they all come at once. Having had two months doing nothing but bury myself in books, as soon as my exams finished I've been exhausting myself scurrying all over London going to various different events.

Yesterday really was a night to remember as my friend and I spent the evening watching the series finale of The Graham Norton Show be taped. Watching a television show be taped is something I've always been dying to experience and so a couple of weeks ago I looked into applying for tickets to be part of the audience of a couple of different shows. I love watching The GNS every Friday and thought it was worth filling in the application form on the off-chance that I was successful. Luckily I was, and even though I got tickets to my lowest preference evening I had no intention of turning them down, and set about texting my friends to see who'd like to come too.

Helen came down from Oxford and the two of us made our way to the London Studios, grabbing a red wristband and joining the end of a rather large queue at 5pm. The weather was less than ideal and thanks to several smatterings of rain we were a little damp by the time they opened the doors at 6pm and started letting people in. A separate queue of people with florescent pink wristbands were let in first and whenever they arrived which was a little annoying as we'd spent the best part of an hour in a wind tunnel and fighting to keep our umbrellas from turning inside out! Does anyone know what was so special about the pink queue? I'm desperate to find out!

By the time we arrived inside the studio most of the seats were filled, but we still ended up in an amazing position. Looking at the audience from the set, we were in the right hand block and second row from the back, with a perfect view of the sofa. I will definitely be trying to spot us on the telly!

I don't want to give too much away as the show is going to be airing in the next few weeks, but I can say the guests and music were insane! After a quick warm up, Graham Norton filmed the skit with the audience (so much fun) followed by his introduction. They then filmed the music segment first although on the program it'll be edited in at the end. I'm not sure of this is how they do it every recording or if it was unique to this week. Can anyone shed any light on this?!

Jake Bugg sang a special version of 'Broken' which is on his current album.

Then they bought the guests on. I'd been searching on the Internet since I received my tickets trying to find out who they'd be, but as it's episode 13 and weeks away from airing there was no news or even speculation. Needless to say, Helen and I really lucked out last night with Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson and Nick Frost. I know, I know: wow! All three were hilarious. It seems obvious to say it, but they really were! The combination of guests is always the best bit of The GNS as no matter who sits on the sofa there is always excellent chemistry, no end of anecdotes and giggles galore. The conversations ranged from plane crashes to golf to Oscar nominations, all sprinkled with numerous "motherfuckers" from Samuel L. Jackson and no end of amusing facial expressions from Graham Norton. It'll be interesting to see what makes it into the final cut of the program and which parts will be edited out, as there didn't seem to be obvious breaks between topics. We'll have to wait and see!

The guests were obviously on the show for a reason, so here are the things they were promoting:

Sandra Bullock's new film The Heat with Melissa McCarthy comes to U.K. cinemas on 31st July 2013. It tells the story of  an uptight FBI special agent Sarah Ashburn (Bullock) who is paired with testy Boston cop Shannon Mullins (McCarthy) in order to take down a ruthless drug lord. The hitch: neither woman has ever had a partner - or a friend for that matter.

Samuel L. Jackson spoke about his charity work, in particular in raising awareness of Alzheimer's - a disease that has had a shocking effect on his family - and support and advice for men with cancer. More information can be found here for The Alzheimer's Association.

I've blogged about this previously (mostly just a post of fan-girl screaming) and it is without doubt the film I'm most excited to see this summer: the conclusion to the so-called Cornetto Trilogy, The World's End, starring Nick Frost. It'll be in U.K. cinemas from the 19th July 2013 so make sure you see it! Five friends (Frost, Simon Pegg, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Paddy Considine) reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier but unwittingly become humankind's only hope for survival.

It was a brilliant evening, and I'd highly recommend applying for tickets to see a show be taped! It was not only amazing to see three huge stars in person talking about their work, but also interesting to watch exactly how the show comes to life onscreen and how the team create one of the nation's favourite programs.

You can find out more about SRO Audiences and apply for tickets here, and make sure you try and spot me and Helen in a few weeks time!