Last updated 10:51, Saturday, 29 March 2008

Graham Norton’s eyes light up as a glass of wine appears and he shouts, “Hurrah!” before getting back to the important business of discussing his show, I’d Do Anything.

Graham Norton

“Yes it is a show called I’d Do Anything, hosted by me looking for a brilliant Nancy – laugh it out, get used to it, we’re bored of the jokes already,” he giggles, his mischievous eyes sparkling.

In the latest of the BBC’s hit musical-making talent shows, the cheeky Irish comic is leading the search for the stars of Oliver! alongside musical giant Andrew Lloyd Webber and judges John Barrowman, Denise Van Outen and Barry Humphries.

After two weeks of hilarious auditions for the parts of Oliver and Nancy, the judges have whittled the wannabes down to a final 12 for each and viewers will vote for the winning Nancy while the Olivers have to impress Andrew for a spot in the semi-final.

While we all know Oliver (mostly due to his all-important line “Please sir, can I have some more?”) and his pickpocketing pal the Artful Dodger, the character of Nancy is a bit harder to identify.

The live-in girlfriend of evil burglar Bill Sikes, Nancy befriends Oliver when he ends up in Fagin’s lair, and she sings the weepy ballad, As Long As He Needs Me.

“The standard this year is phenomenal and because no one has a really fixed idea of who Nancy is, it’s a really broad range of people,” says Graham, 44.

“It really is far more wide open, because you don’t know who the public will warm to.

“With other talent searches that have been done in the past for Joseph and the Sound of Music, everyone had a fixed idea of who Maria and Joseph should be. In your head you thought, ‘That’s them’. But Nancy can be old, young, big, thin, small. So it will be interesting to see which way the votes go.”

Lloyd Webber has said he wants a real “rough diamond” to play Nancy – and Graham admits he’s already spotted the Nancy he wants to win.

“You want someone who brings themselves with it. You want someone with a bit of life experience, who you believe has had a lot of life experience. It’s very different from casting a nun in the Sound of Music.

“I would say thus far, it’s more of a competition between the Nancys. They haven’t been overtly horrible to each other, but it certainly isn’t the sisterhood. They’re in it to win it.”

With two characters being cast together, Graham says the biggest battle will be whether the Olivers or the Nancys steal the show.

“My money’s on the Olivers.

“People who thought they’d given up on having kids will say, ‘Shall we try again? We might have one of them, unlike the horrible people upstairs.”’

So why don’t the viewers get the chance to choose the cutest Oliver?

“It wouldn’t feel comfortable,” explains Graham. “There’s something about little boys, even though those little boys are as tough as old boots, but to see them on television they’d just look very vulnerable if they’re by themselves,” he continues.

“Believe me, I’m quite happy to kick a Nancy in the head and see her cry,” he jokes, “but to have a little boy sobbing would just be too upsetting.”

The original musical, written by Lionel Bart and based loosely on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, first appeared in the West End in 1960 and launched the careers of Phil Collins and Tony Robinson.

It also starred Barry Humphries in the comic role of Mr Sowerberry the undertaker, who later also played Fagin in Cameron Mackintosh’s 1994 production at the London Palladium, so it’s only fitting he is back to judge the show.

We’re also in for a treat when Mackintosh and Lloyd Webber, billed as the ‘two big beasts from the musical theatre jungle’, go head-to-head to decide on their final three Olivers.

“Cameron is a really interesting addition this year,” says Graham. “Having worked so closely with Andrew for a long time, there is an odd dynamic.

“It’s really exciting that they’ve agreed to work together and that Andrew is actually the one with the power.”

Although Mackintosh will stage the new Oliver! he turned down the chance to join the judging panel.

But, Graham reveals, that hasn’t stopped him getting involved. “He really is all over it like a rash. He’ll be in the studio in a sleeping bag. He is a huge, multi-millionaire producer and you’d think he’d be busy but he’s there all the time.”

The idea of using a TV show to launch a new musical star first came about in 2006 when Andrew joined forces with the Beeb to find The Sound Of Music lead in How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?

Winner Connie Fisher proved to be such a hit, that the format returned last year with the search for a Joseph in Any Dream Will Do.

“They’re kind of a celebration of excellence above anything else, it’s just people who are really good at what they do,” says Graham of the shows’ success.

“And if you’re going to do a show about musical theatre, once you’ve got Andrew Lloyd Webber there, that’s kind of it. It’s not an act with Andrew, he is passionate about musical theatre.”

The pair have been labelled Britain’s ‘most unlikely screen double act’, but the magic of musical theatre somehow makes their relationship work.

“I wouldn’t live with Andrew or anything – although God knows there’s room.” jokes Graham.

“I think one of the reasons why he enjoys this show is because he’s got a young family. He can see his kids and thinks, ‘How can I tap my world, the musical theatre world, into their world?’

“He’s very in touch with popular culture, he’s been on Hollyoaks, he’s got his finger on the pulse! And you can talk to him about all those sorts of things. But equally he’s this window onto a world I really knew nothing about and it’s fascinating talking to him about musical theatre.

“It’s the sort of stuff that you didn’t think you wanted to know but when he starts talking to you, it is.”

Openly gay, Graham has come a long way from his roots in County Cork, Ireland – as well as from his quirky, cheeky chat shows for Channel 4, including So Graham Norton.

“This is the sort of thing you can’t do at Channel 4 because Channel 4 don’t have these big, shiny-floored Saturday night shows,” he says of his high profile move to the BBC in 2005.

“I knew that I wanted to try my hand at that world. And when they suggested How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? it was a no-brainer. I’ve been really lucky because I had a successful show on Channel 4 and not many people have more than one successful show.”