Is Cheryl Cole heading for the chat show graveyard?

CHERYL COLE is said to be mulling over an invitation to host her own talk show on Channel 4 called Late Night with Cheryl. The Girls Aloud singer, who was sacked as a judge on the American version of The X Factor last year after just a few days on the panel, is set to land her own programme, featuring big name guests and fashion news. But before the Geordie lass attempts the transition from pop star to chat show host, she would be wise to consider the celebrities who have had a go before her…
 
Lily Allen
After being touted as the “saviour of BBC Three” in 2008, Lily Allen’s first late-night chat show got off to a shaky start when a number of the studio audience walked out complaining they were bored and the show was “horrible” and “limp”. The programme was widely rubbished by critics and even came under fire from teaching unions for encouraging schoolchildren to pull one another’s trousers down in public. But it was the Smile singer herself who finally put an end to Lily Allen and Friends, describing the show as “average” and saying she had “no free time to commit to the BBC”.

David Dickinson
Resplendent in his leather-winged chair, David Dickinson would give viewers a fine mix of celebrity chat, topical debate and, of course, a touch of antiques, promised ITV in May 2010. But the perma-tanned antiques presenter had his daily afternoon chat show axed after just one series. With guests such as Tricia Dingle from Emmerdale and Brendan Cole, a non-celebrity dancer from Strictly Come Dancing, it wasn’t a huge surprise that the feedback received by ITV bosses “wasn’t great”.
 
Shane Warne
King of spin (the cricketing variety) Shane Warne gave bowling a rest and tried his hand at presenting a chat show in Australia last year but the reaction from viewers was far from what he was used to on the cricket pitch. One Tweeter described it as “one of those embarrassing-to-Australia things”. Amid conspiracies that the cricket-focused show flopped because Australia didn’t regain the Ashes, Channel 9 decided to axe Warnie with one episode still in the can after viewing figures dropped by half in the second week.
 
Sarah Ferguson
The scandal-stricken Duchess of York, former wife of Prince Andrew, has had a number of attempts at her own chat show, including Sky’s Sarah: Surviving Life in 1998. She interviewed people who had been through difficult experiences such as a man who had accidentally killed someone and Caroline Roberts, who was raped by Fred West. Viewing figures slumped to 10,000 and the show was dropped. A recent rumour that Fergie had secured her own talk show in the US last year fizzled out after she was allegedly caught asking a tabloid newspaper for £500,000 to provide access to Andrew.
 
Charlotte Church
Channel 4 was bombarded with complaints following the first episode of Charlotte Church’s chat show in 2006. Angry viewers condemned the programme as “coarse, crude and filthy”, saying the singer had the “voice of an angel but the mouth of a sewer”. This was followed by concerns that she was “out of her depth” when she resorted to slapping guest comedian Johnny Vegas across the face and telling him to “shut the fuck up” after he drunkenly insulted her family. However, the show continued on to a third series, raking in an average 1.9 million viewers - ten per cent of the available audience per show. ·