Since Jonathan Ross announced he was not renewing his contract with the BBC there has been much tabloid speculation as to whom the corporation will select to replace the presenter on his Friday evening chat-show. Graham Norton, Chris Evans and Michael McIntyre all tipped to replace Ross by the tabloids. So we asked our news team who they would like to see replace Ross and below are their choices.

Mike Watkins:

Terry Wogan – with perhaps Gaby Roslin together ala Children in Need although they had a chat-show in Five together which flopped they could work on a main-stream channel. But then Wogan had a late-night chat show in the 1990s which didn’t too well either.

Chris Evans – He’s taken over from Wogan on BBC Two so perhaps he’s ideal to take over from Ross.

Terry Wogan – have to agree with Mike on this one. Although I think he’s retired pretty much now he could be tempted out to do this.

Graham Norton – Has a history with chat-shows thanks to stints on Channel Four and BBC Two but can be as equally controversial as Ross so maybe it’s a risky choice.

Doug Lambert

Terry Wogan – Completely agree about Terry Wogan, he would be top of my list of ideal replacements!

Cilla Black – has filled in several times for Paul O’Grady on Channel Four and isn’t it time Cilla came back to television? Alternatively Fern Britton could be a candidate as well.

Dominic Knight

Fern Britton – Having left This Morning behind her own chat-show would be a good chance for Fern to sign away from Phillip Schofield and prove she can find a career after This Morning.

Paul Merton – One of the reasons to watch Have I Got News For You Every Week and can be a very interesting person. A chat-show with him as host would be very interesting and funny but might not work for a wider audience.

Who didn’t they want?

Well there were several names there that our news team all agreed upon such as Fern Britton, Gaby Roslin and Terry Wogan but interesting there were also names they agreed upon that they didn’t want to replace Ross.

Fearne Cotton:

Was top of the list thanks to her several awful ITV2 shows such as Holly and Fearne Go Dating and Fearne With. Her stint on Top of the Pops during its dying days was also another reason why our team didn’t want her. Recently launched herself in America where hopefully she'll stay.

Fiona Phillips

Struggled to find a vehicle for her “talents” since leaving GMTV and the job offers haven’t been flying in for Phillips. She was amongst the Celebrities who took part in Celebrity Apprentice but her bitching about it, as she had done with Strictly Come Dancing, might be behind her lack of work. After all why employ someone if they are just going to turn around and moan and berate their experience there?

Davina McCall

Poor Davina has previous with the BBC and chat-shows as the corporation tried and failed to launch her in a midweek slot. Ratings were poor and the show quickly axed so it’s unlikely the BBC would risk another failure with the presenter and perhaps that’s why our news team weren’t keen to see her take over from Ross.