Ellen DeGeneres has been thinking about a new television project in Britain, four years after her American daytime talk show ended.
The 68-year-old comedian appeared on BBC One’s The Graham Norton Show on October 16 alongside Quentin Tarantino, Colin Farrell and Gemma Chan. Suede provided the evening’s musical performance.
“I’ve nothing really going on and I really miss being on TV,” she told the host, according to PEOPLE.
Her visit came at her own request. DeGeneres explained that she had called Norton to ask whether she could sit on his sofa even though she had nothing to promote.
She Misses Her Writers, Guests and a Running Joke With Colin Farrell
DeGeneres described the parts of hosting she remembers most fondly: laughing with her writing staff, meeting guests and sharing those exchanges with a studio audience. Her answer also included a reference to one of the actors sitting beside her.
“I miss kissing Colin,” she joked, recalling a recurring bit with Farrell on her former show, as Entertainment Weekly reported.
Other guests had projects to discuss. Tarantino was promoting his play The Popinjay Cavalier, Farrell spoke about The Slightest Touch, a documentary involving his friend and epidermolysis bullosa campaigner Emma Fogarty, and Chan appeared for the drama Josephine.
Her Lawn-Mowing Show Would Be Called ‘Lawn and Order’
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DeGeneres joked that British television seemed unusually open to programs about everyday activities. She pointed to shows about pottery, sewing and people watching television, formats familiar to viewers of The Great Pottery Throw Down, The Great British Sewing Bee and Gogglebox.
Her own contribution would involve spacing out while mowing the lawn. “I could call it Lawn and Order,” she said. She offered the title as a punchline during the conversation, with any future television project still an idea.
Her October 17 Instagram post showed that mowing is already part of her routine. DeGeneres shared a photograph of herself on a green ride-on mower in a grassy field, captioning the post, “Farm life is lots of mowing. And mooing.”
Her Talk Show’s Final Seasons Were Marked by Workplace Allegations
The Ellen DeGeneres Show ran for 19 seasons, beginning in September 2003. DeGeneres’ farewell episode aired on May 26, 2022, with Jennifer Aniston, Billie Eilish and Pink among the guests.
In 2020, current and former employees described racism, intimidation and other misconduct behind the scenes. WarnerMedia investigated the workplace, and DeGeneres apologized to staff and later addressed viewers on air.
She revisited the backlash in Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval, which Netflix released on September 24, 2024. The special included jokes about the collapse of her public reputation and being pushed out of show business.
She and Portia de Rossi Originally Planned a Part-Time Home in England
DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, moved to the Cotswolds in 2024. During a July 20, 2025 conversation with broadcaster Richard Bacon at Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre, she explained that they had initially intended to spend three or four months a year there.
The couple arrived the day before the U.S. presidential election. DeGeneres said messages from friends alerted them to Donald Trump’s victory and that the result prompted their decision to stay in Britain.
Her 2024 Retirement Comments Went Beyond Stand-Up
During a July 2024 audience Q&A in Santa Rosa, California, DeGeneres was asked about future film or Broadway work. “After my Netflix special, I’m done,” she said, according to Vanity Fair. She also rejected the possibility of returning as Dory.
In April 2026, she confirmed that she would voice the character again in a new Pixar short set in the Finding Nemo universe. After Deadline reported the project, DeGeneres shared its story on Instagram with the caption, “Excited about this.”