Julian Clary joins Celebrity Gogglebox with Nigel Havers, Strictly stars

celebrity gogglebox returns on Friday 5 June at 9pm with Julian Clary, Nigel Havers and several Strictly Come Dancing faces joining the cast. Channel 4 has set the series up for its 50th episode, keeping the format’s rotating lineup in play while adding more recognisable sofa partners for the new run.

Julian Clary at 9pm

Julian Clary described the filming as “an absolute treat, a perfectly civilised way to spend an evening.” He added, “I do like to think my commentary brought a certain level of refinement to proceedings, and Nigel managed to stay awake, although there is an unsightly stain on my sofa.” That gives the new run a clear hook: the series is still built on familiar reactions, but the pairing of Clary and Havers gives it a more deliberately comic edge than a standard celebrity booking.

Strictly names on the sofa

George Clarke and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey are among the Strictly Come Dancing contestants joining the new episodes, with Clarke appearing alongside his Useless Hotline podcast co-host Max Balegde and Aikines-Aryeetey paired with Matt Morsia, known as Legend from Gladiators. Olivia Attwood and her mum Jennifer are also joining the sofa, widening the cast mix beyond the competition-show names and giving the series another family pairing to cut against the usual one-off guest spots.

Returning pairs remain

Vernon Kay and Paddy McGuinness, Bez and Shaun Ryder, Roman and Martin Kemp, Ashley Banjo and Perri Kiely, Nick Grimshaw and niece Liv, the Mangans, Rylan and mum Linda, Mo Gilligan and Babatunde Aléshé, Denise Van Outen and Johnny Vaughan, and Vicky Pattison and Pete Wicks are all back for the run. The scale of that returning list matters because the show is not reshaping itself around the new arrivals; it is layering them into a format that already depends on repeat chemistry, quick turnover and enough names to keep each episode feeling slightly different.

Channel 4's eighth season

Celebrity Gogglebox is now in its eighth season, and the milestone 50th episode is the cleanest sign that the format still has room to rotate without losing its identity. For viewers, the practical takeaway is simple: the new episodes start Friday 5 June at 9pm, with a cast list that leans on recognisable personalities rather than a single headline booking.