Joel Dommett is back for the NTA Awards 2026, hosting the National Television Awards for the sixth year in a row. Ahead of the Tuesday, September 8 ceremony at London’s O2 Arena, he said he still gets “a little bit” nervous before live television.
He added: “You’ve got to have a few butterflies, but I always try my best not to let the nerves get involved because otherwise, especially with live television, you end up hosting it and you’re going, ‘Arrrrggghhhh', so you’ve just gotta calm your nerves,”. That is the job in one sentence: stay loose enough to react, but controlled enough not to lose the room.
O2 Arena dressing room one
Dommett said his biggest dressing room at the O2 Arena is dressing room one, and he likes being on his own there. “I’m very boring. I basically have dressing room one, which is fantastic because dressing room one at the O2 is absolutely massive!” he said, adding that he is “just sat by myself holding the script”.
That detail fits the way he approaches the broadcast. He said, “I sort of know my line, I think, quite well. That’s why, hopefully, they trust me with this sort of thing!”, and pointed to live work on This Morning and Radio 2 as part of why he enjoys the format.
Live television and Ian McKellen
Dommett also laid out the contradiction at the heart of live hosting: he wants the night to go right, but not too right. “Sort of understanding that line in your head is really quite fun and challenging and interesting. But live telly is also really exciting when it goes wrong. I love it! But you want it to go right, but you also want it to go slightly wrong, then go back to the right - that’s the perfect live show for me.”
Two years ago, he said his most memorable NTAs moment was standing on stage with Ian McKellen for seven minutes, and Declan Donnelly took a photo of the pair talking. He also said meeting Sir David Attenborough would leave him “very much starstruck”, which tells you the scale of the room he is walking into again.
The 2026 National Television Awards will air on ITV1 on Tuesday, 8 September, so viewers already know the host, the venue and the live broadcast date. What they do not know yet is the shape of the night itself: the jokes, the guests and the segments still have to earn their place on stage.
