Kristin Scott Thomas promotes Rebecca as she replaces co-star Lily James on The Graham Norton Show

Dame Kristin Scott Thomas will be seen making an appearance on The Graham Norton Show on Friday, after being drafted to replace scandal-hit co-star Lily James.

The glamorous actress, 60, sat down for an interview on the BBC show to promote her and 31-year-old Lily’s new Netflix film Rebecca, which was released this week.

Her participation on the popular show was cobbled together at the last minute, in the wake of Lily cancelling a string of interviews after she was pictured holidaying with married Dominic West, 51, in Rome.

Kristin made no mention of the scandal as she promoted her new TV adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, and instead spoke about her overbearing housemaid character Mrs Danvers.

She told titular host Graham Norton: ‘I had no idea I was so frightening. I couldn’t understand when people kept saying, “Kristin Scott Thomas, she’s a bit frightening,” and it turns out she is! I did enjoy it – it was great fun.’

However, something the star was initially less impressed with was her classic 1994 romantic comedy Four Weddings And A Funeral.

The actress said: ‘I thought it was a bit of a dud at first. The only time I saw it I was all by myself in a cinema in Paris where there wasn’t anyone to laugh with, and I didn’t find the jokes particularly funny.

‘But then I was then on a plane in days when everyone watched the same film and people were laughing so I thought, “Maybe I am mistaken, maybe it’s quite good.”‘

Kristin will be seen appearing on the show alongside Bruce Springsteen,  Matthew McConaughey, Stephen Mangan, comedian Mawaan Rizwan, and singer Sam Smith.

Bruce, joining Graham from his farm in New York State for a chat, and asked about his new album and documentary Letter to You, said: ‘It’s the first record we (E Street Band) made together in a really long time.

‘We all got together and cut the record in four or five days. It was very quick, and we sort of did it the old-fashioned way in the sense that everyone played at once and we kept what we got.’

Talking more about the band, he explained: ‘We’ve been together for 45 years at least, so it’s a big deal when we get back together.’

Asked about the documentary’s retrospective look at the band, the musician said, ‘It’s interesting to see. You’ll see us doing something 30 years ago and the film will move forward 30 years into the present day, and we are doing the exact same thing!

‘Imagine meeting a group of friends at 17 and then 50 years later those very same people are the people you are still working with.

‘That only happens in rock and roll music. It’s a miracle and it happens in no other business or line of work in the world. It’s a unique set of circumstances and when it works, as it has worked with our band, it is a wonderful thing.’

Hollywood screen star Matthew joined the chat from Los Angeles to talk about his new memoir Greenlights.

Talking about the genesis of the tome, he said: ‘I’ve been keeping a diary for 36 years and originally the idea was to see if anything in them was worth sharing.

‘I originally thought it would be a nice little hardback for college kids to put in their back pocket with some aphorisms and aspirations but, as I got deeper into my diaries, stories and life lessons started to come out and they were quite funny. 

‘I noticed over the last 50 years the hardships – the red and orange lights – revealed green light assets for me later in my life.’

In researching his diaries, he revealed a prediction he made in 1992, saying: ‘I made a list of 10 goals in life and number eight was “Win an Oscar”.

‘It is strange because at that time I wasn’t even verbally admitting that I wanted to pursue acting. I did more than that in my diary, which was wild – it kind of blew my mind!’

Sam Smith performed their track Diamonds live in the studio, before joining Graham for a chat, where they were asked if the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the release of their album.

Responding, Sam said: ‘Yes, massively. It was going to be called To Die For – not a great title now, so we shifted and changed it to Love Goes.’ 

Kristin’s appearance on The Graham Norton Show comes after Lily finally made her first TV appearance following the Dominic West scandal after pulling out of a series of interviews earlier this week. 

The actress failed to address that romantic weekend break in Rome where she was pictured kissing the married The Affair actor, when she appeared on the Jimmy Fallon show on Wednesday.  

Jimmy, 46, did not broach the scandalous subject which saw Dominic and his wife Catherine FitzGerald, 49, take part in a bizarre photocall outside their Cotswolds home last week, insisting their ‘marriage was strong’.

Actress Lily pulled out of a press junket with just 45 minutes and no explanation the day after she was pictured with Dominic.   

Lily caused shockwaves around the globe when she was seen getting close with married Dominic during a trip to Rome on October 11, before he insisted all was well in his marriage. 

Lily and Dominic both star in an upcoming BBC series together and they recently enjoyed a two-day vacation in Italy where they were seen riding on a scooter through Rome.

Dominic appeared at one point to lean over and kiss Lily’s neck and they reportedly put on a cosy display during their British Airways flight home.

The day after Lily and Dominic’s cosy pictures emerged, the actress pulled out of the interview, with a source telling Page Six: ‘It was a two-day junket. 

‘On the first day, Lily was joined by the producers who it seemed were there to protect her from anyone asking questions about the photos.

‘The next day, when members of the HFPA and others were due to talk to her, she pulled out at the 11th hour. There was no explanation.’  

Lily’s last minute decision to pull out sparked a wave of cancellations, as she then scrapped planned appearances on Friday’s instalment of The Graham Norton Show and Monday’s Today show in America.

A press release sent out by The Graham Norton Show’s representatives stated that Lily’s Rebecca co-star Kristin Scott Thomas will feature instead, confirming: ‘Lily James will appear on the show at a later date.’ 

The Mamma Mia! star was set to appear on NBC’s Today show to promote her new Netflix drama Rebecca alongside her co-star Armie Hammer, 34, on Monday.

However, both the actress, who stars as the lead in the Daphne Du Maurier adaptation, and Armie are pulled out of the show over the weekend.  

She has since appeared on a BBC podcast giving a playful interview with her Rebecca co-star Armie, yet although it was released on Monday, it is not known exactly when it was filmed.

MailOnline has representatives for Lily James for comment.   

The reports come after Lily and Dominic who, both star in an upcoming BBC series together, enjoyed a two-day vacation in Italy where they were seen riding a scooter through Rome, and Dominic appeared to at one point lean over and kiss Lily’s neck. 

A source told MailOnline Dominic and Lily spent two nights in a suite at the top Hotel De La Ville with a panoramic view over the city and just at two minutes walk from the Spanish steps.

They only left the hotel for a few hours riding an electric scooter around the Spanish Steps and Piazza di Pietra. While for lunch they joined their friend and mutual manager Angharad Wood at a downtown restaurant. 

At the end of lunch Lily sat next to Dominic couldn’t resist nuzzling her neck and stroking her.  

Dominic and Lily were then spotted putting on a very cosy display by ‘kissing and cuddling’ during their British Airways flight gome, it has been claimed. 

They were pictured wearing face masks as they made their way through the Rome terminal to catch their UK-bound flight. 

A source has claimed that the pair wasted no time in kicking off their romantic weekend and were ‘all over each other’ while travelling, reports The Sun. 

A source told the publication: ‘At first, I thought she was his daughter, as I knew he was around 50 and you could tell she was a lot younger. Within minutes of the plane leaving, they began kissing and cuddling after both removed their masks.

‘They looked like a couple heading for a dirty weekend and they were all over each other. They were French kissing and there was a lot of necking going on.’  

Dominic is best known for playing Noah Solloway in Showtime drama, The Affair, which explores the emotional effects of an extramarital relationship between his character and a younger woman, named Alison Bailey (Ruth Wilson).  

Since the pictures of Dominic and Lily in Rome came to light, he has put on a defiant display with his wife Catherine.

Just hours after she told friends she was ‘heartbroken’ over the images, which went viral, Catherine agreed to take part in a bizarre show of unity with The Affair star, with him telling reporters: ‘Our marriage is strong and we’re very much still together’.

The mother-of-four gingerly stepped out of the marital home in Chippenham, Wiltshire, on October 12 with her husband, hiding her ring finger in her jeans pocket. 

With fixed smiles planted on their faces, he and Catherine handed photographers a piece of paper, which repeated the words in his handwriting: ‘Our marriage is strong and we’re very much still together’, with their signatures placed underneath. 

The previous Thursday, it was announced that Lily had split from The Crown star Matt Smith, 37, for good after a failed attempt to rekindle their relationship in lockdown following an on-off five year romance.  

Lily and Dominic are set to star in Emily Mortimer’s adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s celebrated novel The Pursuit Of Love for the BBC featuring Emily Beecham & Andrew Scott and filming began in July. 

The three part romantic comedy-drama about love and friendship is filming on location in the Bristol and Bath area and at The Bottle Yard Studios.

Set in Europe between the two World Wars, the story follows the adventures and misadventures of the charismatic and fearless Linda Radlett, played by Lily and her best friend and cousin Fanny Logan, played by Beecham. 

But the pair go way back and starred in Othello together at Sheffield’s Crucible back in 2011. Lily played Desdemona when she was 22 and Dominic played Iago, aged 41.

The Graham Norton Show will air on BBC One on Friday at 10.45pm. Also available on BBC iPlayer.