Chat show host Graham Norton had his TV pay slashed by more than a third last year due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the £2.069 million (€2.45 million) Norton received in fees, production fees and royalties from production company So Television Ltd in 2020 still makes the 58-year-old the best paid Irish TV personality by some distance.

Revenues at So Television, most of which come from The Graham Norton Show, fell by 21 per cent to £11.39 million as six fewer episodes of the show were broadcast due to the Covid pandemic and Blind Date being rested.

The reduced production resulted in So Television producing 31 hours of television output last year compared with 42 hours in 2019.