Cruise joins line-up for Ross comeback show

Tom Cruise will appear on Jonathan Ross's comeback TV chat show, the BBC said today.

There was speculation the Hollywood star had turned down an invitation to take part because of the presenter's part in the Andrew Sachs lewd phone calls row.

But it was confirmed today that Cruise will join previously-confirmed guests Stephen Fry and Lee Evans when Friday Night With Jonathan Ross returns to BBC1 on January 23.

Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand will also perform their new single, Ulysses, live in the studio.

Cruise is promoting his new film Valkyrie, in which he stars alongside Kenneth Branagh and Eddie Izzard.

He has not appeared on the chat show before, although Ross has previously interviewed him for his BBC film programme.

The BBC suspended Ross for 12 weeks without pay in October after he and fellow DJ Russel Brand left obscene messages on Sachs's answerphone.

The two presenters said Brand had slept with the Fawlty Towers actor's granddaughter, Georgina Baillie, and joked that Sachs might kill himself.

The comments were cleared for broadcast on Brand's Saturday night Radio 2 show on October 18.

The BBC was deluged with complaints and Brand resigned in the ensuing scandal, as did Radio 2 boss Lesley Douglas.

But in December Ross was cleared to keep his £6 million-a-year job by the corporation's governing body.

His Radio 2 show will be back on January 24 and he will resume presenting BBC1's Film 2009 on January 26.