Andrew Denton wants to deliver TV equivalent of “slow cooking in a takeaway time” on new show

LED Zeppelin front man, Robert Plant and Comm Games golden girls, Cate and Bronte Campbell, will be first on the menu of Andrew Denton’s new chat show with a twist.

ANDREW Denton once told Nigella Lawson he was a ‘food as fuel’ person and the national outcry, he said, was like “I’d pooed on her doorstep.”

That was at the height of the foodie revolution, on his last talk show, Enough Rope, just before he called time on the series after six seasons and 500 headlining programs like it.

Now, a decade later, Channel 7’s star recruit admits he spent some of that time away from the small screen adding more recipes to his repertoire - returning to prime-time this week in his new series, “interview” which he hopes will be the TV equivalent of “slow cooking in a takeaway time.”

“As a viewer, I still think there’s few things on television better than a good conversation. It’s incredibly basic, but it still works,” he told News Corp Australia.

And on the menu for his launch episode will be a rare chat with Led Zepellin front man, Robert Plant; a post-Games sit-down with Bronte and Cate Campbell; as well as a number of surprises which could be added from pilot programs recorded with Cher, domestic violence campaigner, Rosie Batty and retired surfer, Mick Fanning.

MORE: Why Denton is making his TV comeback now

Channel 7 star Andrew Denton in Sydney today. He returns as host of talk show, "Interview" Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Seven's "interview" host Andrew Denton speaks to Campbell sisters, Bronte and Cate. Picture: Supplied/Seven.

Batty’s decision to step away from the foundation she set up in the memory of her son, Luke (who was violently killed by his estranged father), has particularly resonated with Denton, who admits his own public campaigning for euthanasia laws - inspired by the agonising death of his father, Kit - has taken a personal toll.

“I took on a lot of other people’s grief and after a couple of years, there was a moment where that hit me really hard,” the 57-year-old said. “It actually made me feel quite unwell.”

Still recovering from a triple bypass last year, when he went to his doctor with indigestion only to discover he had five blocked arteries, Denton now wonders whether those depressive symptoms “was my body giving me a warning about my heart issue. I just felt wrong.”

He was forced to pull out of the final days of debating assisted dying laws in Victoria last November, missing the moment the State Government passed the controversial legislation.

After years advocating for the Go Gentle cause, Denton had sat down to write a book about the issues midway through last year.

“It was the first time I’d sat with the stories of the people I’d met. A big part of the reason I’m passionate about this, having seen what people were being put through and in detail, actually watched it unfold in some cases, not just stories, it’s more than law or morality or civil rights. What I was seeing play out in front of me was a deep, deep injustice.”

* Denton’s “interview” airs 9pm, Tuesday, Seven.