Legendary Eighties top cop duo Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly – aka Cagney & Lacey – are reunited 25 years after their TV team debut when they join Graham Norton for the final edition in the current run of The Graham Norton Show on BBC Two.

They reveal that they very nearly didn’t make it beyond the first season: “For the first time in the history of American television, the audience wrote in and saved the show. We were cancelled, and CBS had to admit they were wrong. Our deals were fantastic!” says Sharon.

Tyne adds that their iconic screen partnership only took off by default: “They said it’s Gless or nothing [she was the third Cagney] so I had to go and court her. I was mad because I was having to start out again … I called her up, took round some champagne, got her s**t-faced and she said yes!”

Looking back on their original season (all 22 episodes are now available on DVD) they say: “All I see is a bunch of people who aren’t sure what they’re doing.”

Tyne says: “We had to do the running over and over again, they were too cheap to get in stunt doubles, there weren’t many women stunt doubles [back then] that were any good … as we got older – the menopause years – I couldn’t do it any more.”

Sharon says: “Once in New York we were filming over and over again, someone searching a character’s bag … every time we filmed it, someone did it for real!”

There’s more chat with actress and singer/songwriter Natalie Imbruglia who says she’s a fan of the Spice Girls’ reunion: “I like the girls, I think it’s quite cute that they’re getting back together again.”

“What’s the shelf life of girls?” asks Tyne, “Spice Women doesn’t work so well!”

Natalie also talks about why she’s no longer a L’Oreal face: “Apparently I’m not worth it any more! … It’s so ridiculous, they all argue about the parting of your hair, all these women in power suits,” and she performs her new single Glorious live in the studio.