Ellen DeGeneres hints at TV comeback, says she misses being on screen

Ellen DeGeneres has recently been making headlines after the comedian hinted that she is considering what her next professional chapter could look like. While appearing on The Graham Norton Show, the 68-year-old spoke about missing the experience of hosting a television programme.

Ellen DeGeneres on The Graham Norton Show

DeGeneres appeared on the BBC chat show on October 16. She was joined by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, actors Colin Farrell and Gemma Chan, and musician Brett Anderson.

"I’ve nothing really going on and I really miss being on TV," DeGeneres said.

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The comedian, who relocated to the UK with her wife, Portia de Rossi, in 2024, further added, "I think it is pretty easy to get on TV here."

Ellen DeGeneres jokes about British television

While discussing the possibility of working in Britain, DeGeneres pointed to the unusual range of programmes available to viewers. She mentioned shows centred on pottery, sewing and people watching television, referring to popular British programmes such as The Great Pottery Throwdown, The Great British Sewing Bee and Gogglebox.

“I could call it Lawn and Order,” she joked.

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Her latest comments come after she suggested that she was ready to leave show business behind.

During her 2024 Netflix comedy special, For Your Approval, she said, "I got chickens. Oh yeah, and I got kicked out of show business for being mean."

The comedian has since embraced a quieter life in the English countryside. However, she indicated in a July 2025 interview with broadcaster Richard Bacon that she was beginning to feel restless.

“I want to have fun. I want to do something. I do like my chickens...” she said.

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Why did The Ellen DeGeneres Show end?

DeGeneres' comments about returning to television come four years after her long-running daytime programme ended in 2022. The Ellen DeGeneres Show ran for 19 seasons and became one of the most recognisable talk shows in American television.

However, its final years saw allegations about the workplace environment behind the scenes. In 2020, current and former employees raised concerns about alleged racism, intimidation and other misconduct while working on the programme.

An internal investigation followed, and several senior producers subsequently left the show. DeGeneres addressed the controversy publicly and apologised.

“I learned that things happened here that never should have happened,” she told viewers.

DeGeneres and de Rossi later moved to England in 2024.