Alan Coren

Christmas Is Coming was a fleeting, festive affair between light entertainment and science, a sort of Rowan and Martin's Laugh In with government health warnings. As Dr Stoppard had already mentioned, a fizzy mixer speeds up alcohol absorption. This fizz was unusually well-written, fine and flowing, and the whole show went dizzyingly and delightfully over your head.

As wrestlers are intrinsically funny anway, I don't think the series has anywhere to go. It has, so to speak, already been.

Barry Norman, Alan Coren, and Richard Ingrams are relaxed, witty and well informed. They give the impression of enjoying the programme and welcoming the other guests. At its best, The News Quiz is like going to a party in which a bunch of clever, competitive old friends show off shamelessly - fun for their audience, if embarrassing for their wives.