Alan Davies

Alan Davies in fringe show

Alan Davies will be one of the big names at this year's Edinburgh Fringe, performing stand-up in the UK for the first time in over a decade.

Graham Norton's sofa is blessed with acting heavyweights tonight. The titillating talk-show host is joined by Liam Neeson (whose new movie The Grey, about a plane crash, comes out at the end of this month) and Trekkie-turned-Shakespearean Patrick Stewart, who will be appearing in Bingo at the Young Vic. Light relief comes from curly-haired comedian Alan Davies, who has been touring Australia with his new stand-up show, with music provided by soppy balladeer Ed Sheeran.

Wrapped up in colourful scarves, Stephen Fry and company are in particularly jovial mood tonight for this festive edition of the esoteric quiz. Answering questions on such subjects as ice and prawns, Ross Noble, Sean Lock, Brian Blessed and Alan Davies prove hilarious company as they reel off a number of anecdotes. For the comedian's quick wits, though, the most amusing moment comes from Lock falling off his chair.

If you've ever failed to work out the precise purpose of QI, it may help to think of it as in some respects a kind of televisual equivalent of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. The show's very pointlessness, unless you're someone with ambitions to bore for Britain on arcane knowledge, is a great part of its charm. Anyway, this year's Christmas episode finds Stephen Fry posing questions on the theme of ice to Brian Blessed, Sean Lock, Ross Noble and Alan Davies.

Audio: John Lloyd - Creator of QI

Thursday nights ABC1, that's the time to be glued to your television or set your PVR to record.

QI -with Stephen Fry and Alan Davies - is a perennial favourite and so popular here in Australia that the world's first live interpretation of the show is coming to Australia this month.

John Lloyd is the creator and producer of QI.

Mary-Lou caught up with him at home in England.

Alan Davies is more than QI

It took three full seasons before Alan Davies understood that he was the designated fall guy in QI.

This week QI returned to its original home on BBC Two. As part of a special night devoted to the world's most interesting (and personally I think the greatest) panel game a documentary covering the making of the show was broadcast.

Speaking as someone who knows QI back-to-front and inside-out, I already knew about much of the information mentioned in the documentary, although to most viewers it did include stuff which will of no doubt be of interest. The fact, for example, Michael Palin was to be the original host (Stephen Fry and Alan Davies were going to be team captains, with Fry the head of the clever team and Davies head of the stupid team) and that two questions were created by reading an entire Albanian dictionary cover-to-cover is interesting.

However, there were some things that even I was surprised about. While I know that the show has popular demand, I didn't know that it was the TV show with the second biggest demand for tickets in Britain (after Top Gear), thus making it the most demanded comedy show in Britain. No wonder I've only been able to see one recording at the time of writing.

The main area of interest to me is the work carried out by the show's researchers or "Elves". For me, being a QI elf would be my dream job. Just trying to find anything that would be of interest, coming across a glorious chunk of information that hardly anyone else knows about, would be a joy to behold. That's why I spend so much time on the QI forums, trying to contribute information in the hope of recognition. One day maybe I'll get that job... one day... a man can dream.

Last night QI returned to BBC2 for another series of the incredibly intelligent quiz show hosted by the extremely knowledgeable Stephen Fry. Last night Mr Fry was joined by Lee Mack, Jimmy Carr, Sandi Toksvig and the ever-present Alan Davies. The subject was I-Spy.

To list the amount of interesting facts would take longer than watching the show itself and to list the amount of jokes, gags or hints of amusement would take almost as long. A few key points on last night's episode that ticked both boxes were the plastic mould of Einstein's face that tricks the mind and making the Queen happy or sad on a five pound note. Without giving it away I think you definitely have to watch the show in order to get the point of each.

QI is a very unique programme on the old telebox these days as it educates whilst entertaining. Maintaining the balance and keeping an audience who have flicked on for either is a tricky thing to master, but QI has mastered it with flying colours I do believe. I did learn a few things that I did not know before watching and I although most of it may be useless I do feel more confident going into next week's pub quiz.

Star of the show last night would have to go Lee Mack who isn't the cleverest of men, but is damn funny. Catch it on the iPlayer and expand your intelligence whilst having a chuckle.

Fans of the whimsical quiz show QI can look forward to a long night on the sofa tonight, with a run of four repeated episodes (the first of which is at 9.00pm) sandwiched around this jolly documentary about the making of the series. Featuring clips from the archives as well as interviews with Stephen Fry, Alan Davies, Jo Brand et al, it goes back to the genesis of the series - which was originally conceived as a radio show - and includes a rare glimpse of the bashful research team affectionately known as the "QI Elves".