Alexander Armstrong

There are quite a few things to be said about this panel show pilot made for digital channel Dave. First of all, it's better than Compete for the Meat.

Hosted by Alexander Armstrong, the main hook of this show is that the panellists - in this case Robert Webb, Katy Brand and Griff Rhys Jones - have to come up with the questions and they score points if their opponents fail to get them right. It has already been described as QI without the researchers.

There were some interesting things that popped up during the course of the show, such as the fact that in Victorian times green dye contained arsenic, so people were being slowly killed by their wallpaper. Not all the questions were based on far-flung info through, as one round consisted of trying to come up with funny questions to ask famous people. There was one example by Webb towards Louis Spence which I won't repeat here, but I can tell you mentioned the f-word.

One aspect that grabbed my attention was Dave Lamb, who was in the show's "Fact Bunker" checking out all the answers, and who only appeared on a television inside the studio. The thing is, I reviewed his radio show last week, in which he played an agoraphobic conspiracy theorist, and now he's on a TV show with a studio audience, but not appearing in front of them in the flesh. Is this where he gets his ideas from?

In terms of intellectual comedy, I don't think you can top QI, but Big Ask is a decent attempt and is no doubt much cheaper, which is important to a digital channel facing competition from bigger broadcasters. On this show they don''need to spend money on researchers - instead they spend the money on electronic tablets for each of the panellists, because let's be fair it is a bit of bore just using your mouth.

Having said that, I still think that it was an entertaining pilot and I hope a full series comes out of it.

Review: Alexander Armstrong's Big Ask

The format is essentially Alexander Armstrong presents a topic to a panel of three comedians and the panel must take it in turn to ask interesting questions to the other two panellists. Got it? To be honest Katy Brand, Griff Rhys Jones and Robert Webb didn't really get it either at first.

Quiz show producers looking to make cuts: why not do away with researchers altogether? Alexander Armstrong invites Robert Webb, Katy Brand and Griff Rhys Jones to not only answer some QI-style questions, but to come up with their own questions too. As Webb, grabbing the hand that feeds and munching it like a corncob, says: "We all know where we are. This channel isn't called David." If the pilot doesn't grab your attention, the tossed-together studio set might: a derangement of union flag coffee table and skyline glimpsed through American chatshow blinds.

Hosting knockabout comedy quizzes is a useful sideline for Alexander Armstrong. But despite being the most comfortable host of Have I Got News for You, he doesn't always strike gold (Best of the Worst, Don't Call Me Stupid). Maybe this quiz pilot will change his fortunes. Contestants (Robert Webb, Katy Brand and Griff Rhys Jones) gain points for devising a question that will flummox the others, while Dave (Come Dine with Me) Lamb chips in from the "Fact Bunker". It's more Reithian than the average panel show, but the best bits are the detours: Webb goading Armstrong with "I like it when you do your One Show voice", and Jones looking peeved with a low score for one of his jokes.

Who doesn't like Alexander Armstrong? The suave comedian is one of the best guest hosts to have sat in the Have I Got News For You hot seat, and his daytime quiz show Pointless is an underrated treat. This week, Mr. Armstrong (or 'Xander' to his friends) takes the helm of new panel show Big Ask, in which contestants gain points for devising a question that baffles their opponents. It's always nice to see Dave branching out into original comedy, so we're willing to give this one a go.

After two series spent looking oddly out of place on Thursday nights, the topical quiz returns to its rightful Friday-night home. Jack Dee is the guest host (for the 11th time; only Alexander Armstrong has been asked back more often). The panellists are Caroline Wyatt, the BBC News defence correspondent, and comedian Jon Richardson, joining old-timers Paul Merton and Ian Hislop.

Video: Ben Miller interview

Comedian Ben Miller joined BBC Breakfast to discuss his new documentary and admits that, if it wasn't for Alexander Armstrong, he could have followed a career in quantum physics and Armstrong could have been an opera singer!

It's nice that one of Alexander Armstrong's minor characters, waffling royal correspondent Terry Devlin, has come into his own. Prince William's engagement has resulted in plenty of "royal watchers" filling airtime by blethering away while imparting zero information. None is as hopeless as Devlin, but it's a close thing. And this week, wouldn't you know, he has an actual wedding to cover. Elsewhere there are more hits than misses: the vampires visit a clothes shop to update their wardrobe; there's another one-take wonder from Dennis Lincoln-Park; and stay to the end for a nice flight of fancy imagining the creative process behind a classic piece of wartime propaganda.

Q&A: Alexander Armstrong

'I have a horrible capacity to be unctuous with people I want to impress'