Ronni Ancona

As part of its current "G" series, QI explored the sexes in a "Girls & Boys"-themed edition, by dividing the four players into male and female duos (Alan Davies and Jack Dee vs. Ronni Ancona and Sandi Toksvig).

We learned many things, not least the scientific reason for why QI itself features so few women, how pink used to be the traditional colour for boys, and how all babies were called "girls" pre-1920's...

I still enjoy QI, but I find it less enthralling than I used to. Maybe the format's just become too predictable, or the facts are less interesting for whatever reason. I'm not sure. It's still amusing and occasionally fascinating, but I'm no longer quite so keen on it. Overexposure thanks to endless repeats on Dave, perhaps? In this episode, I thought Jack Dee was extremely disappointing (he recycled the "male drivers asking for instructions" cliche!), but Ronni Ancona was better than usual. Sandi Toksvig, a very quick-witted person (as her own BBC Radio 4 The News Quiz proves), is somehow rendered smug and irritating whenever she's on television, too.

Despite being a fully-fledged member of the Grumpies' fan club I bet narrator Geoffrey Palmer and his gang of grouchy celebs are the Christmas guests from hell.

Ronni Ancona will moan that your Jamie Oliver-inspired turkey and cranberry sauce is "basically chicken with jam", Al Murray will tell you to "go away" when you talk to him about the joy of giving (he actually uses stronger language but I'm starting my New Year's resolution a few days early) and Penny Smith will moan that it's all "sentimental claptrap". Donna McPhail will terrify your dog by declaring Christmas is "worse than a puppy because you can't put it in a sack and drown it." And Ozzy Osbourne will consider getting back on his quad bike to avoid the whole thing for a second time. It's "just b******s," he says. Oh damn, there goes my resolution already.

What everyone forgets about Christmas is that it's a gigantic, weird nightmare: the nation syncs up to exchange disappointing gifts and gnaw stuffing that tastes like twice-cooked cardboard. So thank Santa for these curmudgeons - and it's now a mixed-gender complaints fest - who snarl in the face of festive bounty, traditions and gift-giving.

If, like them, you're a proud Grinch, then you'll lap up their guide to all things that people of an older persuasion like to moan about at Christmas.

Sir Cliff's Mistletoe and Wine gets a toasting, as does the implausibly popular culinary combination of turkey with cranberry sauce ("basically, chicken with jam", says Ronni Ancona).

Al Murray writes off "the joys of giving", while Ozzy Osbourne says he was grateful for that near-fatal quad bike accident, because it mean that year he missed Christmas altogether: "It's not good will to all men. It's just b******s." Glad to see his injury didn't dent his legendary articulacy.

BBC say no to return of Alistair McGowan's Big Impression

Comic Alistair McGowan has slammed the BBC for dashing his hopes of a TV comeback. He and co-star Ronni Ancona are keen to make a new series of their successful show. But after a four-year absence, the Beeb say they are not interested.