Stephen Fry

With previous Christmas editions of this quiz focusing on esoteric topics such as "Empire" and "Hocus Pocus", tonight's theme of "Jingle Bells" chimes (pun intended) with the season and sounds altogether merrier. Host Stephen Fry is joined for the ninth yuletide episode by regular panellist Alan Davies and guests Geordie comedian Sarah Millican, broadcaster Phill Jupitus and radio presenter Danny Baker.

Stephen Fry & Miranda Hart join life insurer petition

Celebrities back call after Friends Life rejects life and critical illness payout for cancer suffer Nic Hughes.

The seasonal return of the Little Crackers series, which features comedy shorts based on the autobiographical recollections of various actors and comedians. Previous participants have included Stephen Fry, Victoria Wood, Jack Whitehall and Sheridan Smith. This latest series begins with Joanna Lumley's Baby, Be Blonde, in which the 19-year-old Jo (Ottilie Mackintosh) is a struggling model who gets a break when she buys a blonde wig. "It didn't, but it made me feel that I had changed the course of my life," says Lumley in the behind-the-scenes film which follows the short. Also starring this week in later episodes are Rebecca Front and Caroline Quentin.

Stephen Fry praised for return to West End stage

Stephen Fry has made his official return to the West End stage as Malvolio in an all-male production of William Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night.

Man in court over theft of Stephen Fry's football scarf

A man has been charged in relation to the disappearance of Stephen Fry's Norwich City scarf from a Peterborough charity shop.

You can't go wrong with writer, tweeter and boulevardier Stephen Fry, he's the perfect chat show guest: witty, charming and impossible to faze. He has something to celebrate, too, a triumphant return to the theatre after that dark time in 1995 when, crippled by stage fright, he fled Simon Gray's West End production of Cell Mates. Fry is currently starring as Malvolio, opposite Mark Rylance, in the Globe theatre's production of Twelfth Night.

Sharing the limelight on the Ross couch tonight is dainty songstress Taylor Swift, who will doubtless be singing her new single, Begin Again, and who might even be persuaded to talk about her boyfriend Conor Kennedy of the US political clan.

Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry in C4 road test

Jonathan Ross feels the pinch as he's driven around London by pal Stephen Fry in a tiny electric car.

What did you think of Stephen Fry in Twelfth Night?

Critics must wait six weeks to review Stephen Fry's new play at the Globe, but the embargo doesn't apply to readers ...

QI, the cleverest comedy on television, is back on our screens this week. It's now in double figures series-wise, (tenth series and not eleventh, as has been advertised in some quarters); although in terms of the alphabet it's only up to "J".

This first episode of this series covers the subject of "Jargon" - and words beginning with "J" - and featured Jimmy Carr, Bill Bailey and newcomer Victoria Coren on the panel alongside regulars Stephen Fry and Alan Davies. Topics included dictators and their hatred of jazz, the first use of "OMG", and a lot of jizz.

In fact, the opening episode was rather smutty. Following on from a question about jizz (a bird-watching term for recognising a bird from a long distance by its shape), the panel, mostly Carr, performed quite a lot of rude material. I know that some people on the QI forums hated this, saying it was too rude for such a programme. But these critics should bear in mind that only a little while ago QI tried to be less rude when it was pre-watershed on BBC One and it failed miserably. People didn't like it, so now it's back in its old post-watershed slot on BBC Two - and now people are complaining about the show being too rude. Whenever the questions are lewd someone suggests it's 'dumbing down'. Yet whenever the questions are clever someone says it's not 'being funny enough'. I wish some people would make their minds up...

Series J is becoming notable for reasons other than perceived rudeness. For starters the "General Ignorance" round has been scrapped, because the panel were getting too wise to it and not going for the klaxon answers. Now the General Ignorance questions are spread out more to catch people out. I'm a bit worried about that, to be honest. It's a bit like Have I Got News for You getting rid of "Missing Words", Mock the Week scrapping "Scenes We'd Like to See", or Celebrity Juice getting rid off... well, whatever they have on Celebrity Juice (I can never bring myself to watch). However, it's best to wait and see after a few episodes if the re-shuffle works.

The other notable thing about this series is the guests. There are more women appearing on it. Next week's episode will be the first in which all the guests are women, which I can't remember happening on another panel show...ever. And some of the new guests are pretty experimental; they haven't even appeared on British TV yet. New Zealander Cal Wilson appears in a fortnight's time. She was on The News Quiz this week and seemed to cope alright, so hopefully she will put in a good performance.

I know some people will complain it's too rude, or it's dumbed down, or the guests are not good enough, but you can't please everyone. In the end, so long as it keeps being interesting and surprising QI will be good enough for me.