Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry cast in TV film of Ian Rankin's Doors Open

Stephen Fry has been cast as an art expert who gets mixed up in an underworld heist in a new TV film based on a novel by Rebus writer Ian Rankin.

Top 10 times they got it wrong on QI

Finding out Stephen Fry has uttered a statement which isn't entirely true is a bit like discovering that not only is Santa not real but that, in fact, he was based on the man who gave The Twang a record deal. It's our sad duty to report that even QI, the receptacle of all things wise and witty, sometimes goes a bit wonky.

This is the third attempt to put JAM on the box, the BBC having done it previously in 1994 and 1999. Parsons and Merton appear in each episode, with guests appearing being Sue Perkins, Gyles Brandreth, Stephen Fry, Liza Tarbuck, Graham Norton, Josie Lawrence and Julian Clary. There are also a fair number of new contestants: Jason Manford, Miles Jupp, Ruth Jones, Phill Jupitus, John Sergeant and Russell Tovey.

The format is the same, but there are some obvious changes; for a start, there's no scorer sitting next to Parsons. Instead he just has the scores on a screen, and the clock is started by a large button next to him. There's also a little bell rang to indicate they are moving into the final round.

Some things do remain the same, though. The studio is designed to look like the art deco BBC Radio Theatre, where the radio series is normally recorded. For some reason, however, the studio lights change from blue to purple when the subjects start. Why they need to do this I have no idea. I find the camerawork even more irritating. There's no need to cut from here to there every three seconds.

However, there's still much to enjoy from this show. I for one enjoy the little amusing asides that go through out each episodes. My personal favourite was in the fourth episode when the panel kept making jokes about Miles Jupp being the supposed love child of Gyles Brandreth. The jokes just kept snowballing throughout.

With regards to the TV adaptation, I know that there will always be people who will insist that it's not as good as the one on radio, but there are always people who complain about TV adaptations of radio shows. If we rejected every TV adaptation of a radio adaptation out of hand we wouldn't have had the TV successes of shows like Whose Line is it Anyway? or Little Britain.

I'd love to see more episodes of the TV version of Just a Minute; but I doubt they'll produce them. Unless they want to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary, that is, and given that Parsons is 88 years old that might be a bit dangerous.

Stephen Fry completes 141ft bungee jump in New Zealand

Stephen Fry gets the thrill of his life as he makes a bungee jump with two women.

Mrs Stephen Fry Q&A: How to be an almost perfect mother

Eventually, no matter how hard you try to avoid them, most marriages are 'blessed' with little ones - tiny bundles of 'joy' that will turn your lives upside down (assuming they were the right way up to begin with). Before you know it, you will have completely forgotten what it's like to have a proper night's sleep, a peaceful car journey and crayon-free walls. Fortunately, being married to Stephen, I was already well used to all of these things.

Stephen Fry backs Hobbit pub in Southampton

Actor Stephen Fry has backed a Southampton pub after it was threatened with legal action by US movie lawyers.

Is Alexander Armstrong the poshest man in comedy?

More so than Miranda Hart, Stephen Fry and David Mitchell, Alexander Armstrong seems to be the acceptable face of posh comedy.

Douglas Adams & Stephen Fry were unbelievably similar

Next weekend, legendary conservationist Mark Carwardine will be celebrating the life of Douglas Adams, with whom he did so much to help threatened wildlife with their book Last Chance To See, which was adapted for television with Stephen Fry.

Wordaholics was billed as a new comedy game show about the mystery and majesty of, yes you guessed it, words. With Gyles Brandreth in the chair, it was no surprise to hear Stephen Fry was on the panel, for the show certainly had similarities with TV's superior QI.

Sometimes Brandreth's smugness is a little over the top for my taste, but his endless enthusiasm for the subject matter did rub off. The obvious intellectual competitiveness, particularly between Fry and broacaster/comedian Natalie Haynes, also pepped up proceedings, and there was the added bonus that by the end of the half hour I had learned what a Melton Pad and a Piccadilly Weeper was - just in case I get asked at a dinner party in the near future.

Do you know what "Jedwood Justice" is? It is not, as the audience gathered for this new panel show obviously hope, some primeval punishment dished out upon the Grimes brothers. Fortunately, Stephen Fry knows exactly what it is, and host Gyles Brandreth is able to congratulate him with magniloquent verbosity.