I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

The main problem I have with I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue as a reviewer is that it's impossible to review such a classic show, one which has been on the air for nearly 40 years. What can you say about it that hasn't been said already?

Well, let's start off with the guest panellist - first-timer Marcus Brigstocke. Out of the four panellists (the others being the three regulars, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden), he seemed to have the funniest bits. Maybe he was the funniest, maybe it's the show's view to make the guest look the funniest, I don't know. However, he did seem to have many high points in the episode I listened to - his rendition of "Common People" to the tune of "If You're Happy and Know It", for example, was great.

There was also the introduction of a new round in this show called "Heston's Services". This was akin to similar rounds such as "Book Club" and "Film Club", in this case coming up with meals that Heston Blumenthal would serve at a motorway service station.

The other main component of the show, of course, is host Jack Dee. I know that there are lot of people out there who won't accept him as host and won't be happy until Humphrey Lyttelton is exhumed, reanimated and blowing his trumpet in the chair for all eternity, but Dee does a good job as far as I'm concerned.

Nicholas Parsons joins Radio Academy Hall of Fame

Video of Nicholas Parsons being inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame.

The regeneration of the host of I'm Sorry I Haven't Got A Clue is complete: Jack Dee has finally fully transformed into the grouch we know and ... the grouch we know. Just A Minute returns next week, a handover Jack celebrated with a game entitled Just A Minim - "the teams' musical version of the longrunning wireless favourite hosted by Nicholas Parsons. I never miss him."

Earlier the teams had supplied us with some new definitions - internet is what the England team didn't do at the World Cup, asterisk is the chances of being hit by an asteroid and fallacy is "like a penis". The last gag was from David Mitchell - brilliant panel guest as ever, but I'm beginning to worry about him. Hasn't he got a home to go to? And if he has, does it contain a panel show in every room?

Jack Dee has been winning hearts and minds as the new host of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. Enough words have been spoken about the totemic Humphrey Lyttelton, so I'll not weigh them up here. But on the self-titled "antidote to panel games", Dee is the perfect antidote to the cloying comfiness of the audience clapping along to "one song to the tune of another". You're left with the distinct impression that he's flashing them a trademark pitying sneer, and it's like a palate cleanser, allowing you to enjoy the craftsmanship of panelists Cryer, Garden, Brooke-Taylor and, this week, Toksvig.

Jack Dee is perfect host for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

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ISIHAC raises just a single snigger

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue is a sad show now, the ghost of what it was. I never thought the day would come, and I really wish it hadn't, but I sat through last night's start to the new run with one smile and a single snigger.

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue returns with Jack Dee in the chair solemnly reading his script and distributing questions. The audience (in Cheltenham) roar their appreciation throughout. In fact, the Clue participants seem under the dangerous delusion that they're at some private party rather than doing a radio show.

Here's to Humph!

Pub close to I Haven't Got A Clue Tube station is renamed after jazz musician.

By chance, John Humphrys asking "Would you like a turn?" featured as one of the Questions That Are Never Asked on the new series of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. The choice of Jack Dee to take over from the lamented Humphrey Lyttleton was an inspired one, even if his first joke about Jacqui Smith's husband destroying her career "single-handed" did sound a lot like The News Quiz. Fortunately, with the help of panellists like Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden, the programme's unique flavour remains. Like Wogan's world, the "antidote to panel games" depends a lot on the surreal, the in-joke, and the trick of being risqué without being offensive. New games like Pensioners Film Club ("Death in Fenwicks" "The Postman Always Has to Knock Twice") mixed with old favourites like One Song to the Tune of Another. The sound of Rob Brydon singing the words of Jim'll Fix it to tune of "Mad World" made me choke with laughter. The problem with in-jokes though, is that people get them too quickly. At one point Jack Dee had to issue the howling audience with a plaintive reprimand. "I have got punch lines... please wait."