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Airdate: Q.I.

So successful was Stephen Fry in America that the ABC is rushing his UK panel series Q.I. (Quite Interesting) to screen.

stephen-fry-qiSo successful was Stephen Fry in America that the ABC is rushing his UK panel series Q.I. (Quite Interesting) to screen.

The questions on Q.I. are so difficult that panellists almost never get one right. So Fry, as the Supreme Fiendish Question Master, gives points for interesting answers, regardless of whether they are right or not (some viewers likened Glenn Robbins’ Out of the Question to this format). Conversely, points are deducted from a panellist who gives, “answers which are not only wrong, but pathetically obvious.” The game is even booby-trapped to the disastrous disadvantage of people who believe everything they are told.

The panel consists of four participants including Alan Davies. The first episode also features Rob Brydon, Andy Hamilton and Charlie Higson. In the series Emma Thompson, Pam Ayres and even Sir Terry Wogan will appear.

ABC will kick off this Rose d’OR winning series with the episode “Flotsam and Jetsam” from January 2009.

It airs at 9:30pm Tuesday October 20th at 9:30pm.

21 Responses

  1. If i was more overjoyed at the news, i think my head would rocket off from my torso. So happy!!! :) When i saw the ad for this on tv, i went vitually ballistic, bouncing about the house in a state of utter euphoria. Thus far i have only been able to watch snippets on youtube, and i have been praying that abc would adopt this sublimey quirky show but never believed it possible. Thankyou ABC for making my whimsical ideal into a reality!
    Stephen Fry and Alan Davies: I idolate them both.

  2. Fantastic! I have been watching the entire series for a couple of years since being introduced to it by a workmate.
    Australia will now get to see wit from the likes of Phil Jupitus and Jimmy Carr and all the other panel regulars.
    What a treat!
    Excellent news.

  3. I have seen several episodes, and all I can say is it’s terribly addictive!

    I always find myself answering the ‘blatantly obvious’ questions, and always getting them wrong.

    You learn a lot, and the show definitely reflects its title.

  4. David … Will it be on ABC 1 or 2?… sounds like it should belongs on 2 … not that there is anything wrong with that .. but the ABC’s barrel is getting a bit low me tinks

  5. Quite interesting, hence the name. It seems to be really popular too, yet I haven’t heard of it before, but it sounds good so I will be watching it. It’s lucky that it falls into a time slot where I haven’t got anything else to watch. A little strange that, considering its apparent popularity, ABC hadn’t swiped it up already, and as a consequence we won’t be seeing it from the start of the series. But better late than never.

  6. One of the reasons why QI isn’t shown around the world is to do with rights issues on the images, music, and clips they show throughout each episode.

    I can only imagine that they’ve edited around that, or the ABC and BBC have a relationship that covers it adequately.

    Hopefully an increased audience will boost their DVD sales enough to have them continue to be released, as unfortunately they have stalled due to low sales.

  7. This is a fantastic series, I’ve missed it so much since moving to this country. I’m surprised it hasn’t made it over already, but then if people prefer to watch ACA and TodayTonight they don’t really deserve quality like this…

  8. It’s also worth pointing out that the episodes’ subjects start with the same letter for the whole series – the 1st season’s subjects started with A, the 2nd season’s subjects with B, etc. So ABC1 are starting with season 6.

    I wonder what took the ABC so long to air this here – the show’s quite a good fit for them – but I’m glad they’re airing it now!

  9. people have been begging the ABC to show this program for Years. it is so good they are finally listening. pity they won’t be showing the whole thing from the start, though.

  10. I only stumbled across this gem by shear chance after looking at another website. It’s a great mix of wit, trivia and an eye opener in that it dispels many bits of folklore that I’ve always assumed to be true.

    Each season is themed around a letter. Season one (in 2003) started with the letter ‘A’, and subsequent seasons advance through the alphabet (i.e. B,C,D…) Season 6 is the letter ‘F’ (i.e. as in Flotsam). It will be interesting to see if they can make it through 26 series and get to the letter ‘Z’!

    It seems hugely popular (in the UK at least). Can’t think of too many quiz shows that have been released on DVD, published as books (e.g. The General Book of Ignorance), released as DVD game and even have a Twitter following (Qikipedia).

    For me, it’s been a reverse situation where my interest in Stephen Fry in the America came from my following in Q.I. rather than other way around.

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