The Week That Was

An interesting week that began with Monday's QI production meeting being filmed by The South Bank Show. They're doing a special all about our boss - the estimable Mr John Lloyd CBE - and his extraordinary career in TV. And, let's be honest, it's well-deserved. He's given us The News Quiz, Not The Nine O'clock News, Spitting Image, The Museum of Curiosity, Have I Got News For You, QI, Blackadder and had a hand in Mr Bean and several other well-known shows. He also co-wrote two episodes of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and The Meaning Of Liff with Douglas Adams. The man's a genius and deserves every accolade lobbed at him.

Tuesday was a working at home day, hunkering down on finding great material for the new series of QI and Wednesday was much the same. Thursday saw me having a couple of quite exciting meetings, one about my possible involvement in working for another popular TV series and one with a publisher about a new book. Then, in the evening, it was off to the famous Foyles bookshop in Charing Cross Road for the Transmission Prize award ceremony.

I was one of the judges this year - no mean feat when every candidate was an amazing person - and my role at the awards was to do a 15 minute presentation explaining who the eight finalists were, what their big idea was, and why we'd selected them for our shortlist. The prize was awarded this year to Dr David Nutt, a brave and brilliant chemist who is challenging politicians over their attitudes to classifications of drugs. As he points out, some of the most damaging drugs are perfectly legal and there are things that can be done to reduce their negative effects on society ... but there is a lack of political will to do so. Meanwhile, other drugs remain illegal making research into their possible uses in medicine fraught with difficulty and bound up with red tape.The Transmission Prize is all about taking big ideas and communicating them effectively and, in his books, interviews, talks, blogs and other media, David speaks with passion, authority and clarity. He was a worthy winner, but picking him out of such a brilliant shortlist was really difficult.

Okay, I admit it. I did enjoy a little ripple of thrills in seeing my name in Foyles' window. It may not have been any of my books on display, but I was judging the winner from the books that were on display ... so that's nearly as cool, isn't it?

Friday saw me back at work on QI and also taking part in an 'Ask the Author' live Twitter chat organised by my publishers at Unbound. Some of the questions were bizarre to say the least! But my latest book - Constable Colgan's Connectoscope - does contain some pretty weird facts too.

When I got home I was both flattered and amused to see that a student called 'Jack J' from the University of Chester had animated one of my appearances on Radio 4 last year. I appeared on Josie Long's Short Stories, speaking for a minute on the subject of the police playing hide and seek on night duty in the early 80s as a way of learning beats. Here's his excellent effort:



This week was a good week. And now the weekend is approaching and I'll be doing some extra QI work to make up for the hours I lost on Thursday. But, to be honest, it's a joy to do so it doesn't really feel like work. :)

What's that? Lunch break is over?

Ow! Mr Fry!

That whip stings!

Doing The Right Thing

I appeared on my first panel show recently. And here it is:

Sony Award-winning Do the Right Thing is hosted by Danielle Ward and the team captains are Michael Legge and Margaret Cabourn-Smith. Each team captain is aided and abetted by a guest comedian and the teams have to describe how they would cope if presented with a particular scenario. It goes out as a podcast and is definitely too rude for radio.

Here's how the show was reviewed by Elisabeth Mahoney in The Guardian:

'Do The Right Thing, a new panel show podcast recorded in a pub, sounds so like something you'd hear on Radio 4 it comes as a shock when the air turns blue. 'It's not fucking QI!' host Danielle Ward tells contestants in the second episode. As the programme ends, the audience applause fizzles out a little. 'Keep fucking going!' she yells. Language aside – and, you might want to note, there are quite a few c-words – it's not surprising this feels so Radio 4: producer Ben Walker has worked on The Now Show and the Vote Now Show, as well as producing Richard Herring's podcast, As It Occurs To Me. And it is mostly very funny, with a tendency towards the peculiar as guests riff on the idea of doing the right thing in different scenarios. That might be when you're accidentally buried alive. A vegan contestant thinks of his body feeding the worms and insects: 'Maybe I should just die.'

Other rounds involve asking an expert and posing questions to an agony aunt. This uncovers creepy tales of first kisses ('her first boyfriend learned to kiss with his mother'), tips of triggering labour late in pregnancy ('have you tried being shot out of a human cannonball?') and a paramedic faced with a bridegroom who'd aspirated a pickled onion. It didn't end well.'

I was the 'expert' in 'Ask the Expert' round of the show that I appeared on, with Jenny Eclair and John Finnemore. Two episodes were recorded that day and the expert for the other was Jon Ronson. His panelists were Robin Ince and Josie Long.

You can hear all of the episodes broadcast to date from series 1 and 2 by visiting here. And I advise you to do so. It's great comedy.