QI

For other uses, see Qi (disambiguation).

QI
The QI logo
Also known as	Quite Interesting QI XL (extended repeats) QI VG (compilation episodes)
Genre	Comedy
Format	Panel game
Created by	John Lloyd
Directed by	Ian Lorimer
Presented by	Stephen Fry
Starring	Alan Davies Guest panellists
Theme music composer	Howard Goodall
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	9
No. of episodes	121 (plus 1 unbroadcast pilot and 1 Comic Relief Special) (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	John Lloyd Piers Fletcher (Series F onwards)
Editor(s)	Nick King Richard Everton (Series A)
Location(s)	The London Studios
Running time	30 minutes (45 minutes for QI XL)
Production company(s)	talkbackThames Quite Interesting Limited
Distributor	FremantleMedia[1]
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Four (2003–2008) BBC Two (2003–2008; 2011-) BBC One (2009–2011) BBC HD (2010; 2011-) BBC One HD (2010–2011)
Original run	11 September 2003 (2003-09-11) – present
Chronology
Related shows	The Museum of Curiosity The Unbelievable Truth
External links
Website
Production website

QI (Quite Interesting) is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given. To compensate, points are awarded not only for right answers, but also for interesting ones, regardless of whether they are right or even relate to the original question. Conversely, points are deducted from a panellist who gives "answers which are not only wrong, but pathetically obvious",^[2] typically answers that are generally believed to be true but in fact are not. Points are also often deducted if an obvious joke answer is given. These answers are known as forfeits. In addition, bonus points are often awarded or deducted for various challenges or incorrect references to a certain thing or place, varying from show to show.

Until late 2008 it was first shown on BBC Four and repeated on BBC Two, with syndicated episodes of previous series shown on Dave. QI has the highest viewing figures for any show on BBC Four and UKTV G2 (now Dave).^[3][4] From series "F" in late 2008 the show moved to BBC One, with extended-length repeats on BBC Two (entitled QI XL).^[5] Series "G"—the longest series to date with 16 episodes^[6]—was broadcast on BBC One in 2009–10.^[7] In 2010, the regular show moved to a pre-watershed slot, with the extended edition still shown after the watershed. Series H began filming in May 2010 and started its run from 17 September 2010 on BBC One and BBC HD (with the XL episode shown the next day on BBC Two).^[8] In March 2011, it was announced that for series I, its ninth series, the show would return to a post-watershed slot on BBC Two, with Fry and Davies remaining as host and regular panellist respectively. The "I" series began on 9 September 2011.^[9]

Format and conception

The panel consists of four participants: three rotating and one regular, Alan Davies, who has the seat to Stephen Fry's immediate right. Davies has appeared in every episode, except for one that was themed on "Divination": he was present at the beginning, but he "teleported" away during the buzzer demonstration; his buzzer that episode was the sound of the TARDIS from Doctor Who. He was at a football match instead but was still able to play as communicated "from beyond".^[10] He has only won 13 times (including two tied victories) as he generally offers up most of the "obvious but wrong" answers. However, as of episode 16 of the 'H' series, this is the highest number of victories, ahead of Rich Hall's nine (Hall and Davies tied for first place in the Series G episode "Gravity"). Davies has, by contrast, finished in last place 63 times and also holds the record for the lowest score on the show: −144, gained after losing 150 points for guessing that Gandhi's first name was Randy in the "Differences" episode. Had he not said this, he would have won with 6 points. The show's other panellists mainly come from a stand-up comedy or comedy writing/performing background, although there have also been guests from other fields, including Richard E. Grant, Jeremy Clarkson, Gyles Brandreth, Roger McGough, David Tennant, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Thompson.^[11][12][13]

Questions are sometimes misleading or very difficult. Providing an "obvious but wrong" answer results in a sequence of klaxons and flashing lights, and a theatrical cry of despair from Stephen Fry. In the first and second series, Fry produced the given answer on a card to show the panellists, while it also flashed on the large screens behind them (except in the pilot episode and the first show of the first series, when only the cards were used).^[14] In the third series and onward, Fry's answer cards were dispensed with altogether, leaving only the screens as proof that such answers had been predicted.

Because of the show's expectation that hardly anyone would be able to give a correct answer without significant prompting, it instead encourages sheer interestingness, which is how points are mainly scored.^[15] As such, tangential discussions are encouraged, and panellists are apt to branch off into frivolous conversations, give voice to train of thought, and share humorous anecdotes from their own lives.^[15] The number of points given and taken away are normally decided by Fry or beforehand by the QI's researchers known as "The QI Elves", especially if the points given or taken are very large. For example, one episode asked, "What is the main ingredient of air?" The correct answer is "nitrogen". The incorrect answer "carbon dioxide", which none of the panellists offered, would have resulted in a deduction of 3,000 points (CO₂ is a trace gas being only 0.038% of the atmosphere). However, Davies was deducted 10 points for suggesting "oxygen".^[16] Fry once said (in Episode ten of the first series):

Now, the rules are simple. Points are given and points are taken away. They are taken away for answers that are both obvious and wrong, and they're given not so much for being correct, as for being interesting. Their level of interestingness is impartially determined by a demographically-selected customer service focus consultancy, broken down by age and sex – i.e. me. Erm ... because there is no-one more broken down by age and sex than me.^[17]

The only point at which scores are given is at the conclusion of the show. Negative scores are common, and occasionally even the victor's score may be negative.

John Lloyd, QI's creator, has admitted that not even he has any idea how the scoring system works, but there is someone who is paid to check on the scores. Guests are allowed the right of appeal if they believe their score is wrong, but none has so far exercised that right.^[15]

Buzzers

Each panellist has a buzzer, with the sounds of all four often being based on a theme. They are demonstrated at the beginning of the programme, but are sometimes changed in some way for repeated use. Davies' buzzer usually subverts the theme established by the preceding three. Comical twists include in the ninth episode of series B (Bats), when all the first 3 buzzers were bells, then Alan's buzzer turned out to be a male voice (Leslie Phillips) saying "Well hello! Ding dong!" It was revealed last in every episode except for the unbroadcast pilot, in which he went first and Eddie Izzard was fourth.^[18] In episode 5 of Series A, rather than a comical buzzer, Davies set off the forfeit alarm, (suggesting he sets one every time he presses an answer) meaning he started the show on -10 points before a question was asked (it was later changed to the sound of a duck quacking). This was done again in episode 1 of Series H. Davies' buzzer in the "Endings" episode was the longest buzzer ever used.

Apart from the pilot, where the panellists used various objects to draw attention to themselves, two episodes have not used a buzzer system: the series D episode "Denial & Deprivation", where as part of the theme the entire usual set had been dispensed with and the panellists instead used assorted objects, and the series G episode "Green", where the buzzers were switched off to "reduce the show's carbon footprint" and replaced with a set of whistles.

Sometimes questions are based on the buzzers themselves, usually Davies's. For example, one of his buzzer noises the Series D episode "Descendants" sounded like a Clanger and the panel had to try and guess what was being said (the answer being "Oh sod it, the bloody thing's stuck again.") In the Series F episode "Fakes and Frauds", all the buzzers sounded like ordinary household objects, but then turned out to be the sound of the superb lyrebird mimicking the noises. Davies's however, was again an exception; his buzzer, which sounded like a telephone, really was a telephone and not a lyrebird mimicking one.

General Ignorance

See also: The Book of General Ignorance

In a parody of ubiquitous general knowledge quizzes, the final round is off-topic and called "General Ignorance", focusing upon seemingly easy questions which have obvious but wrong answers. Whereas in the main rounds of the show, the panelists' use of buzzers is not usually enforced, the "General Ignorance" questions are introduced by Fry's reminder to keep "fingers on buzzers".

Due to the large number of "obvious but wrong" answers, panellists, especially Davies, usually incur the greatest point losses in this round. In the second series' Christmas episode, Davies stated his refusal to participate in General Ignorance, saying that he "will not be humiliated at Christmas". In response, Fry offered to switch places with him, to the delight of the audience. Despite the seeming spontaneity of the swap, it was undoubtedly planned (at least on the part of Davies and the producers), as evidenced by the fact that Davies, in turn, produced his own set of questions on loose-leaf paper (most of which he directed at Fry), and also by the photographs and obvious-answer graphics which accompanied Davies' questions. At the end of the show, Fry announced that the game's loser was, in fact, Fry himself, as a result of his falling into many of Davies' traps.^[19]

In the 7th episode of series G, 'Greats', Fry asked the question "How many men have been President of the United States?" and showed a clip of US President Barack Obama declaring himself the 44th person to have taken the oath. This is incorrect since Grover Cleveland was elected to two non-consecutive terms, meaning only 43 people have taken the oath. Obama was then said to have come in fourth place with -10 points.

Extra tasks

In some episodes, the panellists are given an extra task to complete during the course of the game. Those who do the best are often awarded extra points. Past tasks have included drawing contests (in which John Sessions has shown a particular talent);^[20] or looking for a specific hidden thing over the course of the show, such as a squirrel or a cuttlefish.^[21][22] In series "B" panellists were given a metal sheet covered with magnetic letters with which to create words over the course of the game. Jimmy Carr successfully used all of his letters to create, "Put Smarties tubes on cats legs, make them walk like a robot."^[23] In the fifth series, Series "E", all the episodes had the same extra task – "The Elephant in the Room". In each episode, at least one of the answers was related to elephants, the panellists being required to wave an elephant on a stick when they believed it was the appropriate moment. Extra points may also be dependent upon the topic of the episode – for instance during the "France" episode of Series "F", panellists were informed that they would receive extra points for any answers given in French, though none did. Similarly, the panellists were provided with a card to hold up when they thought they were being duped for the "Hoaxes" episode of Series "H". All of the panellists duly played their card at some point, but the task itself turned out to be the hoax as all material was factual.^[24] In series "I", the "Nobody Knows" placard - a simple purple card on a stick, with a white question mark printed on it - was introduced. At least one question in every episode of Series "I" is one where nobody knows the answer. Points are added to a score if the panelist gets it right, and deducted if they are incorrect.

Production

Writer and former BBC producer John Lloyd devised the format of the show, and it is produced by Quite Interesting Limited, an organisation set up by Lloyd. QI was originally seen as being an "Annotated Encyclopedia Britannica ... the world's first non-boring encyclopaedia."^[15] As a panel game, it was conceived as a radio show, with Lloyd as chairman.^[25] While developing the show with Peter Fincham and Alan Yentob, Lloyd decided that it would work better on television. The three pitched it to Lorraine Heggessey, at the time controller of BBC One. Heggessey passed on the format, opting to commission a similar panel game called Class War (which was never made). When Fincham became controller of BBC One, Lloyd pitched it to him, only to be turned down by his former collaborator. Eventually he pitched it to Jane Root, then controller of BBC Two, who agreed to develop it.^[6] When it was decided that the show would air on television, Michael Palin was offered the job of chairman with Fry and Davies as captains of "clever" and "stupid" teams respectively. However, when Palin decided not to take the job, the producers opted to change the format; Fry became the host, with Davies as the only regular panelist.^[25] Root commissioned a pilot and a further 16 episodes after that, although budget limitations reduced the first series to 12 episodes.^[6]

Unlike many similar comedy-quiz programmes, the makers of the show insist that the answers are not given to the panelists beforehand.^[26] The host is given a list of questions set to be asked about an hour before the show, for preparatory purposes, but the guests are forbidden to ask for preparatory materials or other help.^[15] They do however often run through a series of "warm up" questions before recording begins, but this is the only assistance the panelists receive. It is known that Davies never does any preparation at all.^[15] Series 1 to 10 used a warm-up comedian before recording began, frequently Stephen Grant, credited as the Audience Wrangler.^[27] Series 11 however dispensed with a warm up, instead giving time to Stephen Fry to record and tweet audience AudioBoos and introduce the guests.

In an interview with the Radio Times regarding the current state of the BBC, Stephen Fry revealed one of the regular panelists insists on seeing the questions before they appear in the show. He said in the interview:

"There's only one regular guest who always insists on seeing the questions beforehand and prepares for them. I won't tell you his or her name," he said. "It really annoys me. In fact, one day, I'll make sure that person is given a list from another programme because they don't need them."^[28][29]

Following this comment people asked Fry to come out and say who it was, with several people posting their suggestions as to who it was. Fry later posted on his Twitter account that it was neither Davies nor Rob Brydon.^[30]

Research

The research for the show is mostly carried out by seven people called the "QI Elves", a team which has included Justin Pollard, Vitali Vitaliev,^[31] and Molly Oldfield. The "elves" devise the questions, and are able to contact Fry during the show to provide and correct information.^[32] Other people involved in researching questions and compiling the scripts are John Mitchinson and Piers Fletcher, known (along with Justin Pollard, Molly Oldfield and James Harkin) as the Question Wranglers,^[32] whose research includes both Encyclopædia Britannica and Wikipedia.^[33] The QI website also has a large forum with over 13,500 members as of 2009.^[34] The forum contains several sections including the "Quite Interestrings", for general topics, the "Series Talk" section which are dedicated to different series, indicated by a letter of the alphabet, and "The Forum of General Ignorance", dedicated to things that are often misunderstood by most people.

Theme tune

The theme tune was composed by Howard Goodall, who has twice appeared as a panelist on the show. The music for the unbroadcast pilot was planned to be "Wonderful World" by Herman's Hermits. However, the producers were unable to gain clearance to use the song and the DVD edition of the pilot features Goodall's composition.^[15]

Different instrumentation occasionally reflects the topic of a particular programme. For example, the Christmas Specials include sleigh bells and the "France" episode uses accordion music.

Episodes

Main article: List of QI episodes

In QI, every series is themed around a different letter of the alphabet, starting with the letter "A". Series are therefore referred to by letter rather than number. The first series started on 11 September 2003, and consisted of topics beginning with A, including a round on people called "Alan" (the episode which featured it was the first, and for three series the only, win for Davies).^[17] The second series consisted of topics beginning with "B" and also saw the first attempts to pay attention to a particular theme throughout one episode, e.g. "Birds" (the overriding theme did not necessarily begin with "B", although the questions always contained an element that did). The only exceptions to the alphabet system have been the Christmas specials, where the topics are often just of a Yuletide nature and do not necessarily correspond to that series' letter (although greater attempts have been made to do so since series D).

Series D was the first to see all the episodes focus upon a single topic or theme beginning with the series letter, and for each to be given an official title. This trend has continued with each subsequent series. A video podcast (featuring the best moments with some out-takes) was planned to accompany series E, but this was instead turned into a set of "Quickies" featured on the QI homepage of the BBC's website. As this decision was not reached until after recording though, they are still referred to as "vodcasts" by whoever is introducing them (usually Fry but occasionally a panellist or even the audience).^[35]

Four episodes have the distinction of being won by the audience: "Death", the 5th episode in series D; "England", the 10th episode in series E; "Flora & Fauna", the 10th episode in series F; and "Greeks", the 14th episode in series G. The audience's win in "Greeks" was only announced during the XL broadcast as their contribution was cut out of the main broadcast. In contrast, the audience lost the 5th episode of series E, "Europe", receiving a forfeit of -100 when they incorrectly sang the first stanza of the German national anthem.

A special stand-alone episode was filmed between 1 and 2 AM (GMT) on 6 March 2011 as part of Comic Relief's special 24 Hour Panel People featuring David Walliams, who appeared in various old and new panel game shows throughout a 24 hour period. The various shows including QI, were streamed live on the Red Nose Day website, and parts of each show will be shown during five half hour specials on Comic Relief. The QI episode featured panellists Sue Perkins, Jo Brand, Russell Tovey and David Walliams. Although this episode is not part of the main series, this is the first QI episode in which Alan Davies did not appear at any time. Davies admitted through Twitter that he was asked to host the episode when it was not certain if Fry would be available, but Davies declined. Once Fry confirmed his participation, Davies did not hear back from the production team ^[36] Unlike following the classic format of the show where most questions follow a subject, instead the episode was an hour long (including breaks) General Ignorance round.^[37] Many old QI facts from previous episodes were used.

Multiple guest appearances

The following have all appeared multiple times as one of the guest panelists on the show, including the as-yet unbroadcast episodes of the I series (as of 15 June 2011). This list does not include the unbroadcast pilot or the special Comic Relief episode.

27 appearances Jo Brand [a] Sean Lock 26 appearances Phill Jupitus 25 appearances Bill Bailey [b] 24 appearances Rich Hall 20 appearances Jimmy Carr 17 appearances David Mitchell 15 appearances Clive Anderson 13 appearances Rob Brydon Dara Ó Briain

9 appearances Jeremy Clarkson John Sessions 8 appearances Sandi Toksvig 7 appearances Andy Hamilton 6 appearances Jack Dee Ross Noble 5 appearances Ronni Ancona Danny Baker Johnny Vegas 4 appearances Jeremy Hardy Lee Mack Sue Perkins [a] Vic Reeves

3 appearances Arthur Smith Linda Smith Mark Steel 2 appearances Chris Addison Gyles Brandreth Hugh Dennis Howard Goodall Dave Gorman Charlie Higson Phil Kay Fred MacAulay Doon Mackichan Rory McGrath Graham Norton Liza Tarbuck

Jo Brand, Jimmy Carr, Rich Hall, Phill Jupitus and Sean Lock are the only remaining guests to have appeared in every series to date. Rich Hall has the highest number of guest appearances in a single series – 6 times in series B (half of the episodes that year).

a. ^{^} Also made an additional appearance in the live Comic Relief episode.
b. ^{^} Also made an additional appearance in the unbroadcast pilot.

International versions and broadcasts

In 2008 the QI format was sold to the Dutch broadcaster VARA. Also called QI, the Dutch version of the show aired for the first time on 27 December and is hosted by the writer Arthur Japin with the comedian Thomas van Luyn taking the role of regular panelist.^[38][39] Japin also appeared (in the audience) in a British QI episode, explaining how the name Vincent van Gogh should be pronounced.

There have been several attempts to broadcast QI in the United States. U.S. networks that have tried to broadcast the series include Comedy Central, PBS, Discovery Channel and BBC America. Lloyd said that one factor in the failure to get the show broadcast is due to the cost. As QI features several images during each episode there are copyright issues. Lloyd said in an interview with TV Squad that: "No country in the world has bought the original show and this is partly a matter of cost. The pictures in the background of the show are only cleared for UK usage, so until the show is bought by a Stateside TV company and the rights cleared for World, the programme (is) unaffordable by smaller countries."^[40] Amongst the famous names also to express anger over QI not being shown in the US include comedian John Hodgman, who appeared as a "fifth guest" in the second episode of Series G.^[41]

In Australia (as of October 2011) QI airs each Thursday at around 8:00pm on ABC1. The programme was first broadcast on 20 October 2009 after the surprise ratings success of Stephen Fry in America. The ABC aired QI Series F first, but subsequently screened the show from its very beginnings with series A.^[42] On the 6 April 2010, the programme rated 27th for the night and was the public broadcaster's top Tuesday entertainment programme.^[43] Series F has since also begun broadcasting on the pay tv channel, UKTV.^[44]

In March 2010, QI began a run in New Zealand on Prime.^[45] In July 2010, ABC1 began broadcasting the A series.^[46] On 27 May 2011, Series A of QI will be broadcast in South Africa on BBC Entertainment.^[47]

As of 2011, the series is distributed by FremantleMedia.^[1]

Corrections, mistakes and retractions

Although most of the answers presented on the show are correct, some have been disputed and shown to be false. For example, in Series A, the show claimed that the longest animal in the world was the lion's mane jellyfish,^[48] but this was later corrected in Series C, saying that the longest animal in the world is the bootlace worm.^[49]

Another episode in Series A, Astronomy, states that the Earth's second moon was discovered in 1994 and its orbit was discovered in 1997. In fact, Cruithne was discovered in 1986 and is actually a quasi-satellite.

Members of the public and members of the QI website contact the show to correct information. The error that has attracted the most complaints to date was made in Series B, when it was claimed that the Welsh language has no word for blue. In fact it is glas.^[50] The error was explained on the "Banter" section of the series B DVD as a mistake on the part of John Lloyd himself.

Another episode in Series B claimed that the language spoken by children's TV characters Bill and Ben was called "Flobbadob" and was named after the onomatopoeic phrase that creator Hilda Brabban's younger brothers (after whom the characters were named) gave to their bath farts during their early childhood.^[20] However, in Series D, Fry read out a letter written by Silas Hawkins, the son of veteran voice-over talent Peter Hawkins, who provided the original voices of the characters:

The fart-in-the-bath story was trotted out last year in an episode of Stephen Fry's otherwise admirable quiz show QI. It (the story) first appeared some twenty years ago in a newspaper article, to which my father immediately wrote a rebuttal. This was obviously ferreted out by some BBC researcher. It may be quite interesting, but in this case, it simply isn't true.^[51]

Fry then apologised and corrected the error, saying, "Their language is called 'Oddle poddle'. 'Flobbadob' means 'Flowerpot' in Oddle poddle." He then convulsed in disbelief at the authoritativeness in which he had read that statement out.^[51]

At the end of the third series, Dara Ó Briain was deducted points for having stated, in the previous series, that the triple point of water is zero degrees Celsius, an answer which earned him 2 points at the time.^[52] Viewers however, wrote in to say that the triple point of water is in fact 0.01 degrees, and so the 2 points awarded Dara in the previous series were revoked and he received a further deduction of 10 points for "saying a now obvious answer". Dara retorted by mocking the extreme pedantry of some of QI's viewers, including an exaggerated mime of someone angrily typing at a keyboard.^[53]

Various other retractions are made by the producers of the show on the special features of the DVD releases. The origin of the error – whether it was an ad lib by Fry or whether it was on one of his cards – is also usually explained (as above with glas). (Information contributed by a panellist during a discussion, but which has since been found to be false, is also corrected here.) One example of why this distinction is important to make would be Fry's misreading of the explanation as to why helium makes your voice higher, in the series B Christmas special. His claim was that the gas only affected the frequency, but not the pitch, despite them being the same thing. The genuine explanation had been written down elsewhere, which is that it is the timbre which is affected. However, the initial answer of the change in pitch is still correct as timbre is a collection of pitch or frequency and this is changed to an overall higher pitch because of the effect of the helium on the voice box's resonance.

More recently, the online forum now includes a "QI Qibbles" blog, which aims to rectify further mistakes in the series.

Culture

QI has stated it follows its own philosophy, which is that everything in the world, even that which appears to be the most boring, is "quite interesting" if looked at in the right way. The website states that:

We live, they say, in The Information Age, yet almost none of the information we think we possess is true. Eskimos do not rub noses. The rickshaw was invented by an American. Joan of Arc was not French. Lenin was not Russian. The world is not solid, it is made of empty space and energy, and neither haggis, whisky, porridge, clan tartans or kilts are Scottish. So we stand, silent, on a peak in Darien a vast, rolling, teeming, untrodden territory before us. QI country. Whatever is interesting we are interested in. Whatever is not interesting, we are even more interested in. Everything is interesting if looked at in the right way. At one extreme, QI is serious, intensely scientific, deeply mystical; at the other it is hilarious, silly and frothy enough to please the most indolent couch-potato.^[54]

On 28 December 2009, the BBC Radio 4 panel game The Unbelievable Truth, hosted by frequent QI guest panellist David Mitchell, broadcast a New Year's Special which paid tribute to QI. The show featured Fry, Davies and Lloyd on the panel, as well as Rob Brydon, another regular QI participant.^[55]

Reception

QI was received very positively by its viewers. It was the most popular programme on BBC Four in 2005,^[56] and one of its books, The Book of General Ignorance, reached Number 4 on Amazon.com's best-seller list.

QI has been supported by nearly all critics. Peter Chapman said, "When the schedules seem so dumbed-down, it's a delight to encounter the brainy and articulate Stephen Fry. He excels in this format, being both scathing and generous."^[57]

Another critic, Laura Barton said, "QI and its canny coupling of Stephen Fry and Alan Davies, which manages to condense tweedy goodness, cockney charm, pub trivia and class war into one half-hour."^[58] An American critic, Liesl Schillinger described QI as, "Jeopardy with Stephen Colbert as host, with Steve Martin and Ellen DeGeneres as guests, working off a game board loaded with unanswerable questions."^[59]

Not all of the show's critics have been positive. A reviewer in The Independent described it as, "a teeth-clenching example of TV mistaking shallow cleverness for intelligence."^[60] Critics have questioned the way the show is edited, one saying, "At one point in tonight's show, Fry yells an obscenity at Rich Hall, the result of, what appears to have been, a long interchange between the two but, as most of it appears to have been cut out, the outburst comes out of the blue, making Fry look as if he's flipped his lid."^[61]

Awards

In 2006, Fry won the Rose d'Or for "Best Game Show Host".^[62] Visitors to the British Comedy Guide have named QI the "Best British TV Panel Show/Satire" of 2006 and 2007 in The Comedy.co.uk Awards.^[63][64] In 2008, the series won the Royal Television Society award for "Entertainment". It was also nominated in the "Entertainment Performance" category, but it lost.^[65] In 2008 and 2009, QI won the Televisual Bulldog Awards in the "Best Panel, Quiz or Chat Show" category.^[66]

QI has been nominated for four BAFTA awards. Fry has been nominated for "Best Entertainment Performance" three times, in 2004, 2005 and 2007.^[67][68] John Lloyd and QI's director Ian Lorimer were nominated for the Lew Grade Award in 2005.^[67] In 2007, The Book of General Ignorance was nominated by the British Book Awards in the TV and Film Book of the Year Category.^[69]

Media releases

QI has entered a number of different media, and has seen an increasing number of tie-in DVDs, books and newspaper columns released since 2005.

Books

UK

The first QI book was 2006's The Book of General Ignorance, published in hardback on 5 October by Faber and Faber. (ISBN 9780571233687)^[70] Written by producer and series-creator John Lloyd and QI's head of research, John Mitchinson, it includes a foreword by Stephen Fry and "Four words" by Alan Davies ("Will this do, Stephen?"). Most of the book's facts and clarifications have appeared on the programme, including its list of 200 popular misconceptions, many of which featured during the "General Ignorance" rounds. On 8 December 2006, the book "became a surprise bestseller over the Christmas period, becoming Amazon's number one Global bestseller for Christmas 2006."^[71] By the end of January, 2007, it had sold more than 300,000 copies (and subsequently over half a million^[72]), paving the way for subsequent (projected) annual book releases to capitalise on the UK Christmas book market.^[71] The Official QI website notes that it will soon be published in 23 countries.^[72]

Pocket-sized and audio versions of General Ignorance went on sale the following year. In 2008, a newly revised version was published under the title of The Book of General Ignorance: The Noticeably Stouter Edition. This edition corrected and updated some of the information from the first print, while adding 50 new sections (and extra illustrations) to the original 230. It also included quotes from the series, new "Four Words" by Davies, added a complete episode listing from Series A–F, plus an index.^[73]

QI's second book, The Book of Animal Ignorance, was released in the UK (in the same hardback format) by Faber & Faber almost exactly a year after the first General Ignorance, on 4 October 2007. (ISBN 978-0-571-23370-0)^[74] It promised to be a "bestiary for the 21st century,"^[75] and contains almost completely new quite interesting facts.^[76] The book includes "400 diagrams and cartoons by the brilliant Ted Dewan", another Foreword by Stephen Fry and a "Forepaw" by Alan Davies.^[76] This publication has also been followed by a pocket-sized version.^[77]

On the Factoids feature of the Series A DVD, John Lloyd mentioned an idea he'd had for a QI book of quotations, under the working title Quote Interesting. This book was eventually published in 2008 as Advanced Banter.^[73] Similarly, on the Banter feature of the series B DVD, Lloyd also previewed the title of QI's fourth book, The QI Book of the Dead, which went on sale on 15 October 2009.^[78]

7 October 2010 saw the publication of QI's fifth book - a sequel to the original General Ignorance, simply titled The Second Book of General Ignorance. Written by the same authors, this book covers a whole new series of questions on a wide variety of topics, which again promise to prove that "everything you think you know is (still) wrong".^[79]

QI's first annual, The QI "E" Annual or The QI Annual 2008 was published by Faber and Faber on 1 November 2007, to coincide with the initial airing of the TV show's E series (ISBN 978-0-571-23779-1).^[80] Succeeding years have seen the publication of F, G and H annuals, concurrent with the BBC show's chronology, though retrospective annuals on the first four letters of the alphabet have yet to be published. The covers, which feature various cartoon scenes starring caricatures of Stephen Fry and regular QI panellists, are produced by David Stoten (one of Roger Law's Spitting Image team), who also contributed to the annuals' contents. Many of said cover stars are also credited with contributing content to the annuals, which also provide a showcase for Rowan Atkinson's talents as a 'rubber-faced' comic, as well as the comic stylings of Newman and Husband from Private Eye, Viz's Chris Donald, Geoff Dunbar, Ted Dewan and The Daily Telegraph's Matt.^[81]

France

A French edition entitled Les autruches ne mettent pas la tête dans le sable : 200 bonnes raisons de renoncer à nos certitudes ("Ostriches don't put their heads in the sand: 200 good reasons to give up our convictions") was published by Dunod on 3 October 2007. (ISBN 978-2-100-51732-9)^[82] It is released as part of Dunod's "Cult.Science"/"Oh, les Sciences !" series, which also includes titles by Robert L. Wolke, Ian Stewart^{[disambiguation needed ]} and Raymond Smullyan.^[83]

Italy

An Italian edition entitled Il libro dell'ignoranza ("The book of ignorance") was published by Einaudi in 2007 and in 2009 the same publisher published Il libro dell'ignoranza sugli animali ("The book of ignorance about animals").

US

The American cover for The Book of General Ignorance

On 7 August 2007, The Book of General Ignorance was published in America by Harmony Books. (ISBN 0-307-39491-3) It features a sparser cover necessarily downplaying its links to the TV series, which has yet to be broadcast in the US. The book received glowing reviews from both Publishers Weekly^[84] and the New York Times, which recommended it in its "Books Holiday Gift Guide".^[85] (It subsequently entered the New York Times' "Hardcover Advice" best-seller charts at #10 on 9 December,^[86] falling to #11 two weeks later where it stayed until mid-January, before falling out of the top 15 on 20 January.)^[87]

DVDs

A number of DVDs related to QI have also been released, including interactive quizzes, and complete series releases.

Interactive quizzes

On 14 November 2005 an interactive QI DVD game, called QI: A Quite Interesting Game, was released by Warner Home Video. A second interactive game, QI: Strictly Come Duncing followed on the 26 November 2007, from Warner's Music division.^[88] Both games feature Fry asking questions, and then explaining the answers in full QI-mode.

Complete series releases

The Complete Series "A" DVD

A DVD release for the first series was the direct result of an internet petition signed by 1,821 people, which persuaded the BBC of the interest in such a move.^[89] Series "A", was therefore released by BBC Worldwide's DVD venture, 2 entertain Ltd. on 6 November 2006 (as "QI: The Complete First Series"). It contains a number of outtakes as well as the unbroadcast pilot, which features the only appearance to date of Kit Hesketh-Harvey as a panellist. Sales over the Christmas period, however (in stark contrast to The Book of General Ignorance, which topped the Amazon.co.uk best-seller list), were not as strong as hoped.^[71] A lack of adequate advertising is thought to be to blame (and subsequent episodes of QI have since trailed the DVD), and may have factored in the label change for Series "B".^[71][90] Series "B" was released on 17 March 2008,^[90] followed by Series "C" on 1 September. No DVDs of later series have been released since, despite a continuing campaign at PetitionOnline to rectify this.

DVD Title		No. of Discs	Year	No. of Episodes	DVD release
					Region 2	Region 4
	Complete Series A	2	2003	13	6 November 2006
	Complete Series B	2	2004	12	17 March 2008
	Complete Series C	2	2005	12	1 September 2008
	The Complete Series 1-3[91]	6	2003 – 2005	36		14 September 2011

Other media

Since 10 February 2007, a weekly QI column has run in The Telegraph newspaper. Fifty-two columns were planned, but the feature is ongoing and was recently re-launched in the newspaper's Saturday magazine and online.^[92] A QI feature has appeared in BBC MindGames magazine since its fifth issue, and revolves around facts and questions in the General Ignorance-mould. There is also a weekly QI linked multiple choice question featured in the Radio Times, with the solution printed in the feedback section. QI also has an official website, QI.com, which features facts, forums and other information. It also links to QI's internet show QI News, a parody news show which broadcasts "News" items about things which are "quite interesting". QI News stars Glenn Wrage and Katherine Jakeways as the newsreaders, Bob Squire and Sophie Langton.

On 22 December 2010, Faber and Faber released a QI App. Amongst the features of the App are a library containing the complete contents of The Book of General Ignorance, The Book of Animal Ignorance and The QI Book of the Dead, arranged as 56 "themed book" on a customisable scrollable shelf. There is also a rolling selection of quotes from Advanced Banter. The App also allows users send interesting information to the QI elves in the form of "postcards" and can be rated on on the "Interestingometer".^[73][93] The top 10 most popular facts every week are listed on the QI website.^[94]

The QI Test

The QI Test was a planned spin-off version of QI that was to be broadcast on BBC Two. Created by Lloyd, Talkback Thames' Dave Morely and former QI Commercial Director Justin Gayner, The QI Test differed from QI in that it would have featured members of the public as contestants instead of comedians and celebrities. It would have been broadcast during the daytime schedules. The pilot was not hosted by Stephen Fry and was recorded in November 2009, but a series has yet to materialise.^[95]

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External links

• QI at BBC Programmes
• QI at the Internet Movie Database
• QI at the British Comedy Guide
• Quite Interesting Ltd. homepage
• qi transcripts dot com - episode transcriptions
• QI homepage at The Telegraph
• QI on Dave