List of QI episodes

QI (short for Quite Interesting) is a BBC comedy panel game television show that began in 2003. It was created by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry (until the end of Series 13 [M], when Sandi Toksvig will take over) and features permanent panellist Alan Davies.

Each series covers topics that begin with a different letter of the alphabet; for example, the first series covered topics whose word began with "A". Thus it is referred to as "Series A" instead of "Series One".^[1][2] QI was given a full series after BBC executives responded well to a nonbroadcast pilot,^[3] and the first episode, "Adam" premiered on BBC Two on 11 September 2003.^[4] From the second to the fifth series, episodes aired each week on BBC Two; the second and subsequent episodes were shown first on BBC Four in the time-slot after the previous episode's BBC Two broadcast. When the sixth series of QI began in 2008, the show moved to BBC One and the broadcasting of episodes on BBC Four was replaced in favour of an extended repeat broadcast on BBC Two the following day, titled QI XL. From the ninth series, QI returned to BBC Two, on Friday at 10 pm with the XL edition on Saturdays. Lloyd acted as the producer for the first five series. Piers Fletcher became producer starting from Series F.^[5]

Series

Up to the end of Series L, 169 episodes of QI have been produced. This count does not include the unbroadcast pilot, eleven compilation episodes, the 2011 Comic Relief live special and the 2012 Sport Relief special.

Pilot

Series A: 2003

Series B: 2004

Series C: 2005

Series D: 2006

Series E: 2007

Series F: 2008/09

Series G: 2009/10

Series H: 2010/11

Comic Relief Special: 2011

Series I: 2011/12

Sport Relief Special: 2012

Series J: 2012/13

Series K: 2013/14

Series L: 2014/15

Series M: 2015/16

Footnotes

1. ↑ This episode was never broadcast, but was released as an extra on the Series A DVD.^[13]
2. ↑ Also known as "Africa".
3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Christmas special
4. 1 2 3 4 Apart from the first episode which premiered on BBC Two, all the dates given are for when the episodes premiered on BBC Four.
5. ↑ For the General Ignorance portion of this episode, Fry and Davies switched places after Davies demanded that he "not be humiliated at Christmas". Fry deliberately collected enough forfeits to ensure he finished bottom.
6. 1 2 Hallowe'en special
7. 1 2 3 Children in Need special
8. ↑ Alan Davies was absent for the recording of this episode, as he did not want to miss his favourite football team, Arsenal, playing in the Champions League final that same evening. He did however make an appearance through pre-recorded material, which ended with him being 'teleported' to the match as he tested his buzzer.
9. ↑ The broadcast of this episode was delayed by a week because of the 2009 Comic Relief telethon.^[14]
10. ↑ The first few XLs were not screened the day after the short version was shown in Series G, the BBC instead choosing to hold them back for later airing dates.
11. ↑ This is the first episode to feature five panellists on the show instead of four.
12. 1 2 3 4 The XL version of this episode premiered on Dave, not the BBC.
13. ↑ For the first (and only) time, the players were divided into teams, with the men on one team, and the women on the other.
14. ↑ Jo Brand was listed as finishing 5th in this episode – US President Barack Obama ‘finished’ 4th with a score of −10 for referring to 44 different Presidents taking the oath of office in a clip of his inauguration speech, activating a klaxon. It’s actually 43, because Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th President.
15. ↑ On the original transmission, Clive Anderson was announced as the winner, but in the XL version it was shown that the actual winner was the audience, scoring 10 points compared to Anderson's 3 points.^[15]
16. ↑ Special episode webcast live as part of 24 Hour Panel People. Alan Davies was not present for this episode.^[16]
17. ↑ Conti was accompanied by her ventriloquist puppet Gran, whose score was counted separately from her own.
18. ↑ As part of the theme, the scores were unjustly given at the beginning, stating that Toksvig won (despite the fact Anderson had a higher score). The true scores were not revealed at the end.
19. ↑ The original broadcast of the 30-minute edition of this episode was replaced by live coverage of Children in Need on BBC Two. It was eventually shown during a run of repeats during Christmas 2011.
20. ↑ ASIMO scored points by demonstrating its technological capabilities to the audience. Of the four panellists, Mitchell had the highest score.
21. ↑ Special episode aired as part of BBC Two's Shakespeare season.
22. ↑ This episode was originally scheduled to go out on 9 December 2011 (as episode 14 of the series), but after a furore over comments that panellist Jeremy Clarkson had made live on The One Show – concerning a recent public sector strike and suicides on railway lines – the BBC decided to postpone the airing until a later date.
23. ↑ This XL edition was unintentionally made available on the BBC iPlayer following the date of its original intended broadcast (it was removed the following morning). The first TV broadcast was on BBC HD.
24. ↑ A short sports-themed edition of the show, recorded during the filming of the "I-Spy" episode and broadcast during the 2012 Sport Relief telethon.
25. ↑ Fry declared himself the winner having awarded himself 52! (52-factorial, approximately 8×10⁶⁷) points for demonstrating that no two shuffles of a deck of cards would ever be the same. Of the four panellists, Sessions had the highest score.
26. ↑ Out of all the panelists, Davies had the highest score.
27. ↑ To match with the theme of correcting previous inaccuracies, the panelists were given points that they would be owed for their prior appearances' incorrect answers which were statistically now correct. Davies received 737.66 owed points, several hundred more than anyone else was owed, ensuring that he won. The panelist who had the most points without including this bonus was Jo Brand.
28. 1 2 The XL edition of this episode was broadcast before the regular edition.
29. ↑ As part of the theme, the scoring system was inverted, with the panellist with the lowest score being declared the winner and the highest scorer the loser. Davies had the highest score with plus 52 (orchestrated by giving him a large bonus for one question).

References

General

• Wolf, Ian. "QI – Episode Guide". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 27 October 2009. 
• Wolf, Ian. "QI Merchandise". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 22 March 2009. 

Specific

External links

• QI official website
• QI Episodes Guide at BBC Programmes
• List of QI episodes at the British Comedy Guide
• List of QI episodes at the Internet Movie Database