It appears Sandy Toksvig will be the new head mistress. She’s been great as a guest. I wonder how she will do in the Big Chair?
If I was in charge I’d have replaced him with David Mitchell. But maybe he’d be seen as too similar.
Sandi Toksvig’s not a bad choice. My only problem is that she talks way too fast.
Mitchell would have been brilliant!
I wonder if they approached him.
I was all NOOOOOOOOOO, but when I saw Toksvig was taking over, I was fine with. She’s one of very few who can do it.
Still, Sandi is an OK choice.
She was holding Neil Armstrong’s secretary’s hand when he landed on the moon.
Apparently Sandi Toksvig will be the first woman to host a major tv panel show. Really?
It’s a sad day to hear that Stephen Fry is leaving one of the best British TV shows ever. He’s truly unique in his combination of intelligence, knowledge and wit and will be close to irreplaceable as host.
David Mitchell would be a good choice but I think Sandi Toksvig’s probably more suitable. She’s very clever and knowledgeable about a wide range of subjects. She’s also got more of a didactic schoolteacher vibe about her, in a way that Stephen Fry does, which is more fitting for the show’s setup.
I don’t think this is the case. For example, Sue Barker has hosted the BBC’s flagship sports quiz panel show A Question of Sport since 1997 (sportsmen/celebs in a lighthearted panel game). More recently, Holly Willoughby has hosted the similar but more debased Play to the Whistle.
I think being a great host on a show like this is a lot harder than it looks. When Says You! (an American radio show) lost its creator and long-time host last year, one of the panelists took on the job. I really didn’t like him as host at first; he jumped in too quickly and too often. Being a panelist is about jumping in to the conversation with whatever funny or (quite) interesting thing you can think to say. Being the host is about serving up funny topics and then holding back to let the panelists work with what you give them. Mitchell hosts another show, I believe, and I should probably watch that to see what he’s like, but if he just took his QI persona to the host’s chair I don’t think it would work.
Yeah, Q.I. and Stephen Fry were perfect for each other and I don’t think there’s anyone that would be able to match Fry’s genius.
I saw the David Mitchell-hosted Was It Something I Said? series and while he did a fair job and grew into the role, I think he’s better on the other side of the desk as a team contestant, a role in which he usually shines. He’s also a regular team captain on the excellent Would I Lie to You? panel show, as well as guesting on a plethora of others.
Toksvig’s hosted a couple of other quiz shows and done other presenting work, so she has the experience.
David Mitchell’s also probably too young for the “teacher” role (41) while Toksvig’s the same age as Fry (57/58).
David is great on Unbelievable Truth, though. However, I agree Tiksvig is a good choie.
I was all set to stop watching QI until I read that Sandi Toksvig would be the new host. I think she’ll be great. I’ve definitely enjoyed every episode in which she’s been a guest.
Wouldn’t Toksvig being the host possibly be in conflict with the BBC being, in theory, neutral politically and with her being the co-founder of the Women’s Equality Party? Have highly political people had shows on the BBC before?
I’m not a huge fan of Toksvig. She’s alright, I guess. I’d rather it be David Mitchell, or Jo Brand maybe.
I would certainly miss Stephan but I really don’t have access to the show anyway since I live in the US.
I have watched through maybe L on YouTube but those were shows which were recorded by a fan and uploaded.
I don’t think I have ever seen Sandi so I can’t judge.
I’m a huge David Mitchell fangirl but he is already on every other show. He hosts some and is a regular panelist on “Would I Lie to You?” and is a guest somewhere every week. Being the host of QI would put an end to that.
David’s wife, Victoria Coren Mitchell, was the host of a show Only Connect from 2008 to 2014.
I’m stoked about Sandi. She’s great!
Isn’t she still? This is another one I watch on youtube, I think I’m about halfway through series 11 and she’s still the host. I always wonder how well I’d do on it if it weren’t for the cultural gap; whenever the category is something like “The Archers” or “Blue Peter presenters” I’m pretty much screwed.
For that matter, I wonder if an American version of QI could work. Bonnie Hunt would be a good host, I think.
Yes, she is. They’re halfway through broadcasting a series of Only Connect right now, within which she is pregnant to the child she gave birth to back in May.
I think she will do fine.
I am very sad. Fry was unique .
Although Sandi can do the job, she has a similar public school vibe, although there’s a clear difference between Fry’s bookish, swot vibe and Toskvig’s jolly hockysticks tweed&manure persona
No more Phil Jupitus Fry impersonations…
I am big fan of QI, and of Stephen Fry, but the show is not perfect. I hate when the panelists are just doing some goofy impression or something and milking a joke too far.
So I would say there’s even room for improvement with the new boss.
Another claim I’ve seen is that she’s the “first female host of a mainstream comedy panel show on British TV”, but even that’s not right – HIGNFY alone has had (by my count) 23 female hosts (some of them on multiple occasions). She may be the first permanent female host of a mainstream, comedy panel show on British TV, but at that point I think the qualifications are becoming a little silly.
She’s a woman who’s taking on a high-profile role in a field in which women are under-represented, is what’s happening. Which is good, but it doesn’t make a sexy headline.
It might be a problem if she was hosting a political or news-based show (as Angus Deayton found, it’s difficult to be properly satirical about the week’s headlines if you’re in them), and this is presumably why she’s no longer presenting The News Quiz, but I can’t see how it would affect QI.
The BBC as a whole needs to be politically neutral: expecting every single person on every programme to be apolitical would be setting the bar too high.