Success no mystery:
Jonathan Creek star Alan Davies loves the fun and financial security of the long-running QI quiz show. Kerry Harvey reports.
Jonathan Creek star Alan Davies talks about his love for QI.
Why he is still on QI after 16 years is one question comedian Alan Davies (above left) has no trouble answering.
“I don’t have any obligation other than to just sit there and try to have fun,” he says, of being the sole permanent panellist on more than 225 episodes of the British quiz show.
“They keep me in the dark about what’s going on, I never know what’s happening. They’re always hoping I’m going to say the wrong thing and I am quite happy to play along.”
QI (Quite Interesting) first aired in 2003 and was hosted by Stephen Fry (above centre) until 2016 when guest panellist Sandi Toksvig moved into the quizmaster’s chair.
The format of the show focuses on Davies and three guest panellists answering questions so obscure that it is unlikely the correct answer will be given. To compensate, panellists are awarded points not only for the right answer, but also for interesting ones, regardless of whether they are right or even relate to the original question.
Meanwhile, points are deducted for answers which are not only wrong, but pathetically obvious.
Davies makes no secret of the fact the guests are one of the reasons he comes back year after year.
Regulars include the cream of British comedy with Jo Brand, Bill Bailey, Jimmy Carr, Sue Perkins, Jeremy Clarkson, Matt Lucas and Jack Whitehall all making repeat appearances.
“We have wonderful people on the panel, the guests, so it’s a great job and I’m very lucky,” he says.
In fact, the comedian says with three small children – Susie, 10, Robert, nine, and Francis, four – and a mortgage, he would be an idiot to leave what he calls one of the best jobs on television.
“I’m not looking to be away
from home. In the days when I was more in demand as an actor, some of those shoots would be 14 weeks and you are doing 80 hours a week. I wouldn’t want to do that with small kids,” Davies says.
“I want to be at home so getting the balance right to be with them while they’re small, to make the most of it, is important.
“I’m a bit more choosy about what I do and I’m lucky to be in the position to do that.”
Davies was already an international success story when he joined QI in 2003, largely thanks to his title role in the hit British mystery drama Jonathan Creek.
Already a fixture on the British stand-up circuit and with many television appearances under his belt, Jonathan Creek gave Davies the opportunity to realise his ambitions as an actor.
“It was a big break for me. They were looking for somebody new and initially they’d gone for well-known TV names,” he says.
“Nicholas Lyndhurst (Only Fools And Horses, New Tricks) was in the frame for it and so was Hugh Laurie (House,
The Night
Manager) and then they came and settled on me after while. It was a big break for me in 1996 and it’s been a big part of my life.”
Davies filmed his most recent Creek episode in 2016 but says he would be happy to reprise the role if the series’ writer David Renwick (One Foot In The Grave) comes up with a script.
“It’s really all about David Renwick. He’s in his 60s now and been working for 40-something years so I imagine he’d like to put his feet up,” Davies says.
“We did Jonathan Creek for 20 years, but if he came up for another one, then we would do it but I don’t ring him up and say, ‘Come on, David, where’s the next script?’. I leave him alone.”
Meanwhile, Davies is a fixture on television screens around the world with shows such as Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled and The Dog Rescuers With Alan Davies. Plus he’s branching out into writing, having completed a Master of Arts in Creative Writing in September.
“I’m very proud of that achievement. I’m going to write, I’m going to try to publish. I’ve got two or three ideas on the go, some non-fiction and a couple of novel ideas. I just have to keep plugging away and see how far I can take it,” he says, adding returning to university in mid-life realised another long-held ambition.
“I wanted to study and I wanted a place away from the public eye where I could just work on this stuff and see what came of it.
“It was very rewarding. There are quite a number of middle-aged people going back into education and I was just one of them really.
“It was very nice and I was made to feel very welcome. I absolutely loved it. I would recommend it. There will be a book. I will finish it.”