Alan Davies

Alan Davies gets death threats after Hillsborough rant

QI star Alan Davies has apologised and given a donation to the Hillsborough campaign following his "insensitive" comments over the Hillsborough disaster - but has received death threats on Twitter.

Alan Davies sparks fury over Hillsborough remarks

Comedian Alan Davies has sparked fury by launching a foul-mouthed rant criticising Liverpool's refusal to play on the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

Alan Davies in fringe show

Alan Davies will be one of the big names at this year's Edinburgh Fringe, performing stand-up in the UK for the first time in over a decade.

Graham Norton's sofa is blessed with acting heavyweights tonight. The titillating talk-show host is joined by Liam Neeson (whose new movie The Grey, about a plane crash, comes out at the end of this month) and Trekkie-turned-Shakespearean Patrick Stewart, who will be appearing in Bingo at the Young Vic. Light relief comes from curly-haired comedian Alan Davies, who has been touring Australia with his new stand-up show, with music provided by soppy balladeer Ed Sheeran.

Wrapped up in colourful scarves, Stephen Fry and company are in particularly jovial mood tonight for this festive edition of the esoteric quiz. Answering questions on such subjects as ice and prawns, Ross Noble, Sean Lock, Brian Blessed and Alan Davies prove hilarious company as they reel off a number of anecdotes. For the comedian's quick wits, though, the most amusing moment comes from Lock falling off his chair.

If you've ever failed to work out the precise purpose of QI, it may help to think of it as in some respects a kind of televisual equivalent of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. The show's very pointlessness, unless you're someone with ambitions to bore for Britain on arcane knowledge, is a great part of its charm. Anyway, this year's Christmas episode finds Stephen Fry posing questions on the theme of ice to Brian Blessed, Sean Lock, Ross Noble and Alan Davies.

Audio: John Lloyd - Creator of QI

Thursday nights ABC1, that's the time to be glued to your television or set your PVR to record.

QI -with Stephen Fry and Alan Davies - is a perennial favourite and so popular here in Australia that the world's first live interpretation of the show is coming to Australia this month.

John Lloyd is the creator and producer of QI.

Mary-Lou caught up with him at home in England.

Alan Davies is more than QI

It took three full seasons before Alan Davies understood that he was the designated fall guy in QI.

This week QI returned to its original home on BBC Two. As part of a special night devoted to the world's most interesting (and personally I think the greatest) panel game a documentary covering the making of the show was broadcast.

Speaking as someone who knows QI back-to-front and inside-out, I already knew about much of the information mentioned in the documentary, although to most viewers it did include stuff which will of no doubt be of interest. The fact, for example, Michael Palin was to be the original host (Stephen Fry and Alan Davies were going to be team captains, with Fry the head of the clever team and Davies head of the stupid team) and that two questions were created by reading an entire Albanian dictionary cover-to-cover is interesting.

However, there were some things that even I was surprised about. While I know that the show has popular demand, I didn't know that it was the TV show with the second biggest demand for tickets in Britain (after Top Gear), thus making it the most demanded comedy show in Britain. No wonder I've only been able to see one recording at the time of writing.

The main area of interest to me is the work carried out by the show's researchers or "Elves". For me, being a QI elf would be my dream job. Just trying to find anything that would be of interest, coming across a glorious chunk of information that hardly anyone else knows about, would be a joy to behold. That's why I spend so much time on the QI forums, trying to contribute information in the hope of recognition. One day maybe I'll get that job... one day... a man can dream.