Danny Baker's comedy Cradle To Grave is an ode to 1970s

BBC adaptation of broadcaster's memoirs suggests Britain was better then.

Danny Baker is already working on Cradle To Grave 2

Danny Baker has started work on the second series of his autobiographical drama Cradle To Grave - before the first series has even aired.

Peter Kay spotted filming new show with Danny Baker

It seems the rumours at the end of last year that he will be playing Danny Baker's dad in a sitcom based on the broadcaster's memoirs are true - as the Londoner and radio presenter was also spotted on set.

Poor, hapless Alan Davies is on the receiving end of a storm of QI klaxons as he good-naturedly lurches from one wrong answer to the next. But it's an honourable tradition and Davies is a willing fallguy - he even fails at a supposedly foolproof experiment involving a broom's centre of gravity.

Elsewhere, guests Danny Baker, Jo Brand and Marcus Brigstocke enjoy a bit of a jolly knockabout that's full of surprises and "well, I never knew that" sort of facts, including the answer to questions such as £what do mosquitos do in the rain?" and which country has the longest traffic jams. At one point it all becomes a bit much for Baker who wails, "On behalf of the audience I have to say, sometimes I hate this programme."

Pull a cracker for a festive QI with Phill Jupitus, Alan Davies, Danny Baker and RT's Sarah Millican. They are a ribald bunch, leading ringmaster Stephen Fry, resplendent in a luxuriant Santa outfit, to wail: "We have started our family Christmas show just as I'd hoped we would."

Everyone is on fine form and there are some good gags, including one from Fry about Freudians and a light bulb. And we learn why it is always Christmas in Millican's spare bedroom.

The derivation of advertising jingles is just one of the 'quite interesting' facts relayed by jovial host Stephen Fry, today in Father Christmas costume for the QI festive special. Other topics include Twelfth Night - not necessarily on January 6, according to Alan Davies's calculations - and jesus lizards. It's an enjoyable episode, with fun comic diversions including a rant about 'shiny children' that Phill Jupitus cannily uses to deflect from Fry's rather awkward question to Sarah Millican on the subject of kids. Millican may be a popular stand-up, but she's given little chance to shine here, mostly laughing very loudly at the chaps' banter. Danny Baker, meanwhile, gets to show off his obscure knowledge. It's entertaining, but not as much as, say, the 2010 Christmas special, where guest Daniel Radcliffe was used to better effect.