Stephen Fry quits QI

Still reeling from the controlled demolition of Top Gear we’re now presented with the news that Stephen Fry has announced his retirement from QI, at the end of the upcoming “M” series.

With the new series to be the thirteenth in the show’s run, Fry has presented 180 episodes of the popular panel show and it seems he’s decided to move on. Ceremoniously - at the half way mark in the show’s “alphabet” - he passes the rights to the host’s chair to comedian Sandi Toksvig.

Toksvig herself has just finished a lengthy run of hosting Radio 4’s The News Quiz - a satirical panel show now chaired in its new iteration by Miles Jupp.

Contrary to popular belief, however, Fry is not QI‘s fountain of knowledge from which all of the show’s nuggets of information flow. The “Elfs” - the show’s talented researchers - aren’t going anywhere, and neither is Alan Davies, though the dynamic between the latter and Fry will be sorely missed.

Speaking to the Radio Times, Fry has said “”For thirteen years I had one of the best jobs on television […] After passing the alphabetical halfway mark I thought it time to move on, but I will never cease to be grateful to John Lloyd for devising QI and for everyone else for making it such fun.”

Toksvig has said of the appointment that “QI is my favourite television programme both to watch and to be on, so this is absolutely my dream job […] I look forward to picking up the baton […] Who knows what lies ahead? It should all be quite interesting.”

Series M of QI begins on Friday, 10pm on BBC2.