QI XL: Gardens


9:00 pm - 10:00 pm, Wednesday, February 11 on U&Dave (19)

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About this Broadcast

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Gardens
Season 7, Episode 1

Stephen Fry picks the brains of guests David Mitchell, Rob Brydon, Dara O Briain and regular panellist Alan Davies in an extended version of the unconventional quiz, as he tests their knowledge of obscure facts on the theme of gardens


subtitles 16x9
Comedy Game Show/Quiz/Contest Movie/Drama Show/Game Show

Cast & Crew

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Alan Davies (Panellist)
Rob Brydon (Panellist)
David Mitchell (Panellist)
Dara O Briain (Panellist)
Ian Lorimer (Director)
Piers Fletcher (Producer)

More Information

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Did You Know..

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Stephen Fry (Host)
Born: August 24, 1957 in Hampstead, London
Best Known For: His sharp wit.
Early-life: Stephen John Fry was born on August 24, 1957, in Hampstead, London. He grew up in Norfolk alongside an older brother and younger sister. His father, Alan, is a physicist. Fry attended public schools Stout's Hill and Uppingham (from which he was expelled), and spent time in a Young Offender's Institution after going on a spending spree with a stolen credit card. His writing and performing skills were honed at Cambridge University, where his contemporaries included Emma Thompson, Tony Slattery and Hugh Laurie.
Career: After graduating, Fry and Laurie enjoyed a successful comedy partnership. Fry was a millionaire by 30, thanks to a successful rewrite of the Noel Gay musical Me and My Girl. He has appeared in numerous films and TV projects, including Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster, Wilde, Thunderpants, Kingdom and The Hobbit. He's also written several books, and is well-known as a charming raconteur. He made his movie debut as writer and director with Bright Young Things, based on Evelyn Waugh's book, Vile Bodies. Fry is the presenter of comedy quiz QI, he has also made several acclaimed documentaries, including ones about manic depression and Aids, and he is the reader for the British versions of JK Rowling's Harry Potter series of audio books.
Quote: "I don't need you to remind me of my age. I have a bladder to do that for me."
Trivia: His distinctive voice has also been featured in a number of video games, including Fable II and Fable III, and as the narrator in the LittleBigPlanet games.
Alan Davies (Panellist)
Born: March 06, 1966 in Loughton, Essex
Best Known For: Jonathan Creek and being the permanent panellist on QI.
Early-life: Alan Roger Davies was born in Loughton, Essex, on March 6, 1966. Together with his older brother and younger sister, Alan was raised by his accountant father, following the death of his mother from leukaemia when he was six. Despite disliking school, he was a bright child and passed 12 O-Levels and two A-Levels before studying drama at the University of Kent. On graduating, he signed on for an Enterprise Allowance Scheme to help fund his assault on the London comedy circuit.
Career: Davies performed his first stand-up gig in 1988, and by the early 1990s was a rising star, picking up rave reviews at Edinburgh. He later gave up playing clubs to concentrate on radio. His Radio 1 series, Alan's Big One FM, led to TV appearances on shows such as One Foot in the Grave, before he was cast as the lead in Jonathan Creek, the light-hearted mystery drama that made him a household name. Other acting work includes Bob and Rose, A Many Splintered Thing, The Brief, Marple, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008), Lewis and Whites. He presented the three-part documentary Alan Davies' Teenage Revolution for Channel 4 in 2010 and was a judge in 2011 on ITV talent show Show Me the Funny. He's also appeared in West End hit Auntie and Me. He has been a permanent panellist on irreverent quiz QI since the show began in 2003.
Quote: "I'm like a fine wine. I'm maturing."
Trivia: In early 2012, he announced his first UK stand-up tour in 12 years.
Rob Brydon (Panellist)
Born: May 03, 1965 in Swansea
Best Known For: His chat show and Gavin & Stacey.
Early-life: Born Robert Brydon Jones in Swansea, South Wales, on May 3, 1965. His early years were spent in Baglan near Port Talbot before he and his family moved to Porthcawl. He attended two secondary schools, one alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones, the other with Ruth Jones. Under the guidance of his drama teacher at the local comprehensive school, his interest in acting grew, leading to him attending The Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. During the second year of his course, he quit to work for BBC Wales and enjoyed six years of presenting work on local TV and radio stations.
Career: While still presenting, Brydon ventured into comedy, and made ends meet by providing voices for adverts and animations. A small role in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels inspired him to make a short film of his comic characters; series of Marion & Geoff, A Small Summer Party and The Keith Barret Show followed. Other credits include Director's Commentary, Human Remains, Supernova, A Cock and Bull Story, Little Britain, Annually Retentive and Gavin & Stacey. He's also hosted his own BBC chat show and has chaired the comedy panel show Would I Lie to You? since 2009. In 2010, he starred alongside Steve Coogan in the partially improvised BBC Two sitcom The Trip and has since appeared in its follow-up.
Quote: "I was always very good with girls, I could talk to them no problem at all. But I could never close the deal. You need Dutch courage to do that, to kiss them."
Trivia: He released an autobiography, Small Man in a Book, in 2011.
David Mitchell (Panellist)
Born: July 14, 1974 in Salisbury
Best Known For: Being one half of hysterical duo Mitchell and Webb.
Early-life: Born David James Stuart Mitchell in Salisbury on July 14, 1974. He has a younger brother called Daniel. His parents were hotel managers who later moved to Oxford, where they became lecturers in hotel management. He claims he always wanted to be an actor or comedian, but told people he planned to become a barrister to please his parents. In 1993 David went to Peterhouse College, Cambridge, to study history. He performed with the famous Cambridge Footlights, eventually becoming the society president. It was in his first year at university that he met Robert Webb at an audition for a student pantomime production of Cinderella.
Career: After graduating, Mitchell worked an usher at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. He and Webb took a number of shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival before being asked to write for Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller and for surreal comedy series Big Train. In 2001, they made their first sketch show, The Mitchell and Webb Situation, which ran for six episodes on the now-defunct cable channel Play UK. Their next project came in 2003, with the award-winning Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show. They've also worked together on That Mitchell and Webb Sound, That Mitchell and Webb Look and the film Magicians. Solo, Mitchell has appeared on 10 O'Clock Live and numerous panel shows, including Would I Lie to You?, where he's a regular team captain. His autobiography, Back Story: A Memoir, was published in 2012.
Quote: "I think, fundamentally, the people I want to make laugh are British. I can't ever imagine living abroad."
Trivia: He writes columns for The Observer and The Guardian.
Dara O Briain (Panellist)
Born: February 04, 1972 in Bray, Co Wicklow, Ireland
Best Known For: Mock the Week.
Early-life: Born in Bray, Co Wicklow, on February 4, 1972, and attended a tough school on Dublin's southside. He studied maths and theoretical physics at University College, Dublin. While a student there, he was both the auditor of the Literary and Historical Society (the university's oldest debating society and the official College Debating Union) and the co-founder and co-editor of the University Observer college newspaper. In 1994, he won the Irish Times National Debating Championship and the Irish Times/Gael Linn National Irish language debating championship.
Career: O Briain's first post-uni job was as a children's TV presenter for RTE. He also began performing stand-up gigs on the Irish comedy circuit. He came to prominence as a team captain on the Irish topical panel show Don't Feed The Gondolas (1998-2000). He then toured heavily, performing across Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. In 2002, O Briain began making appearances on British TV shows. He has hosted the comedy panel game Mock the Week since 2005, and continues to perform stand-up. He took over from Adrian Chiles as the host of The Apprentice: You're Fired! in 2010, but quit in 2014. He has also branched out into maths and science with the series School of Hard Sums and Stargazing Live.
Quote: On School of Hard Sums: "I only did it to get the problems, because I quite like doing equations. There's a bit of me that just pined for a bit of maths."
Trivia: O Briain was one of the six celebrities who took on the Zambezi River for Comic Relief's 2013 Through Hell and High Water challenge.
Ian Lorimer (Director)
Piers Fletcher (Producer)