Stephen Fry is back on our screens and, once again, he’s putting our brains to the ultimate test. The British comedian-turned-actor-turned-game-show host is fronting the Australian version of Jeopardy!, a much-loved quiz show that, for the first time in the franchise’s 40-year history, will be tailored to Australia, featuring Australians.
“It’s so nice being able to bring it to Australia,” Stephen, who’s been hosting the UK reboot since January and has filmed six episodes just for Aussie audiences, tells TV WEEK. “I’ve always thought it was a fabulous show.”
Stephen, 66, says he first learned that a UK version of the classic quiz show was in the pipeline after a seemingly casual dinner in the US with his agent last year.
“We were chattering away, in a non-work-related way, when he asked me what my daily routine was,” he says. “I told him I wasn’t one for Hollywood parties or late nights, and I tended to cook an early supper, maybe watch Jeopardy! and then go to bed.
“He said, ‘Do you [also] watch it in the UK? And I said, ‘No, we don’t have it in the UK and I’ve always thought that’s a real pity.’
“About two weeks later, he calls me up and says, ‘British TV are very excited about you doing Jeopardy!’
“I said, ‘I beg your pardon?’”
Having misconstrued Stephen’s enthusiasm for a desire to host the show, the agent said to think on it and get back to him. A few hours later, Stephen returned the call and said, “Why not?”
The result is a fast-paced, no-frills throwback to the game shows of the 1980s.
“There’s something about its structure and rhythms and the way it works out that I couldn’t resist,” he says. “Also, it attracts really smart quizzers. If you’re good, you can stay on and make serious amounts of money. In America, there are many Jeopardy! millionaires.”
While Stephen modestly attributes the show’s success to its contestants, much of its charm has to do with its host.
Stephen is something of an oddity in TV land these days. With his acerbic wit, he’s always pushed the boundaries of what’s deemed appropriate for primetime television, but in such a clever way that he’s been able to escape the dreaded “cancel culture” throughout his four-decade career.
Looking back on his varied journey, that’s filled with everything from narrating the Harry Potter audiobooks to hosting panel show QI for 13 years, he says it’s the friendships he’s made along the way that stand out for him.
“A highlight for me was when my friend Emma Thompson introduced me to Hugh Laurie at university – we kind of fell in love in a non-romance sort of way,” he chuckles. “We instantly seemed to mesh and became comic partners. We enriched each other in the way partners do when you write and perform together. And that really led to everything.”
Stephen adds that it was Australia that played a large part in his career taking off, after promoter Michael Edgley asked him, Emma and Hugh to tour the country in 1981.
While here, offers began to flood in, one being There’s Nothing To Worry About with Ben Elton and the following being Blackadder.
“Suddenly, we were in the business without really being qualified or feeling like we passed the exam,” he says. “It all sort of fell in our laps. We were really quite lucky.”
In a full-circle moment, Stephen reveals he’s set to return to our shores later this year for his own stand-up tour in October.
“We’re literally wrangling over contracts, but I’m very much looking forward to it,” he says. “I’ll get to see some old friends again.”
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