Gyles

If the BBC is correct - it sometimes isn't - Gyles Brandreth is about to enter the list of top 10 appearances amongst panellists.

The BBC says this week's show is the second recording featuring Gyles, Paul Merton, Julian Clary and David Mitchell.

The current top 10 (excluding Nicholas Parsons) is...

1st - Sir Clement Freud 547
2nd - Kenneth Williams 346
3rd - Peter Jones 332
4th - Derek Nimmo 311
5th - Paul Merton 232
6th - Tony Hawks 101
7th - Sheila Hancock 82
8th - Graham Norton 69
9th - Andree Melly 54
10th - Sir Tim Rice 46

Gyles is on 45, so will reach 46 this week.

I think he is beginning to sound like a fixture on the show. His banter with Paul Merton is always entertaining and I would not be surprised if Paul was recommending Gyles appear more often. In the first show this season, I enjoyed the repartee when Gyles did the joke about seeing a sign on the Underground that dogs must be carried on the Tube and it taking him half an hour to find one. Paul asked Gyles if that was his joke and Gyles admitted it wasn't. I don't know if Paul already knew that or not, but either way it was an acknowledgement of a very good joke from a comic master.

I expect Gyles will do one of the two recordings still to come this season.