Highlights from the light-hearted literary quiz chaired by James Walton

The Write Stuff is the book-based panel show that takes a witty and whimsical look at well-known authors and their work. Host James Walton challenges the erudite contestants with tricky literary teasers, which they endeavour to answer using a combination of knowledge and guesswork.

Each episode is themed around an ‘Author of the Week’, who is the subject of the introductory rounds in which the panellists read out favourite quotations from their writing and field questions about their life. Among the intervening rounds are ‘Connections’, ‘Odd One Out’, a music round, an archive round and a fast-paced, fingers-on-buzzers round of general literary knowledge. And for the rib-tickling finale, the contestants are tasked with penning parodies in the style of the chosen author, resulting in comic gems such as Jerome K Jerome’s ‘Three Men on a Club 18-30 Holiday’, a hardboiled crime novel in the style of Virginia Woolf, and a Twitter thread by Jane Eyre.

Collected here are 40 of the finest episodes from the show’s 17 series, featuring iconic writers from Jane Austen and Charles Dickens to James Joyce, Anton Chekhov, William Wordsworth and John Milton. Pitting their wits against each other are the fiercely competitive team captains Sebastian Faulks and John Walsh, aided by celebrity guests including Stephen Fry, Miles Kington, Philippa Gregory, Sue Limb, Simon Brett, Lynne Truss, John O’Farrell, Natalie Haynes and Mark Billingham. Also included is a Christmas special, filled with festive quizzing and seasonally themed pastiches.

Clever, funny and decidedly unstuffy, this knockabout show is a must for bookworms, bibliophiles and anyone who enjoys mixing some laughter with their literature.

Production credits

Compiled, written and presented by James Walton

Produced by John Rolph, Katie Marsden, Dawn Ellis, Alexandra Smith and Sam Michell

Readers: Rachel Atkins, Beth Chalmers and Becky Hindley