Interview: Sandi Toksvig

Sandi Toksvig talks to Melonie Clarke
What quiz show has appeared back on our screens after a ten year hiatus? Question or nominate?

Yes it can only be the legendary quiz show Fifteen to One.

Sandi Toksvig takes the helm of the returned show which is now an hour long and includes a £40k prize for one lucky winner.

'What a thing to be asked to do,' Sandi tells me.

But was taking the place of the shows previous host, William G Stewart, was she nervous?

'You can't think like that. You can't. Clearly I am not William G Stewart and he was brilliant. But you can't model yourself on others.'

'It's a bit like when I took over the news quiz on radio 4 I couldn't think that I have to be Simon Hoggart or whatever. Just make things your own,' she continues.

'I am not a very competitive person. I wanted there to be a really nice atmosphere. I like to think that every single one of our competitor had a nice experience.'

Dubbed as one of the hardest quiz shows on tv, 15 contestants battle it out answering some tough questions, or nominating a fellow contestant. So how does Sandi feel she'd fare on the show?

'I have a weird and eclectic mind, so I have a lot of general knowledge in there. What I learnt from the program is that mostly it's chance that you get the area that you know... the range of questions is remarkable'

'If you asked me a question, almost any question, about popular culture, I wouldn't be any good. I could read an entire Hello Magazine and not know a single person in it.'

But shew is hastened to add that this is not because of her age.

'I would be rubbish if you asked me a question about pop music. But I was rubbish at 18, it's not because I'm old, I've never been interested.'

Not one to tackle juts one project at a time, she has many things on the go, including getting behind the appeal to restore London's Regent Cinema.

'It's fantastic, the birth of cinema in the UK. my partner went to a Polytechnic that is now the University of Westminster and studying film there. I'm going to get two seats named for us and we will sit forever together in the dark watching films.'

'I'm a passionate believer in paying attention to our history – can you imagine that night for the very first time people saw moving pictures – it must have been terrifying.'

'It is a place where People have performed, a place where great scientific experiments have been done. We must mark these things and pay attention.'

As well as the Regent cinema, she was behind the petition to stop the move of the Women's Library (which incidentally went ahead, the collections can now be found at LSE).

'I'm not somebody that hates change but I was passionate that it was preserved, that anybody could come in and people felt really welcome. I had done a lot of talks there and am very devoted to the building.'

'Having said that, I believe the new location is fantastic.'

'What is critical of course is that 12,000 or more objects are properly preserved.'

Her love of history clearly plays a large part in her life.

'I am very passionate about history. When I do theatre touring which is not my favourite thing to do, the way that my tour manager keeps me going is that we visit a National Trust property. She knows perfectly well that I will go 100 miles out of my way so that I could go to a brown sign place. It keeps me cheerful.'

With plenty already in her diary, what does she have coming up?

'I have just finished writing a pilot for a sitcom for the BBC. I have written a musical about Dusty Springfield. I am writing a play. I am trying to write plays that have some social purpose and the next one is I about how we treat old people in care homes. I also have a children's book which is set in 1843. It's a novel about a family who emigrate from Ireland during the famine to Oregon.'

'So it's nonstop but that's okay.'

Despite reports that she is leaving BBC Radio 4, she also hosts The News Quiz .

'I do the news quiz on a regular basis on radio 4, despite reports in the papers that I am leaving...I'm not going anywhere.'

Catch the last episode of Fifteen to One on Thursday 1 May, 4.30pm Channel 4