If you’ve ever listened to the podcast of No Such Thing as a Fish, or seen the live show on tour, you’ll be familiar with the format of BBC Two’s No Such Thing as The News.

Four QI elves each present their favourite interesting fact of the week, sparking off a bit of entertaining banter.

This simple but effective formula has now been transported to TV as if by magic. So what did it take to make the leap from sound-bite to small screen? Other than a few tweaks, not a huge amount seems to have changed during this process.

While the programe has been retitled No Such Thing as the News, or NSTATN for short, the theme tune remains the same (‘Wasps’ by Emperor Yes) and the new logo has the same black and yellow stripes, although the overall tone is generally good-humoured rather than waspish.

The elves who once toiled behind the scenes as researchers, armed with shelf-loads of books and brains the size of a planetarium, have emerged into the spotlight and can now be both seen and heard. Topics under discussion include gecko pads, the Gunpowder Plot and turning water into wine.

Filmed in front of a live audience at Up the Creek Comedy Club in Greenwich, this is a remarkably low-tech affair compared to its popular parent programme QI. Yet this may have worked in its favour, as the decision to give the programme an initial five-week run was hardly going to make a dent in the budget.

To illustrate a story about the International Space Station, producer-turned-presenter Dan Schreiber holds up a piece of A4 paper, showing a piece of reinforced glass with a hole in it, while James Harkin brandishes a print-out of see-through wood – the fact that you can barely see it becomes part of the joke.

Opinions are divided on this no-frills style. Complaints via Twitter that “It’s basically a film of a podcast” are countered by others who maintain that this is all part of its charm. In common with Channel 4’s The Last Leg, NSTATN uses Twitter as a resource, asking followers to tweet in titbits of news, and acknowledging the contributors of the most entertaining facts by their Twitter handle.

The absence of political satire is another aspect which could work in its favour. While some still regard this as an essential part of British comedy, satirical comedy falls down when it turns into a predictable, knee-jerk reaction to the week’s news.

There are already a number of well-established shows competing in this arena, with the result that the same joke is often re-hashed two or even three times in succession. In its search for quirky, unusual and fascinating facts, NSTATN has more in common with Russell Howard’s Good News than it does with Mock the Week or Have I Got News For You.

It’s interesting to note that this programme was commissioned not by comedy bosses, but by the BBC’s news department.

Airing on BBC Two just after 11pm on a Friday night, hot on the heels of the heavier Newsnight debates, NSTATN breezes in like a breath of fresh air, offering a light-hearted look at what’s going on in the world. Encouraging early viewing figures show promise of more to come.

Aired at 11.05pm on Friday 20 May 2016 on BBC Two.

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