Jeopardy! UK season 2: release date and everything we know

(Image credit: ITV)

Jeopardy! UK season 2 is almost here, with Sir Stephen Fry back hosting the quiz show which is incredibly massive in America.

While it's not quite so big in the UK, it was popular enough to get a second run on ITV1. Talking about the showing coming back, Stephen says: "Very pleased. Does one use the word 'cult' to describe Jeopardy! or the even more clichéd, 'iconic' because this show has the status it has?

"It's such an unusual format. Any Brits who haven't seen it in America are a bit puzzled as it takes a bit of getting used to. But once you do — and I know from just the experience, which is why I was very happy to do it — that it really catches hold of you and becomes a kind of addictive thing. It's really good fun to do."

He adds: "I've been asked why I'm being a quiz master, and I say it's a dream job for me. I'm aware that some people think I'm a sort of intellectual or posho and that being a quiz master is not a noble job. I think it's a perfectly noble job, and I'm very happy to do it.

"I love the variety of my life. I do radio programmes about language and literature, I write about these things, and I am the Visiting Professor of Creative Media at Oxford. You know, we have a mixture in life. Who doesn't think it's a great treat occasionally to go to a Michelin starred restaurant — but I will never give up beans on toast. I'm not saying Jeopardy! is beans on toast, of course, but it's silly to label people as being one sort of style or another. ITV is pleased with it, hence the faith they've exhibited in it for this second season."

Here's everything we know...

Jeopardy! UK season 2 release date

Stephen Fry hosting Jeopardy UK! — (Image credit: ITV)

Jeopardy! UK season 2 begins on Monday, March 17 on ITV1 at 3 pm. It will then run daily at the same time. There are 25 episodes, which is longer than the first series.

How does Jeopardy! UK work?

Jeopardy! is a general knowledge quiz show that flips the traditional question-and-answer format on its head.

Whilst it's still a trivia-based show, Jeopardy! instead sees contestants being offered several clues that point the players to a concept, a place, or a thing. To "answer" correctly, contestants have to figure out what the thing in question is, and then give the matching question that goes with the clue. So, for example, if the clue was "King Charles III", they might say "who is the current king of the UK?"

The format has been changed slightly for the second season. Stephen explains: "One of the exciting things about this second series is we've tweaked the format to give it more pace. It’s great that ITV have given us an hour, and we enjoyed that in the first series.

"But we felt that it wouldn't lose anything by having an extra round in it. That would mean everything was quicker. And there is something about the rat-a-tat-tat of the game. The questions keep coming, and that adds to the tension and the excitement, and to the uniqueness of Jeopardy! My belief is that with the little tweaks we've made, it'll be even more exciting."