John Lloyd is a hugely talented television producer and author. He produced Not The Nine O’Clock News, Spitting Image and Blackadder. Ten years ago he conceived and created the QI project, the long running show of general ignorance fronted by Stephen Fry. Lloyd’s QI books have sold around the world in their millions.

Here he discusses his own battles with depression and the healing work of sixties Zen Buddhist Alan Watts with Idler editor Tom Hodgkinson. We did the interview by the estuary at the 2014 Port Eliot Festival. David Hunt was holding the camera. The interview starts with Tom doing a blooper. In the interests of idling, we decided to leave it in.