So is Miles Jupp better than Sandi Toksvig as host of The News Quiz? It’s an unfair question and too early to say after one episode anyway. But the big cheer at the start certainly sounded like a vote of confidence.

For this well-established series it was quickly business as usual, kicking off with the usual cuttings from local papers and a nice bit of smut about a couple performing a sex act on local train in Essex.

And then there was certainly plenty of news to discuss. In fact all Jupp needed to do was cheerily mention Jeremy Corbyn and sit back and let the others do the heavy lifting. Susan Calman got plenty of laughs highlighting the blanket press coverage, while Mark Steel chipped in with a possible headline for next week's tabloids: “Corbyn now plans women-only gravity”. Steel also suggested that when Corbyn asked the people’s questions at PMQ he should have pulled them out of a bucket.

While Sarah Kendall was fairly quiet, journalist/politician Danny Finkelstein chipped in to point out that Corbyn appointed Lucy Powell to the shadow cabinet without ever having met her. Calman called it “a blind date”. Jupp wound up the section by suggesting that there should be other lefts as well as the hard left and the soft left – such as the “absorbent left”.

The programme soon found a rhythm, whether it was discussing banker-bashing, the refugee crisis or same sex marriage. Jupp played against posh type by suggesting that he liked the spontaneity of riots. It wasn’t clear how much spontaneity there was to his lines. Some felt a little over-scripted. When talking about the church, the Rev star dryly said “do something that gets results, like praying”, which didn’t get much of a laugh. 

And so the quiz built to its end, with Sarah Kendall reading out a smashing news cutting: “Rare crockery to go under hammer.” Jupp referred to Steel as “Comrade Mark”. He did speak a bit fast at times and could do with slowing down, but his diction is so crisp that was hardly an issue. If it's a problem for you get a hearing aid.

I’m not sure if fans will be saying “Sandi who?” just yet, but as debuts go this was a pretty efficient one. Jupp felt like a good fit and I’m sure he will get better. As he joshed when referring to Jeremy Corbyn: “It’s all a learning curve and he’ll be a lot more confident by episode 2…”