diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard/dashgrid/PanelChrome.tsx b/public/app/features/dashboard/dashgrid/PanelChrome.tsx
index 9a725264c10..d08f298f7ad 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard/dashgrid/PanelChrome.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard/dashgrid/PanelChrome.tsx
@@ -99,15 +99,9 @@ export class PanelChrome extends PureComponent<Props, State> {
       if (data.state === LoadingState.Error) {
         const { error } = data;
         if (error) {
-          let message = 'Query error';
-          if (error.message) {
-            message = error.message;
-          } else if (error.data && error.data.message) {
-            message = error.data.message;
-          } else if (error.data && error.data.error) {
-            message = error.data.error;
-          } else if (error.status) {
-            message = `Query error: ${error.status} ${error.statusText}`;
+          let message = error.message;
+          if (!message) {
+            message = 'Query error';
           }
 
           if (this.state.errorMessage !== message) {
diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard/state/PanelQueryRunner.ts b/public/app/features/dashboard/state/PanelQueryRunner.ts
index 16fbc7b0f67..8f98d25c849 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard/state/PanelQueryRunner.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard/state/PanelQueryRunner.ts
@@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ import cloneDeep from 'lodash/cloneDeep';
 
 import kbn from 'app/core/utils/kbn';
 
-export interface QueryRunnerOptions {
-  ds?: DataSourceApi; // if they already have the datasource, don't look it up
+export interface QueryRunnerOptions<TQuery extends DataQuery = DataQuery> {
+  ds?: DataSourceApi<TQuery>; // if they already have the datasource, don't look it up
   datasource: string | null;
-  queries: DataQuery[];
+  queries: TQuery[];
   panelId: number;
   dashboardId?: number;
   timezone?: string;
@@ -174,7 +174,17 @@ export class PanelQueryRunner {
     } catch (err) {
       const error = err as DataQueryError;
       if (!error.message) {
-        err.message = 'Query Error';
+        let message = 'Query error';
+        if (error.message) {
+          message = error.message;
+        } else if (error.data && error.data.message) {
+          message = error.data.message;
+        } else if (error.data && error.data.error) {
+          message = error.data.error;
+        } else if (error.status) {
+          message = `Query error: ${error.status} ${error.statusText}`;
+        }
+        error.message = message;
       }
 
       this.data = {