Have I Got News for You

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Have I Got News for You (sometimes abbreviated to HIGNFY) is a long-running UK television topical panel game. Produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC, it is a comedy programme rather than a serious game show: the banter between the guests and their sardonic remarks are more important than the scores, which are only ever briefly referred to. The series has also cultivated a reputation for sailing close to the wind in matters of libel. The original format was loosely based on that of the popular BBC Radio 4 show, The News Quiz.

Participants

The original line-up, from 1990 to 2002, was Angus Deayton as chair, with Ian Hislop, the editor of Private Eye, and comedian Paul Merton as team captains. Each captain is accompanied by a guest: often a politician, journalist or comedian. Merton took a break from the show during the eleventh series in 1996, making only one appearance as a guest on Hislop's team. Following allegations linking Deayton with prostitutes and drug use in UK tabloids in 2002, the host was asked to resign from the show. Merton hosted the first episode after Deayton's departure, and a series of guest hosts appeared for the remainder of the season. Hislop, therefore, is the only person to have appeared in every episode — despite suffering from a burst appendix shortly before one edition and having to go to hospital immediately afterwards.

Having a different guest host each week proved successful, with average audience figures increasing from 6 million with Deayton to 7 million with the new format, and it was announced in June 2003 that it would be a permanent feature of the show.

Format

HIGNFY began on BBC Two on 28 September 1990 and transferred to BBC One in October 2000. Two series, each of around eight episodes, are made every year. Over an hour's worth of material is recorded for each 30-minute programme on Thursday evenings for broadcast on Friday, allowing the programme to remain topical while the BBC's lawyers have time to request cuts of potentially libellous material. The regulars have commented that if a guest says anything funny, it is usually included, while they themselves are cut ruthlessly.

As for the show itself, the quiz aspect and scores are largely ignored in favour of the panellists' witty exchanges and jokes, and the format seems to change frequently and at a whim. Proceedings usually begin with some manner of droll one-liner that rarely manages to elicit any kind of response from the audience. In the time of Angus Deayton, these took the form of such quips as:

"Good evening and welcome to Have I Got News for You, the show that's done for Friday and Saturday nights what ten pints of lager does for Sunday mornings."

More recently, with the guest presenters, these have been amusing comments referring to the hosts themselves, such as:

"Good evening and welcome to Have I Got News for You. I'm Boris Johnson and when I first appeared as a guest on this show, I complained that the whole thing was scripted and fully rehearsed. I'd now like to complain in the strongest possible terms that it isn't."

Following this, "In the news this week...": several video clips are displayed, each supplied with a scripted, humorous caption from the host. When Trevor McDonald chaired an episode in 2006, each "In the news this week..." was preceded by a "bong," referring to ITV News. The chairman then proceeds to introduce that week's guests, with some kind of jocular remark for each.

The main section of the show comprises several rounds, although, as noted above, this is liable to change. They usually consist of the following:

• The "Film Round" is first, in which silent news video clips are played to the teams, who then identify them and add their own views, including rants and jokes on vaguely relevant subjects.
• Next, the "Tabloid Headlines" round, in which the panellists must identify and comment on the stories of the week from sufficiently pun-filled tabloid headlines.
• In recent series, the latter has been replaced with either the "Picture-Spin Quiz", where a picture is spun around and the teams have to guess what news story it is related to or the "Wheel of News", in which the host spins a wheel and the teams have to guess how the resulting person or object is relevant to the week's news.
• The third slot is the most frequently altered, usually being some kind of topical buzzer round, but is sometimes replaced with a quiz game pertinent to the current guests, e.g., a mock Mastermind game when Magnus Magnusson appeared, a "Kick Blair's Butt" quiz when Boris Johnson MP guest hosted for the first time, and "Play Your Iraqi Cards Right" when Bruce Forsyth presented the show. In recent series, it's also become the "Picture Spin Quiz", where pictures are shown from an unusual angle and the panellists have to guess the related story.
• Next comes the "Odd One Out" round where four personalities, characters or objects are presented to a team, whereupon it must identify the interloper, and the topical, amusing or ridiculously obscure link between the other three. In one episode, Paul's "Odd One Out" selection consisted of 16 images and in another, the round comprised four photos of Michael Howard.
• After that tends to come the "Missing Words" round, where newspaper headlines are displayed, with choice words blanked out. The panellists then suggest what these could be. Also usually featured is an obscure "guest publication" from which some of the headlines are taken. In the past, these have included Goat World, Arthritis News, International Car Park Design and Diarrhoea Digest. Examples of Missing Words are "I'll take Edward up the _____", "Church may be forced to sell _____" and "PM sucked into _____".
• Occasionally, or, in other words, if there's time to fill, there's a Quick-Fire Caption Competition, where a potentially amusing picture or two are shown, to which the panellists are invited to provide an apt headline.

Despite the fact that Merton is a comedian and Hislop a current affairs magazine editor, the former usually wins. He attributes this to his ingenious tactic of reading the newspapers each week. Astute viewers will notice that Merton's other major point-winning tactic is a tendency to jump in and answer questions that were actually addressed to the other team.

Deayton typically rounded up the scores with amusing summaries, such as "This week's dog's dinners are [...], while this week's dog's bollocks are..." He also awarded 'prizes': e.g., (when Clive Anderson was a guest) "So, a night with Pamela Anderson for our winners; a night with Clive Anderson for our losers." or "So, for our winners: the chance to go to Michael Portillo's constituency and see the count. For our losers: the chance to retype that sentence without the spelling mistake." The host then thanks the guests and, starting with "I leave you with news that...", provides scripted, satirical captions to a further few pictures, and ends with "Goodnight".

Choice moments

Featuring some of those from The Very Best of Have I Got News for You DVD.

• One of the biggest laughs of the show's first year came when the Missing Words round posed the question '"I made Thatcher ____ ", boasts Nigel', to which Paul quickly suggested, "Swallow?" This left the other panellists incapable of providing further comment. After a while, Angus jumped in with, "No, it's not a reference to food."

• When forced to apologise to Ernest Saunders for suggesting his bout of Alzheimer's, which got him released from prison (after 10 months of a 5-year sentence) and from which he had subsequently recovered, seemed a bit too convenient, the show (via Angus) added that Saunders was a swindler and con-artist. As he had originally been jailed for fraud, he could hardly complain again.

• In a rare example of Merton being the butt of a joke, Hislop and Deayton started a rumour in 1993, that Deayton, who had recently been voted "TV's Mr Sex" had been "shagging Merton's wife", who was, at the time, Caroline Quentin. The joke was accentuated by light-hearted flirting between Quentin and Deayton when she made guest appearances on the show. In one edition of HIGNFY, the panel discussed Merton being mistaken by several members of the public for disgraced footballer Paul Merson. Merton explained that this had resulted in phone calls which had awoken his wife. Hislop was quick to chime in, apologising for any inconvenience caused to Quentin, but Deayton forgave him, claiming they had not been disturbed.

• When Roy Hattersley failed to appear for the June 4 1993 episode — it was the third time he'd cancelled at the last minute — he was replaced with a tub of lard (credited as "The Rt. Hon. Tub of Lard MP"), as "they possessed the same qualities and were liable to give similar performances". The Tub of Lard was on the same team as Merton and, though Hislop suggested things were too formal and suggested he call the 'guest' "Tubby", Merton insisted: "Mr Lard to you." He and the lard went on to win, much to the chagrin of Hislop. This was despite the fact that Merton's team's questions were made deliberately hard — especially those directly posed to his 'guest'. The Missing Words round also featured foreign headlines, in languages such as French, German, Russian and even Japanese. The final one was in English, but the entire headline had been blanked out. (See also Running Jokes, below.)

• For Series 7, Episode 8, in 1994, it was announced that the Tub of Lard would be making a return appearance, though this turned out to be a ruse to disguise the appearance on the show of Salman Rushdie, who almost didn't get to be on the show. When his police guards were asked if it was possible for Rushdie to do a quiz show in 1994, they at first refused, but when they heard it was HIGNFY they changed their minds because they liked the show. Rushdie later said his son was more impressed that he had been on HIGNFY than of anything else he had done.

• In a 1995 episode, featuring noted British impressionist Mike Yarwood, the panellists were instructed to mimic various famous people. By a method of "random selection", the first one was Harold Wilson, which had been intended for Yarwood, but Paul Merton wanted to do it himself, as he claimed, "We need the points!". Also in that round, Ian Hislop was memorably made to do a startlingly realistic impression of bald pop star Jimmy Somerville, whom, it had long been joked, he resembled. Hislop noted afterwards, "I can't see myself doing Question Time again."

• When Piers Morgan was a guest in 1996, he came across as very thin-skinned and demanded the others (and in particular, Hislop) cease their "vindictive attacks" on him. Clive Anderson (replacing Merton as team captain that week) scathingly joked that the Daily Mirror was now, thanks to Morgan, almost as good as The Sun, and when asked by Morgan, "What do you know about editing newspapers?" swiftly replied, "About as much as you do". In what was not Morgan's finest moment, he used a joke that Eddie Izzard had used the week before, with a significantly diminished response from the audience. Hislop pointed out that Izzard got a laugh because "People like him". Morgan responded to this by attacking Hislop saying, "Don't play the popularity line with me, Hislop", before appealing to the audience: "Does anyone like him?" When the delighted audience responded loudly in favour of Hislop, Morgan appeared to be well and truly vanquished and somewhat humiliated.

• Shortly after a high profile fall from grace amidst accusations of sleaze, ex-Conservative MP Neil Hamilton and his wife, Christine, were panellists in a 1997 edition where they managed to come through pretty well, despite numerous jokes about the scandal that had engulfed them. (Angus Deayton even handed them their "appearance fees" in brown envelopes.) This was widely felt to have launched the couple as minor celebrities.

• Conservative Member of Parliament and journalist Boris Johnson has had several memorable appearances on the show, which arguably raised his public profile and later led to him being asked to be a guest presenter. The first, in 1998, Johnson seemed to take the ribbing in good humour and eventually admitted defeat and announced that he wanted it "on the record" that he'd "walked straight into a massive elephant trap". In a later appearance in 2001 he was suddenly subjected to a spoof round of Mastermind where he was asked his name and questions on the then leader of the Conservative Party, Iain Duncan Smith (or Iain and Duncan Smith, as a long-running Merton joke had him as being two people), ending up, rather amusingly, with a score of 0.

• In a 1999 episode, Deayton was unusually rude to Paul Merton saying, "...a slightly stupid answer", which left Merton speechless. Ian Hislop quickly replied, "Have you been taking something Angus?" to which Merton added, "The piss for nine years..."

• On one occasion, after he was asked a question, Paul looked upwards (with a thoughtful expression on his face). The scene then switched to a "daydream" of Paul and Ian skipping through a sunny field and smiling. This rather nonsensical aside drew laughter from the audience, as well as the two guests.

• When ex-MI5 agent David Shayler was a guest on the show in 2000, a large television set was placed on the desk, showing him in a studio elsewhere — supposedly in Paris, where he was in hiding from Official Secrets Act charges. Merton, upset by the idea (a guest on a two-second delay worked against his theory that comedy is based on timing) actually switched the set off at one point. Later, in protest, he left his seat, and proceeded to shake hands with audience members in the front row, before collecting a newspaper and settling back down to read it. In addition, the feed was "interrupted" at one point by a five-second sequence involving a naked woman and a ferret. This was a reference to an incident whereby the then recently-launched Channel 5 was interrupted by pornographic television transmissions from France. All were disappointed when Shayler reappeared. When the show is repeated, the sequence is replaced by one of people playing tennis in a nudist colony.

• In 2000, after reading out a letter on air from a member of the public, which complained about the sporadic, unsubstantiated method of assigning points on the show, Angus promptly apologised to its author and proceeded to give one point to Ian's team. (It made no difference to the outcome: Paul's team still won.)

• When Sir Elton John failed to appear as billed in 2001, he was replaced by a "look-alike" called Ray Johnson (apparently a taxi driver) who made very little verbal contribution. Each time the scores were recapped, captions appeared on the screen, advertising, praising or saying something about Ray, whilst at the same time, saying something derogatory about Elton, for example, how Ray would never let anyone down, "unlike Elton. Bastard." Ray was credited as Ray "Elton John" son.

• On the episode where the main news story of the week had been the allegations about Deayton, the presenter was made the butt of almost every joke. The show opened as normal, but as soon as he asked Hislop the first question, Merton cried out, "This has been one news story of the week but the one I'm really interested in, Angus, is..." He and Hislop then managed to turn nearly every subsequent question into a comment on Deayton's behaviour. At one point, Merton unzipped his jacket and revealed the relevant News of the World front page printed on his t-shirt, while his opposing captain had brought in the newspaper itself.

• The first real 'guest' presenter was Anne Robinson, and at the beginning of the show, during her opening greeting, she pointed to the fact that on a previous show Paul Merton had mocked her about her famous wink, saying that it made her look like she'd had a stroke. So after declaring that there were no hard feelings, she proceeded to give Ian Hislop five points straight off the bat. However, when Hislop made continual Robert Maxwell references during the course of the episode (alluding to the large payments Robinson received from her former employer), she gave Merton more points. The mockery didn't end there, as Merton then went on to lampoon The Weakest Link ("I only watch the last five minutes because The Simpsons comes on afterwards. It's nice to see some animation on the television screen"). In another reference to The Weakest Link, Paul shouted "Bank" at random intervals. Thanks to the constant point-awarding, Merton won the show by a reasonably large margin.

• In one episode, the panellists were discussing the latest James Bond film, Die Another Day, and Merton brought up the subject of the invisible car featured in the movie, appearing genuinely confused and spending a good deal of time discussing how pointless it would be to own one ("But wouldn't the villains just be chasing a man doing 80mph in a seated position?"). He concluded by saying, "I'm sitting in an invisible car right now". The host subsequently asked the panel what Prince Charles had been up to that week, to which Merton swiftly replied, "Having sex with a goat? Apparently it was an invisible goat."

• The final show of the second guest-presented series, in 2003, was hosted by Bruce Forsyth. Forsyth's game-show trademarks and clichés were parodied during the show. He opened with a modified version of his famous catchphrase, "Have I got news for you, for you have I got... NEWS!" Rounds included "Play Your Iraqi Cards Right" (a parody of Play Your Cards Right) and, instead of the usual Odd One Out round, one in which the contestants had to remember a number of items on a conveyor belt (including the ubiquitous cuddly toy), and then work out the connection between them (a parody of a similar game in The Generation Game). A great deal of humour was also derived from Ian Hislop's ignorance as to the format of Forsyth's shows, meaning he was left in utter confusion as to what was going on at any point. Forsyth has attributed his recent renewed success to his appearance in the programme. Ironically at one point during the show Forsyth stated, "This could be the end of my career!"

• In 2004, Robert Kilroy-Silk was fired from his position as host of a popular daytime chat show (Kilroy) by the BBC, following an article he had written for the Daily Express entitled "We owe Arabs nothing", which was widely condemned as racist. He appeared on HIGNFY a few weeks later and, after several jibes from Ian Hislop, Paul Merton launched into a memorable tirade against the former MP. Indeed, the unedited clip on the Best of the Guest Presenters Vol. 2 DVD demonstrates Merton's obvious anger at his guest's continual interruptions, with Kilroy-Silk being repeatedly told to "Shut the fuck up!" Also, in what seemed to be a direct response to the article, comedian Marcus Brigstocke shouted "Falafel!" at him. (See also 'Running Gags' below.)

• The 3 December 2004 episode was chaired somewhat unsuccessfully by Neil Kinnock. He struggled to keep on top of things at times, and was subject to pretty rough handling all round, particularly from Will Self, who notably accused him of hypocrisy for accepting a position in the House of Lords.

• The 22 April 2005 episode, after the election of the new pope, featured Merton repeatedly talking about him having "the eyes of a killer", under the pretence that if he said it often enough the show's editors would have to include it (which they did, many times over). At one point he accused the Pope of injuring a man with a frozen sausage. Various verbal digs were also made towards Michael Winner, who was at the time the star of eSure's dubious "Calm Down, Dear" insurance commercials, who was on Hislop's team. His use of the lame catchphrase led Merton to observe, "Thank God we've got that out of the way". Regrettably, Winner attempted the joke yet again on a much later appearance on the show, some time after the advert had stopped being shown.

• The 29 April 2005 episode was chaired by veteran presenter Nicholas Parsons. Sections of the show were changed to emulate Just a Minute (the Radio 4 comedy quiz hosted by Parsons on which Merton is a frequent panellist) and Sale of the Century. When the ageing Parsons later became confused over which question to ask, guest Chris Langham asked him: "Would you like your tartan rug now?"

• The 13 May 2005 episode contained a segment modelled on British TV quiz show Blankety Blank. The section, entitled "Blunkety Blunk" parodied disgraced ex-Cabinet minister David Blunkett and his rapid return to the cabinet following the 2005 general election.

• The final episode of the series on 3 June 2005 featured Merton expressing his amusement at KFC selling "buckets" of chicken, and suggested that they sell "a trough, a whole trough of chicken... and a ditch of chips and coleslaw in a skip!"

• In a recent episode, the panel were discussing gay marriages and Paul turned to Ian, saying, "We're still on for the 20th, right?"

• In the last episode that Boris Johnson presented, Ian Hislop made a paper aeroplane and flew it across the studio to Paul. Paul unfolded it and read from it, "I love you", adding, "Let's ditch the other three, they're holding us back" and "Give us a kiss, it's Christmas".

• When asked what Jeffrey Archer had been up to lately, Paul said, "Was he stuffing a goat with cottage cheese? For charity?" When told he was incorrect, a puzzled expression formed on his face and he muttered, "I'm thinking of someone else completely then."

• In the last episode of the series on 9 June 2006, one of the blanked headlines mentioned an advert about Pot Noodle, prompting a further five minutes of everyone coming up with predictable puns on the phrase, including: Pol Pot Noodle, Snot Noodle, What Noodle, Prescott Noodle, Yacht Noodle, Cot Noodle, Top of the Pops Pot Noodle and Merton's play on I Can't Believe It's Not Butter: "Fuck Me! It's Pot Noodle!". The guest presenter, Jack Dee, had the last laugh after the final credits ("When did it start?" "Back in the year Dot Noodle").

Running gags

• The longest running gag in the programme first emerged in 1992 when Merton revealed that he achieved a CSE ungraded qualification in metalwork at school. As of 2005, this gag is still occasionally made. This originates from both Merton's appearances on Just a Minute and his stand-up routine.

• During Angus's time at the helm, a one-liner he would use in times of desperation and to good effect was "I think I've just lost the will to live".

• In early seasons, Hislop's reported resemblance to pop singer Jimmy Somerville was remarked upon variously, with Hislop even doing an impression of him on two separate occasions by singing a line of "Don't Leave Me This Way". The jibing ceased when Somerville's public profile diminished.

• It was a tradition on the show that particularly scurrilous accusations were suffixed with the word "allegedly" (in the style of British satirical magazine Private Eye). This began in 1991 when Merton asked if the laws were such that anything could be said provided the statement was qualified in this way.

• In the early years of the show, Paul took to insisting that certain women (namely The Princess of Wales and The Duchess of York, among others) were 'over-blown tarts'.

• The issue of Jason Donovan's sexuality cropped up frequently in the early years, following his libel suit against magazine The Face.

• Angus Deayton was frequently referred to as "TV's Mr Sex" after an article described him as such in Time Out magazine.

• After an article appeared in a newspaper about Deayton's life with '70s singer Stephanie de Sykes, Merton spent a whole series claiming he actually lived with Eric Sykes.

• Deayton's choice of a brown suit (apparently it was actually red, but showed up brown under the studio lighting) for one episode in 1992 led to huge ridicule, after which Merton would refer to any article of clothing he wore as "brown".

• After Merton's then-spouse Caroline Quentin made an appearance, Merton spent future episodes castigating Deayton for supposedly "knocking off my wife".

• John Prescott's alleged superfluous appetite and weight is the subject of continual ridicule. On one episode Hislop said, "People should stop tip-toeing around him," as Merton quickly added, "It would take a bloody long time."

• Merton occasionally jokes about Hislop constantly losing, or being out of touch with popular culture.

• Ian's magazine Private Eye is also sometimes the subject of a joke, usually involving the number of lawsuits the magazine has received, or the number of readers it has. When Boris Johnson appears on the show, his magazine The Spectator is on the receiving end of similar jibes. Ian once said that he knew only three people read it, but he didn't realise that they were Boris and his parents.

• During Jonathan Aitken's time in prison, he was referred to as "Prisoner CB9298".

• After Jeffrey Archer was convicted of perjury in 2001, Merton referred to him as "Jeffrey Archer, the liar" at every available opportunity.

• When Peter Mandelson was "outed" by journalist Matthew Parris on Newsnight, the BBC clamped down on any reference to the former minister's sexuality. Naturally, the HIGNFY team took great delight in flouting this directive. For example, whenever footage of Mandelson was shown, his eyes were blanked out, in order to protect his 'anonymity'.

• A recurring clip of Charles Kennedy at a nursing home, attempting to bowl and missing the pins completely — despite them being barely a metre away from him.

• Throughout a whole series, Paul Merton managed to slip at least one reference to jet packs into each episode, believing that because they had appeared in James Bond films 30 years ago, they should be available to the public today. He went on to accuse the government of hoarding them, and the Queen Mother of having three. He also suggested that penguins be given mini jet packs to stop them falling over.

• John Simpson's experience with drugs is often referred to, notably during the Tub of Lard episode, where Paul Merton asked, "Am I in one of John Simpson's trips? I'm sitting here with my tub of lard answering questions in German!"

• During his spell as leader of the Conservative Party, Iain Duncan Smith was subject to a great deal of criticism on the programme. In particular, Merton insisted that he was in fact two people: Iain and Duncan Smith — the first pair of identical twins to share the leadership of a major British political party. This caused a degree of genuine confusion for Boris Johnson MP. On discovering that his full name was actually George Iain Duncan Smith, Merton cried, "There's three of them?"

• Possibly due to Robert Kilroy-Silk's performance in a 2004 episode (see Choice Moments), for a number of weeks afterwards, a clip of Kilroy-Silk introducing his TV show Shafted with the words, "Their fate is in each other's hands, as they decide whether to share, or to shaft" (with appropriate hand gestures) was played in each episode at the flimsiest of excuses.

• A recurring joke in the Spring 2005 series (Series 29) was that Ian would be the next actor to play the Doctor in Doctor Who. In the final episode, a picture was shown of Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper morphing into Ian and Ann Widdecombe.

• In more recent series, Paul has taken to saying "Don't you know" in a phoney posh accent. He most recently used it during a discussion on the dispute between Burberry and the ferret clothing retailer, Ferret World, by saying that if he were a ferret, he would wear a top hat and silver cane and go around saying, "I'm a ferret, don't you know."

• Similarly, when a joke is made about Germans, Ian 'complains' in a rather camp-sounding German accent. This was first used while observing that the German ambassador would carp about any mention of World War II: "Oh, you are so backwards, you English. Why don't you just forget it all?" A recent example was in Series 30 during a discussion on how England fans are supposedly going to go to the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany wearing T-shirts displaying the catchphrase "Don't mention the war!" in German. Ian responded, "Even with ze football you still keep saying ze same joke!"

• Boris Johnson MP has achieved near mascot status on the show and there is some debate (usually from Paul) that he isn't actually real. So far, Paul's theories have included that Boris has been knitted, he is a glove puppet from the neck down, he requires batteries and there is an electric current going through his chair to wake him up when he slows down.

• Paul often feigns ignorance by starting to answer specialised questions obviously intended for his guest, memorably when complex economics-related problems were recently put to the BBC's economics editor, Evan Davis.

• Paul Merton regularly answers questions by replying, "Is it Lulu?" (In one episode, it actually was. He seemed to stop using this answer after that.)

• A recurring theme of class warfare is often played out by Ian Hislop and Paul Merton, originating from their contrasting educational backgrounds.

• During the 2004–05 series, after Robert Kilroy-Silk's lack of success with UKIP, he was frequently ridiculed for both his tan and getting covered in a bucket of slurry, hence the caption "When the shit hits the tan".

• More recently, whenever Ian Hislop has mimicked somebody, Paul has been known to look around wildly, exclaiming, "Is he here?!"

• In Series 31, footage of Tony Blair sweating profusely was used as often as possible.

• On the programme broadcast 19 May 2006, Cherie Blair was reported to have said, "The Cabinet's like an Ikea cabinet. One loose screw and the whole thing falls apart." Guest Host Alexander Armstrong introduced a clip from a "creaky old panel show" and a clip was played from a 1993 edition in which Derek Hatton made the same joke about Cecil Parkinson. Of course, it bombed on that occasion, which prompted Paul to quip, "I'd cut to the song." It got a laugh this time.

Controversy and litigation

• When Paula Yates appeared on the programme in October 1995, she feigned outrage and offence at Hislop's verbal assaults about her being married to Michael Hutchence, whom he accused of "beating up journalists", and the alleged poor quality of her autobiography, together with Merton's ad libs and Deayton's scripted jokes concerning her breast enlargement surgery. Yates eventually called Hislop the "sperm of the devil" (she presumably meant "spawn of the devil"), an outburst that earned her more derision. (This included Ian Hislop saying, "Even your insults emanate from the genitals.") Hislop was, afterwards, criticised for being intrusive about a woman's body, although the actual recording shows that he did not say anything on that subject.

• In a 1994 episode, Deayton read out the following:

"The BBC are cracking down on references to Ian and Kevin Maxwell, in case programme-makers appear biased in their treatment of these two heartless, scheming bastards."

However, the Maxwell brothers were about to go on trial, and on 26 July 1996, the BBC and Hat Trick Productions were fined £20,000 in the High Court for Contempt of Court [link].

• In 1996, a book based on the series, Have I Got 1997 for You, noted about Conservative MP Rupert Allason that "...given Mr Allason's fondness for pursuing libel actions, there are also excellent legal reasons for not referring to him as a conniving little shit". Mr Allason then pursued a libel action against BBC Worldwide and Hat Trick Productions over the remark. He lost the case [link], meaning that, as pointed out in a later episode, he is the only person in the UK who can be called a "conniving little shit" without fear of being (successfully) sued for libel and that the court had, in effect, ruled that he was one.

• After a not entirely successful first guest appearance in 1998, during which he was questioned by Hislop about a secretly recorded telephone conversation in which Darius Guppy asked him to help beat up a journalist, future Conservative MP Boris Johnson alleged that many of the supposedly ad libbed lines on the show were in fact scripted, writing:

"The whole thing is a fix [...] Before you say that I write as one stitched up, let me confess that I was made to seem a bit of a chump."

Tony Parsons, in the Daily Mirror, agreed:

"What bothers the hurt hack [Boris] is not that there's a bit of preparation behind HIGNFY, what bothers him is that he was completely unprepared to go on the box and end up looking like a prize wally."

In later appearances, Johnson apologised for suggesting this and the supposed scripted nature of the show has become yet another running joke. It is now accepted that the host has a script, autocue and all, but the teams only turn up on the evening of the recording, and get to see the questions a couple of hours in advance. Of course, even this isn't always much help, as Boris himself can testify. The show referenced this, with Deayton saying that a national paper had called HIGNFY "Our wittiest quiz show". The actual headline read "Our wittiest quizshow is a sham", with the last three words crudely scribbled over when shown on air.

DVD

Three DVD sets are available:

• The Very Best of Have I Got News for You (2002), a compilation of highlights from the first 13 years of the show, from the beginning up until the episode made after Deayton hit the tabloids. Just over three hours long, and another several hours of extras, including, among other things, running commentary of the whole presentation by Merton and Hislop.
• Have I Got News for You: The Best of the Guest Presenters (2003), which, as well as including the normal half-hour cut of Boris Johnson's first guest-hosting, also included a bonus disc, "The Full Boris", which showed a far longer cut of the same episode (lasting slightly under 60 minutes). Slightly longer versions of the shows featuring William Hague, Martin Clunes and Bruce Forsyth as chair were also included, as well as clips from other presenters' appearances, except for Liza Tarbuck. There are also several small extra features, including a segment discussing the above mentioned episode cut from Johnson's appearance on the Merton-hosted Room 101.
• Have I Got News for You: The Best of the Guest Presenters Vol. 2 (2005), which is nearer in content to the first "Best of" DVD compilation than its direct predecessor. It contains four 45-minute compilations of the Autumn 2003, Spring 2004, Autumn 2004 and Spring 2005 series, rather than complete episodes; although it does contain a bonus disc with an uncut version of Boris Johnson's second stint as presenter.

Video exclusives

Two VHS videos were released, containing specially made editions of the programme:

• Unbroadcastable Have I Got News for You (1995), featuring guests Eddie Izzard, Richard Wilson and a surprise appearance from Germaine Greer.

• Have I Got News for You: The Official Pirate Video (1997), featuring guests Martin Clunes and Neil Morrissey.

Appearances and guest presenters

Many guests have appeared on the programme more than once, and, since the departure of Deayton, many celebrities have acted as guest presenters on the show. (List complete up to end of Series 31)

Most appearances in total 8 appearances Germaine Greer Will Self 7 appearances Clive Anderson Alexander Armstrong Charles Kennedy Ken Livingstone 6 appearances Martin Clunes Phil Hammond Boris Johnson Ross Noble Linda Smith 5 appearances Danny Baker Marcus Brigstocke Jeremy Clarkson Alan Davies Jack Dee Eddie Izzard Dara Ó Briain John Sergeant Mark Steel Janet Street-Porter Francis Wheen Kirsty Young

Guest presenters 7 appearances as host Alexander Armstrong 4 appearances as host Jeremy Clarkson Jack Dee Dara Ó Briain Kirsty Young 3 appearances as host William Hague Boris Johnson Des Lynam 2 appearances as host Marcus Brigstocke Martin Clunes John Sergeant 1 appearance as host Michael Aspel Sanjeev Bhaskar Gyles Brandreth Michael Buerk Jimmy Carr Charlotte Church Julian Clary Joan Collins Robin Cook Ronnie Corbett Hugh Dennis Greg Dyke Anna Ford Bruce Forsyth John Humphrys Lorraine Kelly Charles Kennedy Neil Kinnock Chris Langham Jane Leeves Sean Lock Andrew Marr Sir Trevor McDonald Paul Merton Nicholas Parsons Anne Robinson Liza Tarbuck Carol Vorderman

TV shows elsewhere based on the HIGNFY format

Similar shows based on the Have I Got News for You format exist in other countries.

• Dutch comedian Raoul Heertje appeared on the original HIGNFY in May 1995. A year later he became team captain in the newly launched Dutch version of the show: Dit was het nieuws ("This was the news"). The show gradually developed into a very successful programme. [Dutch Wikipedia info]
• In Finland a show called Uutisvuoto (literally: "news leak") has been aired since 1998.
• In Australia, Paul McDermott hosted Good News Week, first on ABC and later on Network Ten. The Ten version also had a weekend broadcast, Good News Weekend, taking its format from Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
• Sweden and Denmark also have their own versions.
• In Norway the Norwegian Broadcasting Company broadcasts the show Nytt På Nytt (literally: "The News Anew")
• Lightly based on the theme of HIGNFY, ITV in the United Kingdom aired a show in 2004 called Bognor or Bust, also fronted by Angus Deayton, which discusses current affairs.
• In Israel, a similar show called "Mischak Mahur" ran for 4 series.
• In Ireland, RTÉ made one pilot episode of a licensed HIGNFY clone, with Dermot Morgan as the presenter sometime in the early 1990s. It was never named or made into a full series. However, a topical news and current affairs quiz appeared entitled Don't Feed the Gondolas, which was comparable to a cross between HIGNFY and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

See also

• List of Have I Got News For You episodes

External links

• [Off The Telly's "I Hope The Lawyers Are Getting All This!" - the Have I Got News for You story by former HIGNFY webmaster Matthew Rudd (3 parts)]
• [UK Gameshows Page: Have I Got News for You]
• [Hat Trick Productions, who make the show]
• [The H2G2 edited entry for HIGNFY]
• [Matthew Rudd's fan site, no longer subjected to updates]
• [A list of all episodes of HIGNFY]
• [BBC Article on Angus Deayton's 'mauling']

References

• Have I Got News for You: The Shameless Cash-in Book, BBC Books, 1994, ISBN 0563371110
• Have I Got 1997 for You, BBC Books, 1996, ISBN 0563387831

{| align="center" class="toccolours" cellspacing="0"

|- bgcolor="#ccccff" | align="left" width="70" | | align="center" style="font-size: 135%;" | Have I Got News for You | align="right" width="70" | |- |-align="center"| Have I Got News for You |- | colspan="3" align="center" | Ian Hislop | Angus Deayton | Paul Merton |- | colspan="3" align="center" | The Guest Presenters on HIGNFY |- |- bgcolor="white" | colspan="3" align="center" style="font-size: 50%;" | |- | colspan="3" align="center" style="font-size: 100%;" | HIGNFY Episodes | HIGNFY Guest Publications |-

 

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