Have I Got News For You is a UK television panel game, on the subject
of news, politics and current affairs. 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 the
sardonic remarks are more important than the scores, which are only ever briefly referred to. The format is loosely based on that
of a popular radio show, The News
Quiz.
Overview
HIGNFY, as it is sometimes abbreviated, began on BBC2 on September 28, 1990 and transferred to
BBC1 in October 2000. Two series of (usually) eight
episodes are made each year. It is taped on Thursday evening for broadcast on Friday, allowing the satire to remain fresh while the BBC's lawyers have time to request cuts of potentially libellous material. The show
likes to cultivate a reputation for sailing close to the wind on matters of libel; it is
a tradition on the show that particularly scurrilous accusations are suffixed with "...allegedly" (in the style of British
satirical magazine Private Eye). This phrase has permeated popular
British culture to the extent that it has now become something of a cliché.
In 1998, a book based on the series (Have I Got 1997 For You) mentioned, in a
diary entry 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 persued a
libel action against BBC Worldwide and Hat Trick Productions over the
remark. He lost the case [1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/49430.stm). Meaning that, as pointed out in a later episode of
the show, he is the only person in the UK who can be called a "conniving little shit" without fear of being (successfully) sued
for libel.
The original line-up was Angus Deayton as chair, with Private
Eye editor Ian Hislop and comedian Paul Merton as team captains. Each team is completed by a guest member each week, often a politician or
journalist on one side and a comedian on the other. Merton took a break from the show during the eleventh series in 1996, making only one appearance as a guest on Hislop's team.
Despite the fact that Merton is a comedian and Hislop a current affairs magazine editor, Merton usually wins. He attributes
this to his devious tactic of reading the newspapers each week. Astute viewers will notice that Merton's other major pointwinning
tactic is a tendency to jump in and answer questions that were actually addressed to the other team.
In 2002, allegations linking Deayton with prostitutes and drug use appeared in UK tabloids. Merton and Hislop teased Deayton about these allegations on the show (Merton revealing a T shirt with the tabloid headline printed on it), and Deayton did not deny them. On October 29, 2002 Deayton was asked to resign from
the show. Merton hosted the first episode after Deayton's departure (Ross Noble
took Merton's usual place), and a series of guest hosts appeared for the rest of the series. It was announced in June 2003 that
HIGNFY would continue to use guest hosts, as the average audience had increased from 6 million in Deayton's last series to 7
million. Former Conservative Party leader William Hague and actor
Martin Clunes received particular praise for their work as guest hosts.
Series 27 in the spring of 2004 continued to use guest hosts, with Greg Dyke the
first to be named, although rumours persist that Alexander
Armstrong is being lined up as the new permanent host.
The shows are often recycled as repeats under the title Have I Got Old News For You. Older programmes are sometimes
billed with the year in the title, e.g. Have I Got 1993 For You. Current programmes are usually also shown (in a later
time slot and on BBC2) on the day after their initial broadcast with the possibility of subtitles. In November 2003, these Saturday editions were expanded to 40 minutes in length, with the addition of
material cut out of the Friday programme, and titled Have I Got A Little Bit More News For You. This practice has since
been stopped, and the repeats are simply re-runs of the original programme.
Highlights of the show
- After Jeffrey Archer was convicted of perjury, Hislop referred to him as "Jeffrey Archer, the liar" at every available opportunity.
- 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 scathingly joked that the Daily Mirror
was now, thanks to Morgan, almost as good as The Sun. 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 card with me Hislop" before appealing to the
audience "Does anyone like him?". When the audience responded fiercely in favor of Hislop, Morgan appeared to be well and truly
vanquished and somewhat humiliated.
- In a rare example of Merton being the butt of a joke, Hislop and Deayton started a rumour in the mid-90s, 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 ex-MI5 agent David Shayler
was a guest on the show, 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. All were disappointed when Shayler reappeared.
- When Roy Hattersley did not bother to appear for the June 4, 1993 episode, 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". It was
later announced that the tub of lard had been booked for a return appearance, though this turned out to be a ruse to disguise the
appearance on the show of Salman Rushdie. The tub of lard was on the
same team as Merton, and they won – much to the chagrin of Hislop. The missing words round also featured foreign headlines,
in languages such as French, German and even Chinese. The final one was in English, but the entire headline was blanked out.
- In the early years of the show, Paul took to insisting that certain women (namely The Princess of Wales and The Duchess of York, amongst others) were 'over-blown tarts'.
- Salman Rushdie almost did not get to be on the show. Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini pronounced a fatwa promising his execution and Rushdie had to live in hiding
under constant police guard. When asked if it was possible for Rushdie to do a quiz show, the police guards 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.
- Hislop's teasing of Paula Yates led her to label him the "sperm of the
devil" (presumably she meant to say "spawn of the devil").
- When Sir Elton John failed to appear as billed, he was replaced by a
"look-alike" called Ray (apparently a taxi driver) who made no verbal
contribution.
- 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 five year sentence) and from which he had subsequently recovered, seemed a little too convenient, the show
(via Angus) added that Saunders was a swindler and con-artist. As Saunders had originally been jailed for fraud, he could hardly complain again.
- Shortly after a high profile fall from grace amidst accusations of sleaze, ex
Conservative MP Neil Hamilton and his wife Christine were panelists in an edition where they managed to come
through well despite numerous jokes about the scandal that had engulfed them. This appearance was widely felt to have launched
the couple as minor celebrities.
- The final show of the second series using guest presenters was hosted by Bruce Forsyth. Forsyth's game-show trademarks and cliches were parodied during the show, including a round
entitled Play Your Iraqi Cards Right and, instead of the usual Odd One Out round, a round 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). Forsyth has attributed his recent
renewed success to his appearance in the programme.
- In 2004, Robert Kilroy-Silk was fired from his position as
host of a popular daytime chat show (entitled 'Kilroy') by the BBC following an article he had written for the Daily Express about Arabs, which was widely condemned as racist. He appeared on
HIGNFY a few weeks later and, after several verbal jabs from Ian Hislop during the show, Paul Merton completely let himself go
and launched a memorable verbal tirade against Kilroy-Silk. Possibly because of this, for a number of weeks after the episode on
22 October 2004, 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 every episode.
- The 3rd 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.
DVD
Two 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. Just over
three hours long, and about 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), along with several smaller
extras, including a segment discussing the episode in question cut from Johnson's appearance on the Merton-hosted Room
101.
Most appearances, including guest presenters (to 2004)
- 7 appearances
- 6 appearances
- 5 appearances
Guest presenters
- 4 appearances
- 3 appearances
- 2 appearances
- 1 appearance
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 (http://nl.wikipedia.org/pac/Dit_was_het_nieuws)
- 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 the Ten Network. 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.
- Lightly based on the theme of HIGNFY, ITV in the United Kingdom recently aired a show called Bognor
or Bust, also fronted by Angus Deayton, which discusses current affairs.
- In Ireland, RTE 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.
External links
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