Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News For You is a UK television panel game, on the subject of news, politics and current affairs. 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.
It began on BBC2 in 1990, and was transferred to BBC1 after several years.
The original line-up was: Angus Deayton as chair, Ian Hislop and Paul Merton as team captains. Each team is completed by a guest member each week, often a politician or news commentator.
In 2002, allegations linking Deayton with prostitutes and drug use appeared in UK tabloids, and on October 29, 2002 Deayton was asked to resign from the show, after his Merton and Hislop teased him about them and he did not deny.
High points of the show:
- after Jeffrey Archer was convicted of perjury, Hislop repeated the phrase "Jeffrey Archer, the liar" at all available opportunity
- David Shayler, ex-MI5, who was a guest on the show though not physically in the studio. A large television set was placed on the desk, showing him in a studio elsewhere, supposedly in Paris.