Have I Got News For You renews rivalry with Spitting Image on 30th anniversary

When Have I Got News For You made its screen debut, aiming jibes at Saddam Hussein and the SDP, viewers immediately hailed a cutting rival to ITV’s Spitting Image.

Now the BBC panel show, which celebrates its 30th anniversary next week, faces a new battle with its latex rival in an era when social media threatens to beat TV satire to the best punchlines.

The revolving panels behind the Have I Got News For You (HIGNFY) have featured 3,623 public figures since the show slid on to BBC2’s schedules in 1990.

i’s TV newsletter: what you should watch next Carpet changes – but format doesn’t

Whilst the cast of targets is constantly changing, and the studio’s grey carpet has been relaid on three occasions, the show’s format remains largely untouched.

Team captains Ian Hislop, 60, and Paul Merton, 63, still rule the roost, mercilessly teasing whichever guest host – 115 since original presenter Angus Deayton succumbed to a sex and drugs scandal in 2002 – is brave enough to try and grab the spotlight from the veteran double act.

“I can’t believe we have been going for 30 years,” Hislop admitted. “That’s half my life. That’s all of some people’s lives. Sorry about that.”

HIGNFY has made few format changes over 30 years (Photo: Hat Trick)

“I never expected the show to survive this long,” the Private Eye editor added. “When we made the pilot 30 years ago my late mother came to see it and I asked her what she thought of it. Her verdict was, ‘Never mind dear’.”

Seven million viewers begged to differ with Mrs Hislop though and the ritual kicking given to the political class and self-absorbed celebrities transferred to BBC1 in 2000.

‘Different angles on Covid’ challenge

“We used to say that the news changes every week so that’s what keeps the show fresh, except that it doesn’t now,” said Richard Wilson, Executive Producer.

“For nearly two years it was nothing but Brexit and Trump and now it’s wall-to-wall virus so it’s up to Paul and Ian to find different angles on it, which they’ve done brilliantly – keeping that up for 30 year is no mean feat – and the audience want to know what the show has got to say about an issue.”

HIGNFY has been accused of “losing its edge” and softening its acerbic humour. Was the show, which famously replaced former Labour deputy leader Roy Hattersley with a tub of lard in 1993 after his repeated withdrawals, guilty of allowing Boris Johnson to burnish his harmless “buffoon” persona over seven genial appearances as panellist and guest host?

Famous figures in puppet form for the new series of Spitting Image, which is making a return to the small screen (Photo: PA) Platform for BoJo

Hislop believes the Covid crisis, which forced the Spring series to be presented via Zoom from the participants’ living rooms, has sharpened the show’s satire. “It was a real test for the programme, though obviously not an eye test of the type that requires you to drive to Barnard Castle with your son in the back of the car to see if you hit any pedestrians or bollards.”

Boris Johnson’s history on the show makes him an even more potent target for ridicule. “In one episode where I was attempting to suggest that our current Prime Minister has an extremely well documented history of lying to employers, party leaders, wives etc, I was censored and had a black square superimposed over my mouth,” Hislop said.

Paul Merton films Have I Got News For You from his home – but audiences will return for the new series (Photo: BBC)

Where HIGNFY has changed is a more welcoming atmosphere for female guests. Health minister Nadine Dorries said she turned down offers to return after a 2012 appearance because she found the humour “vicious” and the “banter” blokeish.

Toksvig snubbed in 1990

This was, after all, the programme which replaced Sandi Toksvig as the production team’s original choice of host with Deayton after the BBC decided it did not want a woman in charge.

Today, the likes of Victoria Coren Mitchell, Ayesha Hazarika, Emma Barnett and Sara Pascoe are regulars who would be high on the list of future team captains whenever Ian and Paul call time on their tenure.

The 60th series, shot from a new studio home of Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, with, it is hoped, the reintroduction of a studio audience, precedes by a day the long-awaited return of Spitting Image, on streaming platform BritBox.

Satire revival

A trailer showcasing the new generation of rubber caricatures has already prompted a mixed reaction on social media.

Wilson said: “You’ll always find people saying ‘Where’s the satire? We need it more than ever’, but I’ve always thought of HIGNFY as an entertainment show. I don’t think that ‘good point, well made’ has any place in an entertainment show unless there’s a laugh involved.”

Can HIGNFY remain relevant when Twitter humourists get to place an instant viral stamp on the latest news? Twitter is narrowing satire’s duty to offend all sides equally, said Wilson.

“I think personal abuse is OK as long as it’s funny. I’m not a huge fan of what Twitter brings out of people; it’s created a very sensitive, touchy community who can’t take a joke against their own side. Having said that, I’m duty bound to plug the HIGNFY twitter feed which has accumulated 750,000 followers.”

Left-right divide replaced

What of new BBC Director-General Tim Davie’s supposed desire to rein in a “left-wing” bias on comedy shows?

Wilson said: “Seventeen years out of the last 30 there’s been a Conservative government. But when Labour were in for the other 13, the show really went for them.”

“Neil Kinnock, John Prescott and Alistair Campbell have hosted it, and if you look at those shows Paul, Ian and the guests really let them have it.”

“Also I think now it makes no sense to talk about left and right in politics. The Brexit divide has opened up new fault lines, as has the virus.”

Hislop recalled how the late Conservative peer Baroness Trumpington was once asked on the show “in the interests of BBC balance” and then decided “she didn’t want to answer questions about Mrs Thatcher. So she just went home and the only person they could find to replace her who would turn up within half an hour was… Ken Livingstone.”

Have I Got News For You — The big hits

Angus Deayton might have hoped for a gentle return to the host chair after his cocaine and prostitutes scandal in 2002. No chance. Hislop and Merton piled on the humiliation, brandishing copies of the News of the World story, which the comedian turned into a T-shirt.

Sir Bruce Forsyth turned round a career lull after agreeing to present a 2003 edition. Strictly Come Dancing’s producers offered Bruce the host gig after the show revitalised his image.

Piers Morgan’s relationship with Ian Hislop is said to have deteriorated after the Private Eye editor taunted the panellist over his journalistic record. When Morgan asked why his attempt to tell an Eddie Izzard joke fell flat, Hislop replied: “People like him.”

When Labour MP Roy Hattersley cancelled at short notice for the third time in 1993, producers paired Paul Merton with a tub of lard as revenge. The “lard team” won that week’s show.

Guest Jimmy Carr did not hit it off with host Ann Widdecombe, who endured a string of gags at her expense. “His idea of wit is a barrage of filth and the sort of humour most men grow out of in their teens,” the former Conservative MP thundered.

Media mogul Conrad Black’s 2012 guest appearance, after serving six years for fraud and obstruction of justice in a US jail, provided raw meat for Hislop. The humour drained away as the show descended into angry exchanges over Black’s protestations of innocence.

Have I Got News For You returns on Friday, October 2 at 9pm on BBC1. Damian Lewis is the guest host.