Damian Lewis

Homeland's Damian Lewis takes to the host chair of this long-running panel show once again - but don't expect Paul Merton nor Ian Hislop to be any kinder to him now that's he's starring in one of the hottest shows on TV. Meanwhile Glasgow comic Susan Calman will be seeking to prove her quick-fire mettle among the guests.

At the heart of BBC One's returning Friday night comedy block is the 43rd series of Have I Got News for You. Over the last 22 years the current affairs panel show has clocked up some improbable statistics: no fewer than 363 episodes transmitted, with Alexander Armstrong its most frequent guest host after 19 appearances in the chair. Tonight's show will be hosted by Stephen Mangan, alongside veteran team captains Ian Hislop (who has appeared in all 363 editions) and Paul Merton (a relative novice at just 355). Later in the series, we are promised debuts from new hosts such as former government spin doctor Alastair Campbell, as well as returns from motormouth Jeremy Clarkson and Homeland's Damian Lewis.

Titillating talk-show host and Telegraph columnist Graham Norton has an all-male line-up tonight. He's joined by British actor Damian Lewis, who's currently garnering rave reviews for his role in Channel 4's US spy drama Homeland. Lewis's fellow Etonian Dominic West - who starred in the searing US crime saga The Wire - drops by to talk about his latest film John Carter, about an American Civil War veteran mysteriously transported to Mars. Also among the guests are French actor Gérard Depardieu and singer Olly Murs, who performs his new single Oh My Goodness.

A rotating line-up of hosts used to make HIGNFY one of television's most unpredictable panel shows, but we're afraid to say that the show's become a little stale of late - as much as we love them, it'd be nice to have a break from David Mitchell, Jack Dee, Jo Brand et al. The last time we had a left-field choice of host was 2010's Damian Lewis, so we're excited to see how Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens performs in the hot seat this Friday.

Very much a game of two halves this week. In the plus column: a cheeky vegetarian backlash, the tragically oblivious weatherman and a disco-dancing Mr Darcy. But the ace in the pack is a sublime demolition of spy-in-a-casino film cliches, which pits a Bond clone against a Blofeld type in a game not of roulette or poker, but of guess the weight of the cake. Robert Webb seems to have been made up to look like Damian Lewis, and David Mitchell like Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter films, but that just adds to the surreal fun. The show tails off rather meekly with a mixture of head-in-hands cringe and wasted-effort caper (no, not Sir Digby Chicken-Caesar again!). But the memory of the croupier raking mounds of fruitcake across the gaming table is hard to shake.

Guest Host Interview: Damian Lewis

The Have I Got News For You Team managed to ask guest host Damian Lewis a few questions before he could escape the studio.