Ian Hislop

Producers will build virtual set around Hislop & Merton

Ian Hislop and Paul Merton will be in their seats and the satire promises to be as sharp as ever, but movement restrictions and a ban on studio audiences means the team captains, host Steph McGovern and panellists Miles Jupp and Helen Lewis will trade topical quips from the safety of their front rooms, speaking to remotely-controlled cameras.

The re-evaluation game: HIGNFY - 3rd November 1995

It might seem odd to re-evaluate an episode of Have I Got News For You from November 1995 but the reason I've chosen it is because it's the one time I was in the audience for the show. A young, innocent, unsexy twenty one year old at the time, I absolutely loved the experience, partially because a fair amount of material was edited out of the aired version for legal reasons but also because it was a real thrill to see Paul Merton and Angus Deayton perform in the flesh.

Unexploded WW2 bomb threatens Private Eye deadline

Private Eye drew on the Blitz spirit to get the magazine off to print on time after an unexploded Second World War bomb forced staff to evacuate the newsroom and relocate to the pub. Editor Ian Hislop was away while the drama unfolded in Soho, London, yesterday afternoon with Nick Newman standing in to finish off the jokes and cover on the fortnightly print title ahead of its 6pm deadline.

Ian Hislop gets lost in translation

Satire is wasted on Americans. Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, was surprised to discover recently that his magazine had been included on a list of fake news outlets compiled by a university in Massachusetts. It was all because of a story he ran at Thanksgiving saying that a turkey had pardoned Donald Trump. Hislop told Delayed Gratification magazine that he had rung the university to explain to them what a joke was. "Some of the other stuff we put in the magazine isn't true either," he told them. "Theresa May doesn't run a school. She actually was the prime minister."

While it might not have personally opened the gates of our current hell, the programme certainly got the keys cut. Paul Merton and Ian Hislop will be looking back on one of the most chaotic years in modern British history in a compilation show that is sure to be dominated by more than one B word.

BBC defends HIGNFY over bias claims

The BBC has defended Have I Got News For You after receiving scores of complaints that it was biased against the Tories and Brexit. A total of 140 viewers contacted the corporation over the November 8 edition of the topical comedy quiz, which was hosted by Adil Ray. A further 183 people complained about swearing in the previous edition on the programme, when host Jo Brand explained why the Queen liked wearing bright colours.

Being a Have I Got News for You guest host is now a staging post to becoming prime minister so hopefully Victoria Coren Mitchell will one day end up in No 10. Only Connect's high priestess of arcana is in the big chair tonight, helping Paul Merton and Ian Hislop brand some zingers on the bucking bronco of current affairs.

It's a new series of the topical panel show - series 58, in fact - and Martin Clunes is in the host's chair, his 16th appearance in total. That's it for the old and familiar; the "new" will be whatever makes the headlines this week, and in these eventful times there should surely be no shortage of conversation.

Ian Hislop: 'Fake news is terrifying'

Ian Hislop reveals the dangers of fake news in a new BBC4 documentary.

BBC releases some historic comedy moments

The BBC is making hundreds of clips from its archive available to watch on a new website. Comics featured include Spike Milligan, Pete and Dud, Kenny Everett and Billy Connolly.