Have I Got News For You

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.

Alastair Campbell to host Have I Got News For You

The former Downing Street spin doctor Alastair Campbell is to make his debut as a host on satirical panel show Have I Got News For You.

Angus Deayton: Paul and Ian were paid as much as me

Angus Deayton on sex, scandals and why everybody gets paid too much on TV.

This is one Christmas special from which you can't expect to hear too much goodwill to all men. It may have the jovial Martin Clunes returning for his tenth stint as guest host, but his hearty chuckle will not dull the sharp edge of Ian Hislop's satirical swipes at captains of industry, bankers, the Government, the opposition - anyone he feels he can accuse of hypocrisy basically.

Paul Merton's rants at the absurdities of the lighter side of the news should see Clunes's face crumple into paroxysms of laughter - he's always served as the lighter side to Hislop's more serious tone, but as the series has progressed the steady accumulation of idiocy in the world has proved enough to really get his goat.

Martin Clunes is a veteran host of the topical news quiz - and clearly a favourite, as he is invited back here to present the Christmas special. Never short of material, team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton have had almost too much to play with in 2011, what with the phone-hacking scandal leading to the public airing of the tabloid media's laundry.

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.

Ian Hislop wants Tony Blair to be on HIGNFY

Ian Hislop wants Tony Blair to appear on Have I Got News For You - saying he would make a "terrific" guest.

It seems unlikely that the ultimate question to the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything is: "How many series of Have I Got News for You have there been?" But this week saw the start of the 42nd series.

Jo Brand hosted the first episode back, with Victoria Coren alongside Ian Hislop and Graham Linehan with Paul Merton. When I learnt about the line-up my immediate reaction was, "Thank God!" It's something of a rarity for HIGNFY to have a line-up consisting of people who are all essentially humorists. No politicians, no journalists, just people who are paid to be funny for a living. That is who we want. It's generally one of the advantages that Mock the Week has over HIGNFY, in that all the people on MTW are nearly always comics.

Everyone on this week's show had their moments, whether it's Coren on her hatred of cat lovers, Linehan's in-depth knowledge of Twitter, or Merton suggesting confusion between Michael Winner smoking a cigar and a picture of a seagull doing a poo. What a wonderfully awful image.

However, the best bit was that this episode was the first in a while which didn't make any lazy jokes about Eric Pickles being fat. It won't last...

Back for its umpty-seventh series, Have I Got News For You is firmly established as the televisual equivalent of Private Eye. The two share not only the dominant presence of Ian Hislop, but an engaging balance of bitter satire and affable cosiness. Though the humour in both is essentially angry, it's also reliable and predictable, an exercise in applying the same jokes repeatedly to differing news events. Paul Merton returns as the opposition captain.

It's the big daddy, the elder statesman of satire shows. As Panorama is to current events, Have I Got News for You is to taking the mickey out of them.

Other shows (Mock the Week, say) may be faster-paced and more densely packed with gags but this is the satire show of record, the point on a Friday night where politicians and celebrities are enjoyably cut down to size and media storms dispatched with a curl of Ian Hislop's lip or a surreal quip from Paul Merton.

For the first of this new ten-part run - their 42nd - Jo Brand is tonight's guest host.