Have I Got News For You

Off The Telly Review 2002

The high profile sacking of Angus Deayton from his role as host on Have I Got News For You has left the BBC with something of a problem. As with many shows, the topical news quiz worked because of a specific chemistry that had built up over many years between the presenters.

Have we got news for you - you're fired

One of the many news articles reporting that long-time HIGNFY host Angus Deayton has been sacked.

Deayton in the lion's den

BBC News reports from the back row of the HIGNFY studio audience that Angus Deayton received 'a mauling' from Ian Hislop and Paul Merton in now infamous episode.

Deayton 'feels a fool' over reports

BBC News reports that over the weekend Angus Deayton has been caught up in a tabloid scandal and that the star was now dreading having to record an episode of HIGNFY on Thursday.

Off The Telly Review 1999

To the best of my knowledge, no one talks about Have I Got News For You anymore. Tonight the 18th series drew to a respectable close. There is a consistency to the programme that has remained throughout its 10 year run.

None the less, in the face of its downmarket competitors, HIGNFY has stuck rigidly to the format it has made its own, resisting the urge to undermine for the sake of a cheap gag. Mark Lamarr always took too much delight when the Buzzcockers chose to stand on their desks, or swap teams. Undermining your own rules is not particularly rebellious, nor is it revolutionary TV. Nor is it funny.

Have I Got News For You (BBC2) threw up the most unexpected, shining star since Roy Hattersley cried off and was replaced by a tub of lard. Sir Rhodes Boyson MP, turned out to be a master of dislocated dialogue. There seemed to be bits missing. [...] Sitting under a newspaper headline which said Absolutely Knickerless, he spoke for two and three quarter minutes without relevance, coherence or diffidence. And two and three quarter minutes is a long time in show business.