Have I Got News for You

Hosted by Angus Deayton, two teams (Captains Hislop and Merson and one guest each) pick through the weeks news in a quiz format. Rounds include odd one out, working out a story from news footage, missing words round etc. Winning is not as important as making good jokes.

This is the original panel show that sparked off copies on other subjects, music (never mind the buzzcocks) sport (they think it's all over) TV (It's only TV but I like it) etc. However it's a very British style of comedy - relying on sharp wits and cynical, satirical views on news stories. Deayton provides the scripted lines, Hislop provides the cruel satirical wit and Merson provides the off the wall style humour. All three are very different but work together very well making for a constant stream of jokes that appeal to different senses of humour.

The chemistry is so good that the guests don't really matter. Some are very good and match the sharp wits joke for joke. However others are clearly out of their depth and are not able to keep up with the joking, rather just try to answer the questions straight. Many are on so that they can be the butt of jokes - politicians are the main group that walk a tightrope by appearing on the show. However the guests are not that important - indeed Merson's team mates have included an Elton John impersonator and a tub of lard (after guests dropped out at the last moment), yet the show was as funny as ever.

Overall very Private Eye Editor Hislop's sharp, cynical humour mixed with Merson's surreal brand of comedy held together in a quiz format makes for a very funny show that feels as fresh as it did all those years ago.

Actor Angus Deayton, satirist Ian Hislop and comedian Paul Merton make a very formidable trio on this weekly quiz show. Each week they are joined by guests, with appearances by such people as Paula Yates, John Simpson and Tom Baker being particularly memorable. I don't know what Americans would make of it, because you have to be familiar with British celebrities and British news to understand it. Nevertheless, there is endless humour and it's a delight to watch the regulars score points against each other every episode. The format could go on forever but it wouldn't be the same without Deayton, Hislop and Merton.

What on Earth has happened to this show, I admit it's been some time since I was a die hard fan, but boy this has gone downhill in a somewhat staggering fashion.

The Angus Deayton years were legendary, biting, good witted, somewhat balanced humour. As someone who has always been centre left, I've always enjoyed mockery of the right, but someone who's also loved mockery on some of the insanities of the left too.

We are in the most horrendously toxic time ever, a time where Politicians are likely being killed, for doing what they think is right, left, centre or right, it's wrong, it's frightening.

I'm not sure there's much by way of good spirit or nature here anymore, I didn't think the so called scathing comedy was helping the current political tensions.

Am I wrong here? Is The non partisan BBC fulfilling its mandate?

5/10.

Eleven years and still going strong. This is a topical news quiz which is never short of hilarious in its biting satire and ceaseless wit. In the chair is Angus Deyton, and competing are two teams, each made up of a regular captain and a different guest each week. The captains are comedian Paul Merton and Prive Eye editor and former 'Spitting Image' script-writer Ian Hislop. Guests over the years have included a wide range of politicians, celebrities and other well-known faces including Neil Kinnock, Ken Livingstone, Tom Baker, Charles Kennedy, Boris Johnson, Bob Monkhouse, Clive Anderson, Jo Brand, Harry Enfield, Rory Bremner, Jimmy Saville, Peter Hitchens, Trevor McDonald, Cecil Parkinson and many others. Here's to another eleven years.

Always watchable, always topical, always funny. Might be a shade bewildering to non-UK residents, or those unaware of the storylines discussed. The best satire/news show on British TV. The only down-side is that it is sometimes a little reliant on the quality of the guests. Although, having said that, given that one week a non-attending guest was replaced by a tub of lard, the regulars themselves can carry it alone.