Have I Got News For You
- TV panel show
- BBC One / BBC Two
- 1990 - 2024
- 600 episodes (67 series)
Long-running topical panel game with a strong political slant, featuring team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton. Also features Angus Deayton.
- Returns on Friday 5th April on BBC1 at 9pm with Series 67, Episode 1
- Series 60, Episode 10 repeated tomorrow at 12:35am on Dave
Episode menu
Series 57, Episode 4
Further details
David Tennant steered this week's edition of the programme through the biggest stories of the week, covering the announcement of Donald Trump's state visit to the UK in June, the 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg's speech to MPs, Ann Widdecombe joining The Brexit Party and a British donkey that is about to become the world's tallest donkey.
During the episode, Johnny Mercer MP alleged that the Deputy Chief Whip had tried to dig up dirt on him, to put pressure on him to vote for Theresa May's Brexit deal in January.
"The Deputy Chief Whip has decided to go and ask friends of mine that I served with in the military whether or not things in my book were correct. When I confronted him about it he claimed that was his job to 'kick the tyres'" Mercer explained, continuing, "When I spoke to my friend he hadn't done anything like that at all - he'd tried to get some dirt and blackmail me to vote for the Prime Minister's deal in January."
"So that's why they did it - to try and force your vote?" host David Tennant looked to clarify.
"Yeh. Nice place, politics. Why did I sign up?" Mercer sighed.
"Why did you?!" joked Paul Merton.
Ian Hislop was also quick to take Mercer to task during the episode about this week's reports about his private salary from Crucial Academy being funded by a company that marketed a failed bond scheme that lost savers £236m. As he has done this week, Mercer defended his position saying he had done nothing wrong, and that the BBC had reported the story incorrectly.
"What bit did the BBC get wrong?" Ian Hislop questioned.
"So I run a company that trains veterans to go into cyber employment and, four companies away from that, is a company that's gone bust." Mercer began to explain. "Yeh, it's not many companies. It's quite a big company. Four people being arrested. Big story." Hislop responded.
"It's a big story but it's got nothing to do with me" Mercer replied. "How does training veterans make enough money to earn you £85,000?" Hislop probed. "Because if you train them in cyber security and they have specialist skills they go into FTSE 100 companies and earn quite a lot of money in cyber security. I look like a right bastard don't I doing this whole veterans employment thing?" Mercer asked, sarcastically.
"No it's not the veterans bit, it's the £85,000 for a four-hour job. Why don't you do it for free?" Hislop queried, continuing, "The people who have lost money out of this company are very cross with you."
"No money went from that company into Crucial Academy" reiterated Mercer. "This is one for Judge Rinder, I think" Paul Merton chipped in, to laughs from the audience.
Notes
The teams drew, 5 points each.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Friday 26th April 2019
- Time
- 9pm
- Channel
- BBC One
- Length
- 30 minutes
- Recorded
-
- Thursday 25th April 2019, 19:00 at Elstree Film Studios
Repeats
Show past repeats
Date | Time | Channel |
---|---|---|
Monday 29th April 2019 | 11:05pm 40 minute version |
BBC1 |
Monday 29th April 2019 | 11:35pm 40 minute version |
BBC1 Wales |
Tuesday 30th April 2019 | 12:05am 40 minute version |
BBC1 Scot |
Sunday 26th January 2020 | 9:00pm 60 minute version |
Dave |
Monday 27th January 2020 | 12:40am 60 minute version |
Dave |
Sunday 31st May 2020 | 12:00am 60 minute version |
Dave |
Sunday 31st May 2020 | 9:00pm 60 minute version |
Dave |
Monday 13th July 2020 | 12:40am 55 minute version |
Dave |
Tuesday 25th August 2020 | 12:05am 45 minute version |
BBC1 |
Tuesday 25th August 2020 | 12:40am 45 minute version |
BBC1 Scot |
Sunday 25th October 2020 | 12:10am 60 minute version |
Dave |
Sunday 25th October 2020 | 4:10am 50 minute version |
Dave |
Monday 12th July 2021 | 12:40am 60 minute version |
Dave |
Saturday 18th September 2021 | 12:20am 60 minute version |
Dave |
Sunday 14th November 2021 | 8:40pm 60 minute version |
Dave |
Monday 15th November 2021 | 12:40am 60 minute version |
Dave |
Tuesday 7th December 2021 | 12:40am 60 minute version |
Dave |
Tuesday 28th June 2022 | 12:10am 45 minute version |
BBC1 |
Tuesday 28th June 2022 | 12:40am | BBC1 Wales |
Tuesday 28th June 2022 | 12:40am 45 minute version |
BBC1 Scot |
Sunday 16th October 2022 | 2:00am 60 minute version |
Dave |
Sunday 16th October 2022 | 9:00pm 60 minute version |
Dave |
Friday 18th November 2022 | 10:00pm 60 minute version |
Dave |
Friday 20th January 2023 | 9:00pm 60 minute version |
Dave |
Saturday 21st January 2023 | 3:00am 60 minute version |
Dave |
Thursday 13th April 2023 | 9:00pm 60 minute version |
Dave |
Friday 14th April 2023 | 1:20am 65 minute version |
Dave |
Cast & crew
Ian Hislop | Team Captain |
Paul Merton | Team Captain |
David Tennant | Host / Presenter |
Johnny Mercer (as Johnny Mercer MP) | Guest |
Zoe Lyons | Guest |
Pete Sinclair | Writer (Additional Material) |
Colin Swash | Writer (Additional Material) |
Rob Colley | Writer (Additional Material) |
Ged Parsons | Writer (Additional Material) |
Kevin Day | Writer (Additional Material) |
Shaun Pye | Writer (Additional Material) |
Christine Rose | Writer (Additional Material) |
Paul Wheeler | Director |
Jo Bunting | Series Producer |
Mike Rayment | Producer |
Richard Wilson | Executive Producer |
Pinki Chambers | Executive Producer |
Simon Brook | Editor |
Jon Ellis | Editor |
Todd Dalton | Editor |
Rich Ellis (as Richard Ellis) | Editor |
Laura Saimre | Editor |
Jonathan Paul Green | Production Designer |
Mikki Rain | Production Designer |
Hugo Keating | Production Designer |
Karen Jackson | Costume Designer |
Peter Raby | Lighting Designer |
George Webley (as Big George) | Composer |
Press
Johnny Mercer's faces Ian Hislop ire on HIGNFY
The MPs appearance on the BBC comedy show comes just days after a BBC news report into his high-paying second job.
Simon Rushton, i Newspaper, 26th April 2019