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This provides a summary of HIGNFY, whilst alluding to its industrial impact as a satirical show.

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Ofcom public service review, BBC, with it's historical psb agenda had 'fulfilled the purposes of public service broadcasting' from 2008-2015. Although has 'identified some immediate concerns: news consumption and the provision of news for young people'. One must understand BBC's values when analysing HIGNFY.

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Public service broadcasting is performing well for TV viewers

But growth in watching online is creating challenges for broadcasters

Concerns about some genres and representation around the UK

Ofcom has today published the conclusions of its third review of public service TV broadcasting, the first review since 2008.

The review examines how the BBC, ITV, STV, UTV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and S4C have fulfilled the purposes of public service broadcasting (PSB), and identifies options for how the system could be maintained and strengthened. Ofcom is required by Parliament periodically to review how PSB is performing.

Ofcom's review finds that the public service broadcasters continue to make a significant contribution to UK broadcasting.

Viewers value PSB programmes, and audience satisfaction is high. Close to eight in ten viewers (79%) believe PSB is delivering on its purposes - such as trustworthy news and high quality programmes that reflect the UK - a notable increase from 69% in 2008.

Over half of all TV viewing is to the main PSB channels - BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, UTV, STV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 - rising to over 70% when all the channels broadcast by PSBs, such as time-shifted '+1' channels, are taken into account.

The PSBs make a significant contribution to content creation in the UK. In 2013, they invested just over £2bn in new UK programmes, not including sports content, compared to around £350m from non-PSB sources1.

Evolving public service broadcasting in an online world

Watching online, on demand and across a range of devices are increasingly important to viewers, especially to younger people. Among 16-24 year olds, only 50% of viewing is through live TV as new online services such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, BBC iPlayer and All4 give people greater choice of what, and when, to watch.

Public service broadcasters are well placed to take advantage of increased connectivity to engage with audiences in innovative ways. The growth of online viewing also provides opportunities for PSB-like content to be delivered by non-PSB sources. For example, companies such as Vice Media are providing news content to younger people, local content is coming from hyperlocal websites and universities are putting their lectures online.

But challenges are emerging, and PSB needs to respond to changes in technology and viewer behaviour.

Since 2008, investment in new UK content, including sports content, from the PSBs has fallen by around £440m in real terms, a decline of 15% between 2008 and 2014.

Broadcasters have met this challenge through a mixture of savings and changes to the types of programmes they make. As a result, the volume of new content remains high, with 32,491 hours of new UK programmes from the PSBs in 2014, compared to 33,981 hours in 2008.

Audience satisfaction has increased since 2008, up from 69% to 79% in 2014.

But Ofcom believes that broadcasters need to adapt their models to maximise commercial revenues and efficiencies, and the PSB system needs to evolve as the trend towards online viewing grows. Otherwise, PSBs are likely to face difficult choices about which content and services they are able to fund.

Options for maintaining and strengthening public service broadcasting

PSB is supported by certain benefits such as access to valuable digital TV spectrum, prominence on electronic programme guides and, in the BBC's case, the licence fee.

Policy makers will need to consider whether the benefits designed to enable PSB will remain effective in the internet age.

The BBC is the cornerstone of PSB, so Charter Review will be critical. Ofcom has not, in the course of this review, conducted a detailed analysis of the BBC's ability to maximise its commercial revenues, realise further efficiencies or refocus its activity to provide greater value for money. These are matters for the forthcoming Charter Review process rather than Ofcom's PSB Review.

Consideration should be given to updating the framework under which Channel 4 Corporation delivers its PSB remit to ensure that it can meet the needs of younger audiences, whose media consumption habits are changing quickly. This could include allowing Channel 4 Corporation to deliver some of its PSB obligations across all its channels and services, not just focusing on its main channel, Channel 4.

As more people watch programmes online and on demand, the rules that guarantee access to public service content and PSB prominence on linear TV are likely to need reforming to match changes in technology.

Some PSBs want subscription TV services to pay to carry their channels - so called 'retransmission fees'. These fees could bring additional funding for PSBs, but resolving any possible disagreements would probably require complicated and lengthy regulatory intervention. There is currently no guarantee that all fees would be spent on public service programmes. The Government has consulted on the question of retransmission fees.

Sharon White, Ofcom Chief Executive, said: "Public service broadcasting continues to deliver TV that is enjoyed and valued by millions of viewers across the UK.

"More people are watching online or on demand, and this presents challenges as well as opportunities for public service broadcasters. They must continue to find new ways of connecting with audiences, and the PSB system needs to evolve to ensure it remains effective in the digital age."

Current challenges for public service broadcasting

Ofcom's review identified some immediate concerns: news consumption and the provision of news for young people; drama that reflects and portrays British society back to a British audience; content tailored to the specific needs of the UK Nations and their regions; religious programmes; children's programmes; and investment in music and arts.

Representing different audiences

There are very different sets of challenges in each Nation of the UK. Viewers in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England and their regions feel the provision of news is one of the most important of the PSB purposes and, overall, viewers are satisfied with news for their local area.

Audiences across the UK also attach a high degree of importance to the portrayal of their Nation or region but one in five (21%) viewers in Scotland and one in four (26%) viewers in Northern Ireland felt they were portrayed negatively in PSB programmes.

Ofcom research found that over half (55%) of respondents from black ethnic groups felt they were under-represented in PSB programmes and a similar proportion (51%) felt they were negatively portrayed. Around half (51%) of disabled people felt under-represented.

Ensuring PSB reflects the diversity of the UK is an area broadcasters will need to monitor closely to ensure they meet their responsibilities and audience expectations.

Ofcom has partnered with the Creative Diversity Network which will, for the first time, provide data on representation that is standardised, comparable and publicly available.

Ofcom is also working with the Equality and Human Rights Commission on a 'toolkit' that will provide practical steps that broadcasters can take to increase diversity.

Viewing and programme investment

Since 2008, viewing of TV news has fallen by 29% among people aged 16-34. Websites from the PSBs remain important but younger audiences also use Twitter, Facebook, Google and YouTube to stay up-to-date and informed. PSBs need to find ways of delivering news that will appeal to younger audiences.

Spending on first-run UK children's programmes has fallen in real terms, from £103m in 2008 to £88m in 2014. Spending by ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 has dropped 74% overall, to just £3m in 2014, leaving the BBC to account for nearly 97% (£84m) of total PSB spending on children's programmes .

Investment in drama has also fallen. PSBs continue to deliver high-profile, big-budget dramas, such as Sherlock, Doctor Who and Downton Abbey. But spending on first-run UK drama has declined by 44% in real terms since 2008, from £484m in 2008 to £278m in 2014. The amount of new drama being shown on the PSB channels has fallen from 627 hours in 2008 to 371 hours in 2014 - a decline of 41%.

Channel 4's media content duties

Ofcom has today also published a review of Channel 4 Corporation's delivery of its media content duties across its full range of channels and services.

Ofcom's review found that Channel 4 Corporation has broadly performed well in delivering its duties over the review period (2010-2013). It has produced a broad range of relevant media content that appeals to a culturally-diverse society; made high-quality films; and broadcast and distributed that content.

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. The average spend figure for 2013 for PSBs and non-PSBs does not include sports content. The major non-PSB providers in the UK are companies such as Sky, Discovery, Fox, NBC Universal, Turner and Sony.

2. Data on viewing, spend and output in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England and their regions is published in Ofcom's The Nations of the UK and their regions statement.

3. Ofcom will publish its regular Public Service Broadcasting Annual Report later this month. The Annual Report summarises the evidence base for assessing delivery of Public Service Broadcasting. Ofcom's PSB Annual Report 2014 is available here.

4. Ofcom is required to report periodically on the delivery of public service content with a view to maintaining and strengthening the PSB system. In order to do so, Ofcom has examined changes in both the broadcasting and wider communications sector and their potential effect on the current PSB system. Today's review assesses how well the system has delivered the purposes of PSB since Ofcom last reviewed PSB in 2008 and looks at the contribution of other media services such as non-PSB television and online offers. It then examines potential future challenges to the system and explores how the system might be maintained and strengthened.

5. The PSB channels considered in the review are BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC Parliament, BBC HD Services, ITV, STV and BBC Alba in Scotland, UTV in Northern Ireland, Channel 4, Channel 5 and S4C in Wales.

6. The Communications Act 2003 sets out the purposes and objectives of public service broadcasting. Based on these statutory purposes and objectives, Ofcom developed a set of PSB purposes and characteristics.

PSB purposes:

Informing our understanding of the world

Stimulating knowledge and learning

Reflecting UK cultural identity

Representing diversity and alternative viewpoints

PSB characteristics:

High quality - well funded and well produced

Original - new UK content rather than repeats or foreign acquisitions

Innovative - breaking new ideas or re-inventing

Challenging - making viewers think and engaging

Widely available - delivered on channels that have a high reach and impact

Trustworthy - audience should trust PSB programmes, especially News programmes

Distinctive - the style of programmes is different to what I'd expect to see on other channels

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Ofcom publishes public service broadcasting review

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Public service broadcasting is performing well for TV viewers But growth in watching online is creating challenges for broadcasters Concerns about some genres and representation around the UK Ofcom has today published the conclusions of its third review of public service TV broadcasting, the first review since 2008.

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BBC's founding principles no longer relevant in contemporary society. Although overtime, British Broadcasting have subtly tweaked and edited their remit, in an attempt to sculpt it around modern society and media.

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The BBC needs to substantially redefine its original remit to "inform, educate and entertain", the government said today as it outlined plans for the future funding, regulation and scope of Britain's public broadcaster.

In the long-awaited green paper on the review of the BBC's charter, the government said the founding principles set out by its first director general, Lord Reith, were "no longer sufficient" as a yardstick by which to judge the corporation's performance.

After nearly two years of consultation with the public, academics and rival broadcasters, the government said the BBC needed to have a "more closely defined set of purposes", proposing five new criteria by which the broadcaster should be judged.

The BBC should sustain citizenship and civil society; promote education and learning; stimulate creativity and cultural excellence; reflect regional and cultural identities; and make British audiences aware of international news and events.

The government's self-styled "blueprint" for a strong and independent BBC also set down a sixth remit - mandating the BBC to play "the leading role" in the run-up to the switch-off of the analogue TV signal, expected to happen by 2012.

"The headline mission - to 'inform, educate and entertain' - is essentially unchanged from the original remit given to the BBC in the 1920s," the green paper says.

"It has given the BBC the freedom to expand and develop... but while it remains valid, it is no longer sufficient."

Instead of judging the BBC simply by the amount and scope of its public service programming, the corporation should be defined by the wider measure of how much it contributes to public life, the green paper suggests.

"To retain a distinctive role, the BBC needs to have a more closely defined set of purposes that can be understood by the corporation, by commercial rivals and by the public.

"The case for the public funding of the BBC, and for public service broadcasting in general, is based on the benefits it can bring to society.

"The BBC should be set objectives that reflect those benefits it should be defined by its goals as a public service - not only by its programming output."

To sustain citizenship, the BBC should "engage the widest possible cross-section of the UK" with news and current affairs offerings on television, radio and the internet. Outside news and current affairs the corporation should broadcast material that "contributes towards "stimulating engagement with social and political issues.

The government also said the BBC should publish a "coherent" strategy outlining its long-term approach to education, clearly distinguishing between its formal educational services, such as the forthcoming Digital Curriculum, and more informal learning opportunities offered up by more mainstream programming.

The BBC should also "take more risks" in commissioning than its commercial rivals, so that it provides a "platform for, and mass access to, the very best that British cultural life has to offer".

To stimulate creativity and cultural excellence, BBC programming should be "distinctive and at the cutting edge of innovation".

The corporation should also look at developing a "film investment strategy" to promote more British-made films.

The green paper also urges the BBC to ensure network programming reflected multicultural Britain, accurately reflecting the myriad different communities and religious groups in the UK.

It also lays down a requirement for the BBC to publish a clear strategy outlining its coverage of international affairs worldwide and says commercial services like BBC Worldwide should do more to support that by linking with other broadcasters to develop a "best of British" proposition.

· To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857

· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
Topics

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BBC's founding principles 'no longer enough'

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The BBC needs to substantially redefine its original remit to "inform, educate and entertain", the government said today as it outlined plans for the future funding, regulation and scope of Britain's public broadcaster.

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As previously alluded to previously Over the years BBC's public service values. This gives an insight to the developing values. Although these purposes such as 'BBC will provide accurate and impartial news' is debatable, as seen upon HIGNFY with a seemingly Conservative bias.

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The BBC is a public service organisation. Our five public purposes are central to us serving the public and help us achieve our core mission to inform, educate and entertain.

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This article brings light on HIGNFY media and political bias. Although -Ian Hislop has been seen to argue the lack of questions directed at Tories.

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As the panel, which consisted of Paul Merton, Ian Hislop, Robert Peston, Jon Richardson and guest host Kirsty Young, started their usual brand of mocking the big political stories of the week, attention quickly turned to Jeremy Corbyn.

The team were quick to laugh at one particular gaffe he made, by being forcibly turned around to face the camera instead of the crowd during a campaigning speech.

The joking didn't stop there as Corbyn was also slammed for saying that "happy children make him laugh" and commented on his position on "pressing the red button" of war.

However, Merton defended the latter, saying: "[Jeremy's] not going to press the red button and I quite like that."

Fri, October 2, 2015

Some of the best moments from Have I Got News For You

Hislop also made a scathing comment of the BBC, which had particular relevance with ex-employee Peston in his company.

He said: "Are there no questions about the Conservatives at all?"

Host Young quickly replied, telling Hislop they were coming, but the satirist fired back: "Is this BBC policy?

"I mean, I don't want to question the superior wisdom of the BBC, particularly not with Robert here," the 56-year-old quipped.

Despite this, viewers took to Twitter to air their anger over the relentless attack on the Opposition leader, with one saying: "Massive amount of #Corbyn bias on #HIGNFY tonight. Should be ashamed of themselves considering they are 'liberal' comedians. May unscathed."

Another agreed, saying: "It is ridiculous. Corbyn hating from the word go for at least first 10 mins then one joke about Theresa. BBC are a joke! #HIGNFY.

A third added: "#HIGNFY endless Corbyn/Labour bashing getting old #BBC. Thanks @IanHislop1 for saying your price. Politically neutral, I think not..."

A fourth commented: "Tried it again, but three attacks on Jeremy out of the gate forced me to switch off. We need a petition now, the BBC is a joke. #HIGNFY.

Another chimed: "#HIGNFY yet again the BBC spending a huge amount of time attacking Corbyn be surprised if May gets same treatment."

Express.co.uk has contacted a representative from the BBC for comment.
Have I Got News For You airs Fridays on BBC One at 9pm.

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Have I Got News For You SLAMMED by Labour voters as BBC 'shamelessly' bash Jeremy Corbyn

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As the panel, which consisted of Paul Merton, Ian Hislop, Robert Peston, Jon Richardson and guest host Kirsty Young, started their usual brand of mocking the big political stories of the week, attention quickly turned to Jeremy Corbyn.

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HIGNFY has found itself in hot water on a variety of occasions, pushing the boundaries of satire. This article gives us an insight to the time when Nigel Farage filed a complaint arguing a noncompliance with the 'Representation of the People Act'.

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Police have dismissed a complaint by the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, over disparaging comments made on the satirical TV programme Have I Got News For You.

The Sunday Times journalist and HIGNFY panellist Camilla Long joked on the BBC1 panel show last Friday that she had been to South Thanet, where Farage is standing, more times than the Ukip leader. "By the time I arrived there he'd only been a few times," she said.

She was reacting as quotes were read to her of a piece she'd written about the area in Kent, calling it "grubby", "Chernobyl-like" and like "a small nodule of erupted spleen".

Farage said her comments were untrue and a breach of Section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983.

A Kent police spokesman confirmed the complaint was received about the broadcast. "The matter has been reviewed by officers but there's no evidence of any offences and there will be no further action," he said.

Farage criticised the BBC while campaigning in Aylesbury on Thursday, where he was mobbed by journalists and supporters in the town square. "I have no complaints about the other broadcasters. They have abided by the Ofcom ruling.

"But we have this bizarre state of affairs where we have the BBC, an organisation which we are all charged £145 a year to have the benefit of seeing, aren't regulated by Ofcom and made their own minds up and frankly produce the news at ten every night as if there are just two choices in England," he said.

"I think they have been biased and last night's report about South Thanet frankly was outrageous."

He also hit out at the makeup of the audience for Thursday night's Question Time debate, and suggested that members had to be members of the Socialist Workers party to get in for the debate.

The makeup is a quarter Tory, a quarter Labour, a quarter Lib Dem and a quarter undecideds. The three main party leaders are being quizzed separately, from 8pm to 9.30pm, but Farage will not be on till later at 10.30pm.

"We'll see what we get tonight but what I do know is the real audience will be sitting at home," he said. "And tonight I will do my best to tell the truth, even though at times the truth is difficult to hear." Asked whether he was submitting a formal complaint about the BBC coverage, he said: "Talk to my lawyer."

Earlier, speaking on LBC on Thursday, Farage accused the corporation of "blatant prejudice" on immigration and on Europe and said the party had "complained like hell".

"I think deep within their DNA is a north London metropolitan mindset that just doesn't see what Ukip believes to be acceptable.

"Even through to a programme like Have I Got News For You last week, where comments were made about an individual in a constituency, namely me, that I just don't think would have been said about any other candidate in the country," he told Nick Ferrari.

"Time and again, we see the BBC treating us in a way that is really quite extraordinary.

A BBC spokesperson said: "Britain has a proud tradition of satire, and everyone knows that the contributors on Have I Got News for You regularly make jokes at the expense of politicians of all parties."

Long said she had no comment to make on the complaint.

Farage has already formally complained to the broadcaster for their decision not to include him in the Question Time leaders' special, which will be broadcast on Thursday night.

And Ukip made another formal complaint to the BBC earlier this month suggesting that the audience for the opposition general election debate was biased against the party. Farage took issue with the studio audience during the debate itself, saying it was a "remarkable audience even by the leftwing standards of the BBC".

Farage is currently lagging two points behind his Conservative counterpart in the fight for South Thanet, according to the latest poll by the Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft, having pledged to step down as leader of Ukip if he loses.

* This article was amended on 30 April 2015. An earlier version referred to the Representation of the People Act 1918 where the 1983 act was meant.

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Nigel Farage makes police complaint over Have I Got News For You

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Police have dismissed a complaint by the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, over disparaging comments made on the satirical TV programme Have I Got News For You. The Sunday Times journalist and HIGNFY panellist Camilla Long joked on the BBC1 panel show last Friday that she had been to South Thanet, where Farage is standing, more times than the Ukip leader.

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HIGNFY often brings on guests for comedic purposes. This article describes a hoax transcript from a programme with Jimmy Saville. This transcript is an example of fan art.

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HIGNFY stats

Appearance type:

Panellist

Appearances:

S17E7

Profession:

Presenter

Jimmy Savile (31 October 1926 - 29 October 2011) was an English disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC television show Jim'll Fix It. He is the subject of a police investigation into allegations of sexual assault made after his death.

Jimmy Savile appeared on HIGNFY (Have I Got News For You) once in his life time. He appeared on episode "S17E07" (28 May 1999) where he was on Ian's team.

Out-take Hoax Edit

Some time after Jimmy Savile's appearance on the show an alleged transcript of an out-take from the episode He appeared in, was posted on-line. The transcript is allegedly of two separate conversions involving Paul, Ian, Angus and Savile where they have meant to discussed the paedophile claims.

The transcripts have resurfaced in 2012 after different women made claims that Jimmy Savile had sexually assaulted them as children. Paul Merton has publicly declared the transcripts a hoax, first on a Radio two interview (see link below) and also on episode S44E01 of the series. Ian also declared them a hoax on the same episode.

The out-takes claims Savile was on Paul's team but he was really on Ian's team.

Appearances Edit

External Links Edit

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Jimmy Savile (31 October 1926 - 29 October 2011) was an English disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC television show Jim'll Fix It. He is the subject of a police investigation into allegations of sexual assault made after his death.

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Has HIGNFY had it's day? This article argues the decline of HIGNFY, with the sacking (due to a cocaine and prostitute scandal) of the lead host Angus Deayton. With figures seemingly declines subsequently. Although this provides two sides of an argument, one arguing YES that HIGNFY has had its day the other arguing NO

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In the Nineties, Have I Got News for You was perhaps the funniest, smartest show on TV, a glittering satirical scalpel. But these days, more and more often, the blade is blunt.

The decline began in 2002, when Angus Deayton, its original host, was sacked, following reports that he'd cheated on his wife with a prostitute and snorted cocaine. Given that these revelations made it difficult for Deayton to continue making jokes about other people's moral shortcomings, it was the right decision to sack him. The wrong decision was to keep the show going. Although some of the subsequent guest hosts have been amusing, the unique one-liner one-upmanship that existed between Deayton, Ian Hislop and Paul Merton has been lost. Also, because the scripted quips follow that unmistakable HIGNFY formula, too many of the guest hosts sound as though they're doing a weak impersonation of Deayton's presenting style, their voices going up during the gentle incline of each joke's opening sentence... and down again for its sardonic pay-off. While Gordon Ramsay could barely even read the autocue.

Over the years, the balance of power on the panel has shifted. In the sublime early days, the star was Merton, thanks to his disorientingly ingenious flights of comic fancy about, say, the difficulties of dating a giraffe ("Used to take it to the pictures. You'd always get some bloke complaining he couldn't see the screen. 'It's a giraffe, mate - what do you expect?' 'Well, he can take his hat off for a start...'").

These seem less common now; instead, a lot more airtime appears to be taken up by Hislop's snorting sermons about politicians. In a battle of wits with other guests Hislop fires off comebacks at the speed Roger Federer returns serve - but his addresses to the studio audience sometimes don't offer much more than easy sarcasm.

In 2007, Will Self - who had been a guest on the show nine times - wrote that it "has become just like any other pseudo-panel contest... Age and success have mellowed [Merton and Hislop]." Getting older and richer doesn't make you less funny, of course. But it can look incongruous, poking fun at the comfortable, the famous and the overpaid, when you're in a similar position yourself. The first 12 years of Have I Got News for You were triumphant. The past eight, aside from the occasional burst of brilliance, have felt like a tiringly long lap of honour.
Michael Deacon

NO

Fingers on buzzers. Can you name a funnier satirical TV show than Have I Got News for You? Bzz! Wrong, Spitting Image isn't on any more. Bzz! Sorry, American talkshows don't count. Bzz! No, The News Quiz is on radio and besides, it's what HIGNFY is based on. Have to hurry you.... Give up? It was a trick question. There isn't one. Have I Got News for You might be entering its 20th year and 39th series, but it's still the best at what it does.

It's deceptively difficult to make these topical shows - witness ITV's embarrassing News Knight with Sir Trevor McDonald. HIGNFY has been copied countless times, yet not once bettered. It's stayed both subversive (last series saw it rock the boat by highlighting Iran's persecution of homosexuals) and joyously silly. The headline round remains a highlight, partly down to the guest publications (Diarrhoea Digest, anyone?). Above all, it delivers plenty of laughs per minute.

It's testament to the show's integrity that it fired host Angus Deayton for the sort of sleazy philandering for which it mercilessly mocks others. As Merton said: "His name is Angus. The G is silent." Since then, rotating the host has given it a new lease of life. Regulars Alexander Armstrong and Martin Clunes are good enough to do it full-time. Boris Johnson was Bafta-nominated for his turn. And I defy you to see Brian Blessed's shouty, sweary stint and not laugh yourself off the sofa: "The polls are saying the Prime Minister Brown is dead and buried. I think the opposite - I say Gordon's alive!"

Meanwhile, team captain Ian Hislop takes schoolboyish glee in skewering public figures, as you'd expect from the editor of Private Eye. Opposite number Merton almost always wins because, despite his baffled air and protests that he's only got "a CSE in metalwork", he's fearsomely well-informed. This odd couple are invariably joined by great guests - a figure from that week's news, a union leader or MP prepared to take their punishment, or a comic getting their big break. It's a winning formula that tickles 5?million viewers per week and has a record 22 Bafta nominations.

We need a satirical news show to cut through spin, point out hypocrisy and prick politicians' pomposity - doubly so during an election year. And HIGNFY remains the daddy of them all. Goodnight.
Michael Hogan

- Have I Got News for You returns tomorrow on BBC One at 9.30pm

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Has 'Have I Got News for You' had its day?

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In the Nineties, Have I Got News for You was perhaps the funniest, smartest show on TV, a glittering satirical scalpel. But these days, more and more often, the blade is blunt. The decline began in 2002, when Angus Deayton, its original host, was sacked, following reports that he'd cheated on his wife with a prostitute and snorted cocaine.

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The Internet has killed HIGNFY. with new media outlets such as Twitter, with quick, instant and occasionally satirically witty updates on all events both social and political. With its figures constantly in decline, many people believe It is time for HIGNFY to hang up its boots.

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To paraphrase Jimmy Nail: if you love something, set it free. I'm starting to suspect this might be the case with Have I Got News For You. The show used to be fresh and vital, razor sharp and gleeful in its dismantling of the news. But it's a shadow of its former self now. It lumbers along, as best it can, taking easily telegraphed potshots at targets that are already dead. It wrings out titters where there should be guffaws. It used to be Lenny Bruce, now it's Bruce Forsyth. I say this with a heavy heart, but I think it might be time for a dignified retirement.

It's not hard to see where the show went wrong. The internet killed Have I Got News For You, plain and simple. Back in the show's heyday, you could rely on it to deliver the definitive satirical reaction to the news. But now it's competing with The Daily Show, humour sites such as The Poke and millions of would-be wags on Twitter who fall over themselves to mine every last microLOL from every single news story a nanosecond after it breaks in a rabid bid for retweets. By the time Friday night rolls around, all Have I Got News For You has left to work with is the chaff.

Worse yet, the show doesn't feel like a unit any more. At its best, the show is a well-oiled machine - two team captains, one silly and one sensible, working with a like-minded host to bring either the best or worst out of their guests. When Have I Got News For You is firing on all cylinders, the interplay between Ian Hislop and Paul Merton is hard to beat.

But such moments are now rare. Merton used to liven up the show with dazzling flights of fancy, but he now spends about three quarters of every episode looking impossibly bored on the right of the screen, raising his head only to say the word "sparrow" or to do another exaggerated double take. And this effectively means that the show is Hislop's now. And while his political point-scoring shtick is fine - brilliant, even - in small doses, 30 minutes of it each week can get a bit wearying.

Perhaps that's unfair. Have I Got News For You isn't just half an hour of Hislop. It's 22 minutes of Ian Hislop, plus four YouTube videos that you've already seen 10 times and an uncomfortable bit where everyone acknowledges a story too serious to be joked about and the audience responds with an awkward mixture of clapping, groaning and silence.

In fact, this last point is my biggest problem with Have I Got News For You. Ever since the Jimmy Savile scandal came to light, and the BBC bodged its response, Have I Got News For You has become uncomfortably moral. With Savile, it had to acknowledge the story, react to the BBC's fumbling and - in Merton's case - deny the existence of a supposed incident on the show in 1999 where, according to a transcript circulating on the internet, he accused Savile of paedophilia. None of which was very funny, and being funny is the point of the show.

Since then, these uncomfortable moments have happened time and time again. Last week, it came during a discussion of Nigella Lawson, although the whole episode seemed to have a general air of discomfort. Maybe Have I Got News For You was just having an off week. But what an off week it was. The team captains looked bored, the guests contributed nothing; and in Robert Lindsay, it found perhaps its worst-ever host. Vast tracts of the episode seemed to go by without anyone so much as smiling, let alone laughing.

This week has to be a step up. The host will be Kathy Burke, who always brings a dynamic to proceedings. And the inclusion of Miles Jupp as a panellist is never a bad thing, especially since Hislop is never anything less than fully delighted by his presence. But the fact remains that Have I Got News For You is a show on the slide. Could it be time to quietly put it out to pasture?

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Has the internet killed Have I Got News For You?

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To paraphrase Jimmy Nail: if you love something, set it free. I'm starting to suspect this might be the case with Have I Got News For You. The show used to be fresh and vital, razor sharp and gleeful in its dismantling of the news. But it's a shadow of its former self now.

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HIGNFY has been televised for 47 season, (now 52) spanning over 27 years. This article looks in to the ways in which HIGNFY -the longest standing satirical programme in Britain- has changed satire and BBC institutionally.

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But Prime Minister Harold Macmillan had other ideas and wrote a memo that read: "I hope you will not repeat not take any action about "That was the week that was" without consulting me. It is a good thing to be laughed at. It is better than to be ignored."

A clip below shows That Was the Week That Was's take on declining power in Britain:

The programme's sketches and debates were relatively tame by today's standards but shocked a public who had never seen their politicians mocked before. And Macmillan may have reconsidered his stance on laughter when the Profumo scandal became the butt of jokes a year later, in 1963.

BBC governors decided the programme was too controversial to run in an election year, 1964, and so TW3 was short-lived - but its influence is still felt by TV comedy today.

Yes Minister

The 1980s sitcom lampooned the general confusion and cronyism of Westminster politics. It followed the MP Jim Hacker, who consistently failed to create effective policy while his permanent secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, had to save him from disaster.

The sketch below shows a typical Yes Minister theme - how to get away with doing the opposite of your political promises:

Although it seems farcical, several politicians have said that Yes Minister was true to life. Margaret Thatcher was a fan, and said "its clearly-observed portrayal of what goes on in the corridors of power has given me hours of pure joy". The Prime Minister even performed in a Yes Minister sketch at an awards ceremony for the writers in 1984:

David Cameron has also praised the show's accuracy. In 2012, he told the Malaysian PM that he had to write an essay on 'How true to life is Yes Minister ' as a student in the 1980s.

"I think I wrote in the essay that it wasn't that true to life," said Cameron. "I can tell you, as prime minister, it is true to life."

The Thick of It

The Thick of It is a version of Yes Minister for the 21st century. Like its predecessor, the comedy is set within a ministerial department and does not specifically refer to politicians - though some party politics and events pertain to real life.

The central character, Malcolm Tucker, is known as one of the most fearsome characters on television - and for his liberal use of profanities. Tucker is not just bluntly aggressive but creatively so - he's known for inventing the word "omnishambles".

Here's a taste of some of the affectionate nicknames in The Thick of It:

Satire often blends into reality as politicians fumble around their departments - one of the writers, Will Smith, said: "it feels more like they copy us".

Mock The Week

The comedy panel game, hosted by Dara Ó Briain and featuring stand ups, is barely satire. Though the comedy spins of current affair and news events, the jokes are more silly than pointed - as you can see in the clip below. Former panellist Frankie Boyle said has complained that his risqué jokes were blocked from the show due to fears of "frightening the horses", and overall the tone is more light-hearted than groundbreaking satire:

Have I Got News For You

As Britain's longest-running satirical tv show, Have I Got News For You ( HIGNFY) has seen many scandals, politicians and libel actions come and go, but kept largely the same format.

In 1992, for example, Paul Merton and Ian Hislop were there to joke about the Queen's "annus bloody catastrophicus" and question whether a divorced man could be the head of the Church of England, after Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, separated.

Politicians often make an appearance, though that doesn't stop them from being the subject of satire - as these clips of Alistair Campbell and Nigel Farage show:

Guest panellists who perform well can reap their benefits, and none have benefited more than Boris Johnson. The London Mayor was so popular on Have I Got News For You that he became a regular on the show, and saw his political profile boosted as a result of his comedic skills.

There are complaints that political correctness has curtailed the show's humour, but these concerns have long existed. Seven years ago, panellist Will Self said that the BBC had "lost its bottle" in a post-Hutton era, and complained that his sharpest joke was cut for transmission.

Self also said that Hislop and Merton are less compelling as they mellow in middle age. "It's hard to credit them as effectively wielding what is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful, when they're so clearly part of an elite," he said.

But the series shows no signs of slowing, and millions are expected to tune in for the 48th season of HIGNFY. Will a younger television show steal the satirical crown? Only time will tell.

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After 47 seasons of HIGNFY, how has British satire changed?

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But Prime Minister Harold Macmillan had other ideas and wrote a memo that read: "I hope you will not repeat not take any action about "That was the week that was" without consulting me. It is a good thing to be laughed at. It is better than to be ignored."

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Conemporaily HIGNFY  with data supplied by BARB BBC One's Have I Got News For You leads Friday's viewing figures with an average audience of 4.35 million. With figures like this, previous theorys that HIGNFY had run its race, where wrong beating the figures of 1.28m whom watched 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown on at the same time.

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BBC One's Have I Got News For You leads Friday's viewing figures with an average audience of 4.35 million.

The topical panel show, guest-hosted by Jack Dee, attracted an audience share of 22.2% during its airing on the channel at 9pm.

BBC One previously brought in 2.42 million (15%) for The One Show at 7pm, 2.09 million (11.9%) for A Question of Sport, followed by 2.32 million (11.9%) for The Vicar of Dibley at 8.30pm.

Mrs Brown's Boys was seen by 2.83 million (15.1%) at 9.30pm, before The Graham Norton Show attracted 2.67 million (22.7%) at 10.35pm.

Over on BBC Two, Antiques Road Trip was seen by 1.05 million (6.3%), followed by 1.98 million (10.7%) for Mary Berry's Absolute Favourites and 2.17 million (11.2%) for Gardener's World.

Kate Humble: Living With Nomads attracted an average audience of 1.53 million (8%) at 9pm, while The Clare Balding Show at 10pm was seen by 710k (4.2%).

Gino's Italian Escape brought 2.09 million viewers (11.3%) to ITV at 8pm, followed by 1.82 million (9.5%) for Doc Martin at 9pm.

On Channel 4, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD attracted an audience share of 3.2% (620k) at 8pm, with 1.28m choosing to watch 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown at 9pm (6.7%). Alan Carr: Chatty Man entertained 1.13 million (7.4%) at 10pm.

Channel 5's Big Brother live eviction attracted 1.18m (6.4%), with 495k (4%) sticking around to watch Big Brother's Bit on the Side at 10pm.

Earlier on the channel, documentary Holy Grail Conspiracy: Secrets of the Knights Templar was seen by 688k (3.6%).

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UK TV ratings: HIGNFY leads Friday figures

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BBC One's Have I Got News For You leads Friday's viewing figures with an average audience of 4.35 million. The topical panel show, guest-hosted by Jack Dee, attracted an audience share of 22.2% during its airing on the channel at 9pm.

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HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU AND THE BOUNDARIES OF SATIRE
Here we look at 'unforgettable' and 'uncomfortable' moments which have occurred due to comical and often satirically slurs. It provides us with some of the best clips archived from 26 years -52 series and counting- which have divided opinion, but also brought light on political events and moments 'reminding us to laugh at a political landscape' .

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To celebrate the 52nd series, Have I Got News For You has managed to secure a very special guest host for the launch: the former leader of Britain's fourth largest political party. Nick Clegg must have a book out or something.

To compensate, we've decided to throw our own party, celebrating 52 series of jibes, jabs and jolly good jokes.

1) Jeremy Clarkson throws a pen at Ian Hislop

When long-time host Angus Deayton left the show in 2002, following salacious tabloid revelations about his private life (more of that below), a new policy was adopted: a different guest host each week.

Undoubtedly one of the best of these was Jeremy Clarkson, but when the former Top Gear host was tripped up by Hislop in 2010, he responded in the only way he knows how...

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Have I Got News For You: 8 unforgettable, uncomfortable moments

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To celebrate the 52nd series, Have I Got News For You has managed to secure a very special guest host for the launch: the former leader of Britain's fourth largest political party. Nick Clegg must have a book out or something.