List of Have I Got News for You episodes

History

From series 1 (1990) until series 10 (1995) the show was chaired by Angus Deayton, with team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton and a guest on each team. For series 11 (1996), Merton – aside from the first episode where he appeared as Hislop's guest – took a sabbatical, and so his team comprised two guests. Clive Anderson, Alan Davies and Eddie Izzard were all assigned 'guest captain' status in their appearances, although there were two episodes where Hislop's opponents were considered a 'double act' and neither was referred to as captain. The original line-up was restored for the following series, and remained that way until series 24 (2002).

Following tabloid newspaper revelations about his private life, Angus Deayton was sacked after two shows of series 24. His spot has been taken since by many different guest hosts. Due to the suddenness of Deayton's dismissal, and with no time to book a seasoned replacement, Merton himself filled the position for the first programme after the departure (with Ross Noble filling the vacant captain's chair).

For its first 19 years, the show was recorded on Thursdays and broadcast the following evening. For the two series in 2010, the show was moved back a day to Thursday (recorded on Wednesday), with the exception of the episode after the 2010 general election, but returned to the original setup the following year.

Frequent guests

The most prolific post-Deayton host so far has been Alexander Armstrong, whose regular appearances in the central chair saw him quickly become the show's most frequent guest ever. As of 25 November 2016, he has been on 28 editions of the show, each time as the host. He is followed by Jo Brand, who has made 19 appearances, then Andy Hamilton and Ross Noble, who have both made 18 appearances. They are followed by Martin Clunes and Jack Dee, both on 14 appearances, and then Marcus Brigstocke, Jeremy Clarkson, Victoria Coren Mitchell, David Mitchell and Kirsty Young, all on 13.

The other guests to have reached double figures are Reginald D. Hunter, Ken Livingstone, Frank Skinner and Janet Street-Porter with 12, and Clive Anderson and Germaine Greer with 10.

With the sacking of Deayton, Ian Hislop became the last remaining person to have appeared in every edition of HIGNFY. As of the end of series 52 (2016), there has still not been an episode without him. This dedication even once saw him temporarily discharge himself from hospital for a recording night in series 7 (1994). Paul Merton, in addition to his break during series 11, has been forced to miss one other episode due to ill health in series 36 (2008). His position on that occasion was taken by Frank Skinner.

Series overview

The coloured boxes denote the result of each of the series:

     – indicates Ian's team won      – indicates Paul's team won      – indicates the series ended in a draw

Episode list

As of 16 December 2016, 458 episodes of the show have been broadcast, not including the twelve compilation shows (shown once a year from 1995–2001 and again from 2010 onwards). There have also been two exclusive-to-video editions, three Comic Relief crossovers with fellow BBC panel shows and a 60-minute live webcast version, also for Comic Relief.

The coloured backgrounds denote the result of each of the shows:

     – indicates Ian's team won      – indicates Paul's team won      – indicates the game ended in a draw