''The News Quiz'' is a British topical

panel game A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participate. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on '' The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, first broadcast in 1977. The show, created by John Lloyd from an idea by Nicholas Parsons, has seen several hosts, including Barry Norman, Barry Took, Simon Hoggart,

Sandi Toksvig Sandra Birgitte Toksvig (; ; born 3 May 1958) is a Danish-British broadcaster, comedian, presenter and writer on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She ha ...

, and Miles Jupp.

Andy Zaltzman Andrew Zaltzman (born 6 October 1974) is a British comedian and statistician. His comedy largely deals in political and sport-related material. He has worked with John Oliver, with their work together including '' Political Animal'', ''The Dep ...

was announced as the permanent host after series 103. The show involves four panellists, often comedians or journalists, who answer questions about events of the previous week, often leading to humorous and satirical exchanges. The show was adapted for television in 1981 and has also inspired other shows, such as '' Have I Got News for You''.

History

''The News Quiz'' was created by John Lloyd, based on an idea by Nicholas Parsons. The series was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman in the chair. Subsequently it was chaired by Barry Took from 1979 to 1981, Simon Hoggart from 1981 to 1986, Took again from 1986 to 1995, and then again by Hoggart from 1996 until March 2006. Hoggart was replaced by

in September 2006, who in turn was replaced by Miles Jupp in September 2015 until his departure at the end of 2019. Three different hosts took the chair in 2020; Nish Kumar (series 101), Angela Barnes (series 102), and

(series 103). At the end of series 103, it was announced that Zaltzman would continue as permanent host. Originally, '' Private Eye'' editor Richard Ingrams and '' Punch'' editor Alan Coren acted as team captains. It was adapted for television in 1981 under the title ''Scoop'', running for two series, and later inspired the television programme '' Have I Got News for You''. In 2012, the BBC piloted an American version hosted by

Lewis Black Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion and cultural trends. He hosted the Comedy Central series ''Lewis Black's ...

. On 28 June 2013, the ''News Quiz'' paid tribute after the death of Radio 4 announcer Rory Morrison, who had read the news cuttings on the programme. During series 97, running from August to October 2018, Jupp was absent due to filming commitments overseas, so show regulars Simon Evans, Susan Calman, Fred MacAulay, Bridget Christie, Jo Brand and Lucy Porter took turns in the host's seat. Jupp himself chaired the first and last episodes of the series. In May 2019, it was announced that Jupp would leave the show at the end of the 99th series at the end of the month. Series 100 had several hosts: Nish Kumar, Angela Barnes,

, Phil Wang, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Zoe Lyons, Patrick Kielty and Andrew Maxwell. The hosts for 2020 were Nish Kumar, Angela Barnes, and

. Zaltzman was named as the permanent host at the conclusion of series 103.

Transmission

The programme is usually recorded in front of an audience on Thursday evenings at the BBC Radio Theatre at

Broadcasting House London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

. It is then edited and broadcast first on Friday evening at 18:30, then repeated at Saturday lunchtime. The final 28-minute show is significantly shorter than the original recording. In 2012, the BBC began making an extended version for BBC Radio 4 Extra. Each week, four panellists appear on the show. They are usually either

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

s or journalists, and sometimes

politicians A politician is a person who participates in policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles or duties tha ...

. Journalists predominated in the early years. The ostensible purpose of the show is to test contestants' knowledge of the events of the previous week by asking questions which are usually oblique references to those events. However, this has given way to a general free-for-all where panellists chime in with their own humorous and satirical remarks once the question has been answered. The participants frequently wander off topic. The host ends the discussion of each question with a summary of the events it refers to, usually with a scripted comic punchline, before asking the next question. It is not uncommon for the show to get through only two rounds of the panel before the final section is reached. Before the host announces the largely symbolic scores, the panellists read out statements from newspapers and other media which they find amusing.

Personnel

Current host

In 2020,

guest hosted series 103 and at the end of the run was announced as the new permanent host.

Former hosts

* Barry Norman (1977–1979) * Barry Took (1979–1981 & 1986–1995) * Simon Hoggart (1981–1985 & 1996–2006) *

(2006–2015) * Miles Jupp (2015–2019, series 88–99) * Nish Kumar, Angela Barnes,

, Phil Wang, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Zoe Lyons, Patrick Kielty and Andrew Maxwell (September – October 2019, series 100) * Nish Kumar (2020, series 101) * Angela Barnes (2020, series 102)

Current regular panellists

* Susan Calman * Simon Evans * Andy Hamilton * Helen Lewis * Ria Lina * Zoe Lyons * Fred MacAulay * Lucy Porter * Hugo Rifkind *

Mark Steel Mark Steel (born 4 July 1960) is an English author, broadcaster, stand-up comedian and newspaper columnist. He has made many appearances on radio and television shows as a guest panellist, and has written regular columns in ''The Guardian'', '' ...

* Angela Barnes * Andrew Maxwell * Daliso Chaponda

Former regular panellists

* Samira Ahmed * Alan Coren *

Rebecca Front Rebecca Louise Front (born 16 May 1964) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for '' The Thick of It'' (2009–2012).Jennifer Lipma"Bafta for Jewish actress Rebecca Front" ...

Jeremy Hardy Jeremy James Hardy (17 July 1961 – 1 February 2019) was an English comedian. Born and raised in Hampshire, Hardy studied at the University of Southampton and began his stand-up career in the 1980s, going on to win the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, ...

* Ian Hislop * Simon Hoggart (also a former host) *

Armando Iannucci Armando Giovanni Iannucci (; born 28 November 1963) is a Scottish satirist, writer, director, producer and performer. Born in Glasgow to Italian parents, Iannucci studied at the University of Glasgow followed by the University of Oxford. St ...

(also a former producer of the programme) * Richard Ingrams * Jonathan King *

Sue Perkins Susan Elizabeth Perkins (born 22 September 1969) is an English actress, broadcaster, comedian, presenter and writer. Originally coming to prominence through her comedy partnership with Mel Giedroyc in ''Mel and Sue'', she progressed into radio a ...

* Carrie Quinlan * Linda Smith *

(later a host) * Barry Took (also a former host)

BBC newsreaders

The News Quiz once also featured input from regular BBC newsreaders (or "hacks-neutral", as Alan Coren referred to them), but have been dropped as of the post-Covid episodes. News/continuity announcer Corrie Corfield appeared as a panellist once when Sandi Toksvig was unable to attend. As a current BBC newsreader she was bound by the BBC's code of practice for newsreaders, which prevented her from making any opinionated comments on-air. When asked, "What do you think of Bush, Corrie?", she responded, "He's an American". Peter Donaldson also appeared as a guest, in an episode broadcast in September 1999.

Producers

* Gwyn Rhys Davies *Suzy Grant * Victoria Lloyd *Richard Morris * Joe Nunnery *Paul Sheehan * Lyndsay Fenner * Sam Michell * Sam Bryant * Ed Morrish * Katie Tyrrell *Simon Nicholls * Lucy Armitage * Jon Rolph * Aled Evans * Harry Thompson *

* John Lloyd * Louise Coats

Scriptwriters

Each week, the chair's script is written by three main writers, with material contributed by one or two additional writers. Current regular writers include: * Benjamin Partridge * Alice Fraser * Madeleine Brettingham * Laura Major * Mike Shephard *

Robin Morgan Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key Radical feminism, radical feminist member of the American Feminist movement, Wom ...

* Max Davis * Sarah Morgan * Gabby Hutchinson Crouch * Catherine Brinkworth * Kat Sadler * Simon Alcock Former regular writers include: * James Kettle *

Simon Littlefield Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

* Rhodri Crooks * Lucy Clarke * Gareth Gwynn * John-Luke Roberts * Jon Hunter * Andy Wolton * James Sherwood * Stephen Carlin * George Poles * Paul McKenzie * Dave Cohen * Tom Jamieson * Nev Fountain * Debbie Barham * Iain Pattinson (1990s)

Music

The opening title music is an arrangement of '' The Typewriter'', by

Leroy Anderson Leroy Anderson ( ; June 29, 1908 – May 18, 1975) was an American composer of short, Light music, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. John Williams descri ...

played by The James Shepherd Versatile Brass. For the programme the original recording (on Decca records SB 314) has been increased in speed and pitch by about 33%.

Cultural references

BBC MindGames Magazine regularly featured several BBC-linked puzzles, including ''The News Quiz'', a series of questions about the last month's more unlikely news. Issue 5 (November 2006) also included an interview with

Audiobook releases

Entire series from series 87 onwards have been released on audio CD and made available for download. The following compilations have also been released by BBC Audio. * Simon Hoggart's Pick of The News Quiz: Volume 1 (6 Nov 2000) * Simon Hoggart's Pick of The News Quiz: Volume 2 (23 Sep 2002) * The News Quiz: The First 25 Years (1 Jul 2003) * The News Quiz: The Very Best Of 2004 (1 Nov 2004) * The News Quiz: The Best of 2005 (18 Oct 2005) * The News Quiz: Hold The Front Page (2 Oct 2006) * The News Quiz: Stop Press! (1 Oct 2007) * The News Quiz: "Read All About It!" (27 Nov 2008) * The News Quiz: Soundbites (13 Nov 2014) * The News Quiz: The Best Of 2015 (5 Nov 2015) * The News Quiz: A Vintage Collection 1977–2002 (3 Aug 2017) * The News Quiz: The Best Of 2017 (2 Nov 2017) * The News Quiz: The Best Of 2018 (1 Nov 2018) * The News Quiz: Classic Collection (audio download only, 15 Aug 2019) * The News Quiz: The Best Of 2019 (7 Nov 2019)

Podcast

As of 28 September 2007, ''The News Quiz'' became downloadable as part of the "Friday Night Comedy" podcast feed for Radio 4. The podcast switches between ''The News Quiz'', ''Dead Ringers'', ''Catherine Bohart: TL;DR'', and ''The Naked Week'', depending on which show is being transmitted; previously included in this rotation was '' The Now Show'', which ended in 2024. During Miles Jupp's tenure, an extended version of the show entitled ''The News Quiz Extra'', featuring an additional 10–15 minutes of material, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in the week following the standard Radio 4 broadcast; this version was also made available as a podcast.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:News Quiz 1977 radio programme debuts Audio podcasts BBC Radio 4 programmes BBC Radio comedy programmes British panel games British satirical radio programmes Comedy podcasts British radio game shows 1970s British game shows 1980s British game shows 1990s British game shows 2000s British game shows 2010s British game shows BBC panel games 2007 podcast debuts