British Telly

John Lloyd hosted it, which he didn’t enjoy, with journalists Simon Hoggart and Jaci Stephen, myself and Ian. The idea was that Ian would know all the news questions and I could provide the comedy. Ian would be the intelligent one and I would be the funny one. It wasn’t the most promising start, but the BBC had already committed to a series. Producer Harry Thompson and comedian Angus Deayton wrote the scripts. Harry had a keen sense of humour. He’d say: “Here’s a joke for you. Angus doesn’t think it’s funny.” When it got a laugh, Angus would have this quizzical look on his face.

I wore a T-shirt because everybody wore suits and ties. I thought we looked like a parole board, and it needed an element of anarchy. I also wanted some rudeness. The news agenda always changes. In our history, the only stories that wouldn’t go away were Brexit, Covid and Trump. There are five people, three of whom weren’t there last week. No one is irreplaceable in show business. But we’ll keep going until the sun explodes and consumes the Earth, which will be the top story the following week.