Have I Got News For You will return for new series tonight ‘like a more elaborate video-conference’ Exclusive: Producers will build a virtual set around Ian Hislop, Paul Merton and satirical show’s guests beamed in from their living rooms

Ian Hislop and Paul Merton will be in their seats and the satire promises to be as sharp as ever.

But Have I Got News For You returns to BBC1 on Friday with an episode quite unlike any other in the show’s 30-year history.

Movement restrictions and a ban on studio audiences means the team captains, host Steph McGovern and panellists Miles Jupp and Helen Lewis will trade topical quips from the safety of their front rooms, speaking to remotely-controlled cameras.

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Producers Hat Trick will maintain a little of the illusion of business as usual by framing the humorists with a virtual reality version of the regular studio set.

No studio laughter

However the guffawing of the studio audience, egging on Merton to fresh heights of comic absurdity, will not be recreated.

The hastily improvised version might look a little rough around the edges to regular viewers yet there was never any doubt that the series must go ahead.

Live scenes from No 10’s daily ‘how to give yourself coronavirus’ briefing: pic.twitter.com/60oKMDSz8T — Have I Got News For You (@haveigotnews) March 31, 2020

“We said – and the BBC agreed – that Have I Got News For You must go on by any means necessary,” executive producer Richard Wilson told i.

“People need a release from the current situation and it’s wrong to shut everything down.”

‘We weren’t about to let coronavirus stop us’

“We’ve done the show when Ian had a burst appendix so we weren’t about to let coronavirus stop us.”

The technology that allows the satirists to communicate with each other has now become familiar to millions of Zoom and House Party users.

“It’s a more elaborate form of video-conferencing with five people having a conversation. It’s just that we’re recording it, editing it and getting the pictures to broadcast standard.”

‘Like hologram Michael Jackson’

He added: “Paul and Ian are in their homes but they will appear on set like a hologram Michael Jackson. We’ve created a digital version of the set as a backdrop but we don’t want it to look too polished.”

As Dominic Cummings goes into self-isolation, doctors agree that about five years should do it. — Have I Got News For You (@haveigotnews) March 30, 2020

“The whole ethos of HIGNFY is it’s made from cardboard and you can see how old the carpet is. We felt the virtual set was looking better than the real one.”

Connecting remotely is a challenge to Hislop and Merton.

“Normally they feed off the audience, where we have banks of people sitting at the side. There’s no way for them, or the host reading structured autocue jokes, to judge how the material is going without that reaction.”

Hitting the right tone

Hitting the correct tone for the comedy is vital when people are dying from Covid-19. “We won’t be going anywhere near death tolls. It wouldn’t be funny or appropriate,” said Wilson.

“There’s comedy in how government is managing the situation and how the public is responding, the creativity in how people are reacting. Things that are crazy and uplifting.”

Not just coronavirus jokes

Viewers won’t want the nine-week series to be all coronavirus. “There’s Meghan and Harry and lots of other good stories bubbling under the surface.”

BBC to run special edition of MOTD on Saturday, showing highlights of this week’s spectacular own goals by Mike Ashley and Tim Martin. — Have I Got News For You (@haveigotnews) March 27, 2020

With the show now recorded on Wednesday night instead of Thursday, to allow more time for editing the feeds from five separate cameras and the addition of a little virtual magic, the producers don’t want to give any hostages to fortune by joking about the health of high-profile individuals diagnosed with Covid-19 before airing.

“When one of the Chuckle Brothers has gone down with it the jokes just write themselves but that one is best left for Twitter,” the producer said.

Tech-shy team captains

How will Hislop and Merton, not renowned for their embrace of new technology, cope with the show’s radical reinvention.

“It’s fair to say HIGNFY has always been sceptical of technology but Ian and Paul don’t need to know how it all works. They just have to look into the camera and do what they do,” said Wilson.

“It’s lucky we have Steph McGovern hosting because she’s been presenting her new Channel 4 daily show from her home all week. She’ll be a veteran of this kind of TV by Friday.”

Have I Got News For You, BBC1, Friday April 2, 9pm