Image caption Ruth Davidson will be joining the HIGNFY club which has included the late Lib Dem Charles Kennedy and SNP MP Alex Salmond

For 25 years and 50 series, the BBC's Have I Got News For You has been one of TV's most popular and cut-throat satirical shows.

And on Friday night, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson will sit on the comedy news quiz panel and become the first female politician from north of the border to joust with resident wits Ian Hislop and Paul Merton.

Actor Michael Sheen will be the show's guest host as Davidson joins a select band of Scottish politicians to have tried their hand at making an impression in the unscripted and unspun world of satire.

I think she [Ruth Davidson] is the kind of person who might be ok. I would give her a 70% chance of coming out on top. Matthew Parris, Journalist and former Tory MP

It is perhaps quite a surprise when you note how long the show has been running to see how short the list of Scottish politicians is.

But it must be pointed out, it does not actually feature politicians more than a handful of times per series and its favourites such as Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone have made numerous appearances.

Image caption Ruth Davidson's appearance was recorded on Thursday night

The late Lib Dem MP Charles Kennedy is pre-eminent when it comes to HIGNFY appearances, with a grand total of nine times between 1992 and 2009, including one where he was the guest host.

He opened the show in 2002, when he was leader of the Lib Dems, by saying: "My name is Charles Kennedy and tonight I'm in charge. People of Britain, get used to it."

The only other Scots politicians to appear on the show are David Steel (twice), Alex Salmond (three times) and Robin Cook.

George Galloway was still a Glasgow MP when he appeared in December 2003, soon after his expulsion from the Labour party, but Tory MP Sir Teddy Taylor had long defected south when he was on the show in 1994.

Image caption Ian Hislop and Paul Merton are the team leaders on the long-running series

Matthew Parris - broadcaster, journalist and former Tory MP - told BBC Scotland's Kaye Adams programme that Davidson was "jolly brave to do it".

He said: "I think she is the kind of person who might be ok. I would give her a 70% chance of coming out on top.

"But there is a 30% chance of it all going horribly wrong and it's a brave person who takes a risk like that."

Comedian Jo Caulfield, who has appeared on the show twice, said: "You have nothing to be afraid of if you have not done anything wrong.

"I don't think they set out to destroy people but if you are a member of parliament and you are doing something you should not be doing then Ian Hislop will point it out to you."

Parris adds that having skeletons in the cupboard is not the only way you can be caught out.

How do you survive on the show?

He says: "If you are boring, you are going to come across as a bit boring and if you are a bit of a prat you are going to come across as a bit of a prat.

"I think she is probably too canny to do herself lasting damage but it could.

"I think especially any kind of arrogance or harshness, some throw-away careless remark that comes back to haunt you. That's what you have to avoid."

Parris adds: "Ruth Davidson should be herself because she is actually quite funny. She should not try to be obviously funny but she has a natural sense of humour which will come out.

"Her downfall could be if she is cocky.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The fun side: Ruth Davidson had a go at the bagpipes during a general election campaign photocall

"I would not call her smug but I would call her cocky. She has a sort of saunter, which might work or might not."

Caulfield says the advice she would give to most people would be "try to be yourself".

She says: "It is something you can't say to many politicians: 'Just try and be a normal natural person, who will sometimes be funny or give your honest opinion'.

"That is so hard for politicians nowadays.

"And if they are good at it like poor Charles Kennedy, who was brilliant, it did not do him any good because I think other politicians were then jealous of him being in the limelight.

"It does bring out egomania of politicians and it can be awful to watch them loving themselves."

Is she different enough?

Parris says Davidson will have been asked to take part in the show because, as a combative young politician who is a kick-boxer and a lesbian, she is different enough from her peers to be interesting.

He says: "Interestingly, the big joke about Ruth Davidson is that she is a Conservative in Scotland.

"There aren't so many of them. That would be the joke but I would expect her to give a good account of herself."