During a Commons session on Thursday, Labour MP Rupa Huq revealed that Brooker – who, coincidentally, is her brother-in-law – had written in as a constituent to complain about the rules.

That's because he can't use footage from parliament in episodes of Screenwipe, a TV show in which Brooker satirises the news.

The parliamentary rules distinguish between broadcasts that are seen to be "satire, light entertainment, or factual". The last category can use Commons footage, the other two can't, which is why other shows such as Have I Got News for You and Mock the Week don't feature clips from parliament.

It is also, some TV writers say, why there's no UK equivalent of The Daily Show.

Confusingly, the real US Daily Show can feature Commons footage because the rules allow international broadcasters to use it. This led to controversy in 2011 after Channel 4 was prevented from showing an episode of the show because it featured a clip from parliament.

Back then, a reply to a freedom of information request from Channel 4 revealed that the rules say that "no extracts from parliamentary proceedings may be used in comedy shows or other light entertainment such as political satire".

"But broadcasters are allowed to include parliamentary items in magazine programmes containing musical or humorous features, provided the reports are kept separate."

In the Commons on Thursday, Huq suggested to the Leader of the House, Chris Grayling, that the rules should be updated.

"Given how vague these boundaries are, and the fact that these rules were dreamt up some 27 years ago, would he not agree with me it's a good juncture to revisit this?" she asked.