ANDREW Neil and the BBC have been fiercely criticised by a historian who was invited to appear on This Week – a TV show he described as “incredibly stupid”.

Producers of the BBC programme, which is hosted by Neil, invited Rutger Bregman to appear as a panellist on Thursday’s show under the premise of discussing his new book, Utopia for Realists.

Describing the “bewildering” experience on Twitter, the Dutch popular historian set out to provide “a bit more background how incredibly stupid the show really is”.

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He said that before the show he was repeatedly encouraged to discuss Brexit, despite explaining that it was not his areas of expertise.

Bregman also said he was asked to comment on the recent terrorist attack in Utrecht, which he again explained was not a subject he has specialist knowledge of.

1. Last night, I was invited to be on the BBC show ‘This Week’. I thought that Davos was a bewildering experience, but this beat everything. — Rutger Bregman (@rcbregman) March 22, 2019

Furthermore, he alleged that the producers feigned interest in his book.

“When you arrive at the studio, you quickly find out that nobody has actually read your book. The producer, the presenter - they all couldn’t care less. They don’t even have a copy,” Bregman said.

Once on the show, he complained that “right-wing dinosaurs” – host Neil and panellists Michael Portillo and Alan Johnson – made false statements and repeatedly interrupted him.

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“They make up facts about inequality (‘hasn’t grown’) and the economy (‘never been better’). They change the subject every 10 seconds. They hardly let you finish a sentence. Then it’s over,” the historian said.

Summarising the experience, Bregman tweeted: “This was the worst experience I’ve had with UK media.”