Jeremy Clarkson will host an edition of Have I Got News for You later this month, the BBC has confirmed.


The Corporation said that Clarkson will present the show on BBC1 on Friday April 24.

A statement read: “Jeremy’s contract has not been renewed on Top Gear but he isn’t banned from appearing on the BBC.”

RadioTimes.com understands that Clarkson will be given a free reign to be as irreverent as he likes in keeping with the ethos of the show, with team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop more than likely to refer to the Corporation’s decision not to renew his Top Gear contract.

“Business as usual I’d say,” said a BBC source.

Last month Jimmy Mulville, the boss of Hat Trick which makes Have I Got News For You said that a Clarkson appearance on the show would make ”great television” but added: “I don’t think the BBC know that he is due to be on. It would be great. Have I Got News for You tries to have a bit of mischief so we will see if he can come on.”

It will not be the first time Clarkson has presented the satirical panel show.

Hislop claimed recently on Question Time that during a light-hearted exchange he was left with a cut on his face after Clarkson threw a pen at him during a recording of the programme in 2008. “We had to stop recording,” said the Private Eye editor. “He refused to believe it was blood. He said it was red biro and then apologised to me afterwards.”

The new series of Have I Got News for You begins on Friday April 10 with Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe in the hot seat.

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