Have I Got News For You spin-off planned by BBC to replace axed sports series
The BBC is planning a sport-focused spin-off series to long-running panel show Have I Got News for You.
The series is being developed with the aim of filling the gap left by the demise of long-running favourite A Question of Sport. Currently titled Have I Got Sport for You, TV industry website Broadcast reports that the series, also from Hat Trick Productions, already has high profile comedic and sporting talent attached.
It is intended that the show - set to launch later this year - will follow the format of the long-running political panel show, which has been on the air since 1990 and has notched up 66 series. It is now presented by rotating guest presenters but always features team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton. The 66th series aired from October last year.
Among regular hosts including Jo Brand, Alexander Armstrong, Richard Ayoade and Victoria Coren Mitchell there have also been sporting icons in the shape of Gary Lineker and Gary Neville. The Mirror exclusively revealed in December that Question of Sport was being axed with the BBC blaming ‘inflation and funding challenges’.
Ratings for the show had dropped below 1million after Paddy McGuinness was drafted in as replacement for long-term host Sue Barker. At the time an insider said the show was taking a break “for the foreseeable future” but could return, in the same way that The Weakest Link ended in 2012, under Anne Robinson, then was rebooted in 2020 with Romesh Ranganathan.
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“We have to provide value for money to licence fee payers and prioritise high impact content that drives viewers to BBC iPlayer,” the insider explained. “So, for now, Question of Sport is coming off air and there are no current plans for its return.” The BBC declined to comment.
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