One-off to look back at the events of 2024

The BBC is to air a one-off Have I Got Sport For You to look back at the events of the last year.

The spin-off from Have I Got News For You is to be recorded in London later this month and promises ‘appearances from top comedians and sporting stars’.

News that the show was in development by production house Hat Trick Productions first broke it the summer via trade publication Broadcast. 

But the BBC did not comment at the time, so this is the first concrete news that the project is becoming a reality, and could be seen as a test episode for a possible future series.

Details of the host and panellists have not yet been revealed,

The recording comes a year after A Question Of Sport was shelved indefinitely after 53 years on air, with the broadcaster blaming ‘inflation and funding challenges’. The show had suffered a slump in viewers from 4 million in 2021 – when long-running host Sue Barker was replaced by  Paddy McGuinness –  to around 800,000 at the time it was axed.

Hat Trick previously made a one-off episode of Have I Got Sport For You for Radio 4 in 2012, fronted by former They Think It's All Over host Nick Hancock.

The company has also just expanded the  Have I Got News For You franchise to America, with CNN now airing weekly episodes hosted by Roy Wood Jr, who will also guest-present the BBC original this Friday in the wake of the US presidential elections.

Sporting personalities such as Gary Lineker, pictured, and Gary Neville have featured  as guest hosts on the original news show which is currently  in its 68th series.

Free tickets to be in the audience for the recording of the sporting spin-off at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith on November 19 are available from Standing Room Only.

Published: 4 Nov 2024