
Ian Hislop
Actor · b. 1960 · Mumbles, Swansea, Wales, UK
Ian David Hislop is a British journalist, satirist, writer, broadcaster, and editor of the magazine Private Eye. He has appeared on many radio and television programmes, and has been a team captain on the BBC quiz show Have I Got News for You since the programme's inception in 1990.
Series22
TV7.2NewsComedyBased on the week’s news and fronted by guest hosts, this extended version of the satirical news quiz features more of the stuff that wouldn't fit into the regular programme.
TV4.4Talk ShowA topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.
The One Show
2006 · 31 votes
TV7.1ComedyNewsHilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs.
Have I Got News for You
1990 · 82 votes
TV5.9NewsTalk ShowThis topical debate series based on Any Questions? typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer pre-selected questions put to them by a carefully selected audience.
Question Time
1979 · 15 votes
TV5.6DocumentaryTalk ShowThe South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show produced by ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new series began on Sky Arts from 27 May 2012. Presented by Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.
The South Bank Show
1978 · 7 votes
TV7.2DocumentaryOmnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.
Omnibus
1967 · 9 votes
TVTalk ShowMichael Parkinson returns for a second run of his iconic talk show.
Parkinson
1998
TV6.6ComedyTalk ShowFast-moving game show meets talk show, which sees Frank Skinner refereeing three celebrities each week as they compete to banish their top peeve or worst nightmare to the depths of Room 101.
Room 101
1994 · 26 votes
TV7.0DocumentaryFamilyA British genealogy documentary series in which celebrities trace their ancestry, discovering secrets and surprises from their past.
Who Do You Think You Are?
2004 · 27 votes
TV7.5DramaWar & PoliticsAs Britain is rocked by unstable political, economic and technological advances, members of the Lyons family converge on one crucial night in 2019. Over the next 15 years, the twists and turns of their everyday lives are explored as we find out if this ordinary family could change the world.
Years and Years
2019 · 386 votes
TVJoin Robert Peston for a late-night political magazine show featuring big interviews with the country's leading politicians, topical guests, and the best politial gossip.
Peston
2018
- TV
Emma Freud invites celebrity guests to unlock the film and video vaults.
Plunder
1990
TVDocumentaryDanny Baker, Simon Callow, Richard E Grant, Cerys Matthews, Miriam Margolyes and Michael Sheen follow in the footsteps of their favourite British artists.
TV7.0DocumentaryGreat Railway Journeys, originally titled Great Railway Journeys of the World, is a recurring series of travel documentaries produced by BBC Television. The premise of each programme is that the presenter, typically a well-known figure from the arts or media, would make a journey by train, usually through a country or to a destination to which they had a personal connection. There were four series broadcast on BBC Two between 1980 and 1999, with the shorter series title being used for all but the first. In 2010 a similar series also aired on BBC Two, Great British Railway Journeys.
Great Railway Journeys
1980 · 1 votes
TV8.3DramaBased on the best-selling English novel The Island by Victoria Hislop, the series takes place on the island of Spinalonga, off the coast of Crete, and in the village of Plaka which lies within swimming distance across it. The series premiered on 11 October 2010 to record ratings and critical acclaim. It is the most expensive Greek television production ever with a budget of €4 million.
TV6.8DocumentaryCrimeJimmy Savile was one of the United Kingdom’s most beloved TV personalities. Shortly after his death in 2011, an investigation prompted more than 450 horrific allegations of sexual assault and abuse, with victims as young as 5.
Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story
2022 · 80 votes
TV6.4DocumentaryDavid Olusoga tells the story of those who lived in one house, from the time it was built until now. Searching through city archives, scouring records, and tracking down their living descendants, presenter David Olusoga tells the untold stories of the people who once lived in the house and gains a unique insight into the making of modern Britain.
A House Through Time
2018 · 9 votes
TVDocumentaryDavid Dimbleby examines the power, wealth and survival of the institution at the heart of our national life: the monarchy.
What's the Monarchy For?
2025 · 1 votes
- TVDocumentary
Ian Hislop rescues the reputation of the maverick 'Do-Gooders' who he believes fixed the 19th century's version of 'broken Britain' in this new history series. Irresistibly easy to mock, these busy bodies are highly unfashionable today. But they are heroes to Ian - extraordinary men and women who precipitated the most remarkable period of social change in British history and, Ian argues, left us with a nation worth living in. And yet unlike notable Victorian royals, inventors, politicians and generals, many of them have been all but forgotten.
TV6.0DocumentaryIan Hislop explores the British obsession with the past. He reveals how and why, throughout our history, we have continually plundered 'the olden days' to make sense of and shape the present.
Ian Hislop's Olden Days
2014 · 1 votes
- TV7.0
Loose Talk was a British youth-oriented chat show that ran for two series on Channel 4 in 1983. It was presented by Steve Taylor, along with a different guest presenter each week. It was notable for giving Ian Hislop his first break in television, however he regretted the experience as he picked it as one of his pet hates for the comedy show Room 101 in 1994. In an infamous clip, he provoked a confrontation with a 'tired and emotional' Tom Waits on the show, whilst an alarmed Steve Taylor looked on, apparently unable to control the argument. Jonathan Ross worked as a researcher for the show and Eighties pop-soul singer Sade made her first ever television appearance on it.
Loose Talk
1983 · 1 votes
TV6.0DocumentaryHow four iconic British-built trains revolutionised rail travel and inspired incredible railway projects the world over.
Ian Hislop's Trains That Changed the World
2021 · 2 votes
Movies15
Movie8.0DocumentaryTV MovieDocumentary charting and celebrating five decades of often groundbreaking, boundary-pushing comedy from BBC Two.
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
2014 · 3 votes
Movie8.0ComedyDocumentaryA documentary about the life of British satirist and founder of 'Private Eye' Peter Cook.
Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook
1995 · 1 votes
Movie4.0DocumentaryComedyIn the tradition of the acclaimed series of British concerts known as The Secret Policemen's Ball, Amnesty International celebrates its 50th Anniversary live at Radio City Music Hall.
Amnesty International's Big 30
1991 · 1 votes
MovieDocumentaryComedyA documentary about Spitting Image (1984) and the impact it had, including clips of the most memorable moments and contributions from many of the cast, crew and some of celebrities portrayed on the show.
MovieDocumentaryHistoryIan Hislop's sharp, provocative take on 200 years of fake news and its consequences - from Victorians on the moon to 21st-century deepfake, and Hislop as never seen before.
MovieDocumentaryAs Brexit Britain prepares to draw up new rules on who is welcome here, Ian Hislop takes an entertaining and provocative look at the decades from the Victorian era to the First World War, when modern Britain introduced its first peacetime restrictions on immigration.
MovieDocumentaryEdwina Currie, Matthew Parris and Ian Hislop lead a cast of politicians and journalists sharing personal memories of Cecil Parkinson and the scandal that ended his political ambitions – a secret affair with his secretary Sara Keays that lasted 12 years and would threaten the stability of the Conservative government. A story of power, politics and personal consequences.
MovieDocumentaryIan Hislop takes a look at the notorious Beeching Report of 1963, which led to the closure of a third of the nation's railway lines and forced thousands of people onto the road.
Movie7.0DocumentaryA warm and witty celebration of Sue Townsend's life and writing, the story is told with the help of children from Sue's old school, her friends and family, as well as the comedy and literary stars she inspired - including Stephen Mangan, Ian Hislop, David Nicholls, Isy Suttie and Adrian Scarborough. Drawing on Sue Townsend's own archive of letters and notebooks, the film also features unseen photographs, footage and even her appointment diary, which includes poignant entries about her struggles with ill health, written in a humorous style instantly recognisable from her books.
The Secret Life of Sue Townsend (Aged 68 3/4)
2016 · 1 votes
MovieDocumentaryHistoryDelve into a treasure trove of recently unearthed archives to tell a brand new story of Spike Milligan as film, scripts, letters, objects, photographs, recordings, and art all come together to paint a portrait of a comic genius.
MovieDocumentaryIan Hislop takes an amused look at one of the most peculiar offices in the British establishment, that of Poet Laureate. Its 341-year history produces a gloriously eccentric picture of who we are, how we are ruled, what we want to say about ourselves and just how hard it is to do that in verse.
Movie7.0ComedyA feature-length exclusive-to-video edition of Have I Got News For You.
Have I Got News for You: The Official Pirate Video
1997 · 1 votes
MovieDocumentaryIan Hislop presents this film about the colourful, seriously wealthy Victorian financiers whose spectacular philanthropy shows that banking wasn't always associated with greed or self-serving financial recklessness. Ian looks at attitudes to money and morality when the London first became the world's financial centre.
Movie9.0ComedyCompilation of classic moments and unseen outtakes from the first 23 series (1990-2002) of the popular BBC comedy show.
The Very Best of 'Have I Got News for You'
2002 · 1 votes
MovieDocumentaryLord Baden-Powell's 1908 handbook Scouting for Boys is one of the most influential and best-selling books of all time. In the 20th century, only the Bible, the Koran and the Thoughts of Chairman Mao sold more. But they had fewer jokes, no pictures and were useless at important stuff like tying knots. In this entertaining and affectionate film, Ian Hislop uncovers the story behind the book which kick-started the Scout Movement - a work which is very eccentric, very Edwardian and very English. Hislop discovers that the book is also very radical and addresses a variety of modern issues, such as citizenship, disaffected youth and social responsibility. He explores the maverick brilliance of Baden-Powell, a national celebrity after his heroism in the Boer War, and considers the book's candid focus on health and well-being.