The Scoop Scoop Song

"Tonight on BBC One, Ian Hislop and Paul Merton return in 'Have I Ripped Off the News Quiz for You'..."

-- Graeme Garden, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

You are more likely than not aware that Have I Got News for You is a television adaptation of Radio 4's own long-running news quiz, The News Quiz. It is far from unique in this regard, although it has had notably more success than other panel games that made the leap from sound to screen.

By way of example, there have been no fewer than five attempts to adapt Just a Minute for television. Two of these, in 1969 and 1981, never made it beyond an unbroadcast pilot. The third, in 1994, was only broadcast as part of ITV's regional programming in London and featured a vaguely disturbing title sequence, some painfully nineties sets and graphics, and assorted gimmicks including a round where the panellists had to talk about a "mystery object", audience participation, and later on dividing the panellists into teams playing against each other. Next up were two incarnations for the BBC: one for BBC One daytime in 1999, and another aired on BBC Two in the early evenings in 2012 for the show's 45th anniversary, the last of which was far and away the most faithful to the original radio show, and finally convinced Paul Merton to participate after declining the previous visual versions. Not entirely similarly, The Unbelievable Truth was adapted by the Australian group of satirists The Chaser for their native country in 2012, lasting for a single 10-episode series, and also featuring various gimmicks; principally visual aids and props for the lectures, but also rounds where certain words were banned and the like. I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue was piloted circa the eighties, but didn't make it to series, allegedly due to the producers of the TV version trying to get rid of all the radio panellists.

Anyway, were you aware that Have I Got News for You is actually the second TV version of The News Quiz? And no, I'm not talking about John Lloyd's Newsround; this was Scoop, seemingly a much more direct adaptation of the radio show, which ran for two series on BBC Two from 1981 to 1982. The first series was hosted by Barry Norman, who had retired as chair of TNQ two years previously. That series occupied a rather curious early evening slot on Saturdays in June and July, and also had a 'year in review' special in December. Recurring guests included Graeme Garden, Derek Jameson, Miles Kington and John Craven, for some reason.

When the show returned a few months later in March 1982, it now had a more sensible late-night slot on Fridays, which HIGNFY would go on to occupy a few years later. However, the chairman was now Richard Stilgoe, a musician best known for his humorous songs (it says here) - perhaps attempting to evoke Humphrey Lyttelton's chairmanship of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. The guests were principally journalists, including David Dimbleby, Esther Rantzen and Henry Kelly, with the odd appearance from Graeme Garden and Griff Rhys Jones.

Scoop never resurfaced after that second series; perhaps the change of host didn't go down well. Not so much as a brief clip from either series is known to survive, so it'd be hard to know for sure...