The BBC pulled Friday night’s episode of HIGNFY from its schedule shortly before it was due to air
The BBC have confirmed the decision to pull Friday night’s episode of Have I Got News For You was due to an appearance from Change UK leader Heidi Allen.
The satirical news-based panel show was due to be screened at 9pm but was replaced by Mrs Brown’s Boys.
A tweet from HIGNFY’s official Twitter explained, in its own special way, why the show would not be screened.
‘Sorry everyone. The BBC have pulled tonight’s edition of #HIGNFY – no, we didn’t book Danny Baker,’ the tweet read.
‘We booked Heidi Allen, a member of a party no-one knows the name of (not even the people in it), because the Euro elections, which nobody wants, may or may not be happening. Sorry.’
Sorry everyone. The BBC have pulled tonight’s edition of #HIGNFY – no, we didn’t book Danny Baker. We booked Heidi Allen, a member of a party no-one knows the name of (not even the people in it), because the Euro elections, which nobody wants, may or may not be happening.
Sorry.— Have I Got News For You (@haveigotnews) May 10, 2019
Following this, BBC bosses confirmed that guidelines related to party leaders’ appearances during an election period would have been breached if the episode had been aired.
‘The BBC has specific editorial guidelines that apply during election periods,’ a statement from the BBC read.
‘Because of this it would be inappropriate to feature political party leaders on entertainment programmes during this short election period, which does not allow for equal representation to be achieved.
‘So we will not broadcast the scheduled episode of HIGNFY featuring Heidi Allen, leader of Change UK. We will look to broadcast this episode at a later date.’
