Oh no, they're back.
Oh no, they're back.
1.
Producers were allowed to leave the word ‘fuck’ unbleeped from the ninth series (spring 1995) onwards. This was a landmark gesture by the BBC, and was perhaps permitted because the show was believed to breech the gap between current affairs (where such a profanity would hitherto be conditionally tolerated) and comedy (where it was normally banned across the board). The first use of the word was in episode which referred to Germaine Greer’s spat with fellow feminist Suzanne Moore, where Moore was accused of sporting ‘fuck-me shoes’. The worthy argument put forward by the producers was presumably that to censor the word would be to censor a news story. In subsequent series, however, the word was permitted even if it was merely part of a quip about Angus Deayton’s parking.
[NOTE: In the episode broadcast on 29/10/92, the Odd One Out round concerned the use of the word ‘fuck’ on TV. ‘Kenneth Tynan was the first person to say ‘fuck’ on television,’ said Ian Hislop, before adding ‘And I was the last.’ Quick-witted Paul Merton then rejoindered ‘No you fucking weren’t’. All fucks were bleeped for transmission, but an unbleeped (and slightly longer) version appeared on Hat Trick’s 1993 video compilation, Have I Got News For You - Volume One (VC 6348), whose compilers presumably completely missed the satirical intentions behind the bleeps - indeed, Deayton’s end-line which alludes to the lack of progress in such matters over thirty years (‘And here we are, still bleeping it out’) was cut. Why an untainted copy of this footage was kept is a mystery; as is the existence of further unseen material. ]
2.
The video Have I Got Unbroadcastable News For You (1995) was a specially-recorded episode intended for video release only. It’s a weak episode, but it does feature the pre-recording introductions to the guests, the sound-checks and the re-takes (recorded wild at the end of the show). However, due to the boring cuntgoons who put it together, these sections themselves are edited, and only appear on the video at all because Eddie Izzard said something ‘funny’ about Richard Wilson’s hair.
[NOTE: The Official Pirate Video (1997), another video-only release, does not contain footage of this kind.]
