Hat Trick have announced plans to expand the Have I Got News For You brand to turn it "into a UK equivalent of US satirical website The Onion."

39 series have been broadcast to date.

The original line-up, from 1990 to 2002, was Angus Deayton as chairman, with Ian Hislop, the editor of Private Eye, and comedian Paul Merton as team captains. Each captain is accompanied by a guest, usually a politician, journalist or comedian, or somebody particularly relevant to recent news.

Merton took a break from Have I Got News For You during the eleventh series in 1996, making only one appearance as a guest on Hislop's team. He was replaced as opposing team captain by various people, most notably Eddie Izzard. Merton later explained that at the time he was "very tired" of the show and that he thought it had become "stuck in a rut". Nevertheless, he added that he felt his absence gave the programme the "shot in the arm" it needed and that it had been "better ever since".

In May 2002, following newspaper headlines of his adulterous use of a prostitute and illegal drugs, Deayton was ridiculed on the show by Merton and Hislop (along with guests Ken Livingstone and Dave Gorman). Following a second round of revelations about his private life, leading to further mockery from Paul Merton, Deayton was fired in October of the same year, two shows into the new series.

Merton hosted the first episode after Deayton's departure, and was described as "merciless" in his treatment of his former co-star. A series of guest hosts appeared for the remainder of the series, including Anne Robinson, Boris Johnson, and Jeremy Clarkson. Hislop, therefore, is the only person to have appeared in every episode — despite suffering from a burst appendix shortly before one edition and having to go to hospital immediately afterwards.

Although Hislop has appeared in every episode, Merton has, at some point during the series' run, played all three roles of the show's format in different episodes: he is usually captain of his team, but has also been a guest on Hislop's team (in series 11, episode 1), and has presented the show (series 24, episode 3). The only other people to have occupied all three positions (host, captain and panellist) are Frank Skinner and Clive Anderson, who have both stood in for Merton as team captain (in series 36 episode 5 and series 11 episodes 3 and 6 respectively).

Despite a search for a permanent successor to Deayton, having a different guest host each week proved successful, with average audience figures increasing from 6 million to 7 million. It was therefore announced in June 2003 that this feature would continue. Merton missed the recording of the 21 November 2008 episode due to illness. Comedian Frank Skinner stood in as guest captain on Merton's team.

Have I Got News For You began on BBC Two on 28 September 1990 and transferred to BBC One in October 2000. "Myself and Ian, we did a disastrous pilot for it," Paul Merton explained nine years later. "It was a beautiful summer's afternoon in 1990. Far too nice to be in a television studio, but I think the BBC had already bought it, so that's how it became a series."

Two series are made every year. At first, the number of episodes per series was inconsistent. However, a pattern soon formed whereby the spring series between April to June comprises eight episodes and the autumn series between October to December contains nine, with a one-week break in the middle to allow the broadcasting of Children in Need.