Ken Livingstone was a last-minute addition to the panel for this edition. Ian Hislop's team-mate was supposed to have been
Jean Barker (Baroness Trumpington, the famous nonagenarian peeress), but she left on discovering that the show would be dealing with the death of Margaret Thatcher, which had occurred during that week. She had been an adviser to Thatcher. The BBC initially insisted that she be replaced by another Tory, lest there be accusations of bias, but the several who were hastily approached (with only a few hours to go before recording) all turned the gig down. Ian Hislop's team-mate turned out to be the famously left-wing Ken Livingstone, who was not charitable in his comments about the deceased Prime Minister. (Nor was anyone else).