Have I Got News For You's Ian Hislop has revealed the 'best and worst guest' to ever grace hit the BBC show.

The 64-year-old has been a team captain on the television panel programme, which sees the celebrity guests show off their knowledge of the weekly news topics, since it premiered in 1990. 

Over the past 35 years there have been numerous famous faces on the panel. 

And the journalist didn't hold back when he opened up about who his favourite and least favourite person to appear on the programme was.

Speaking to the Independent at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards earlier this week, Ian said: 'My favourite guest was William Shatner, Captain Kirk from Star Trek.

'He had no idea who we were. He didn't know any of the news stories and was incredibly funny, and he actually sang.'

Ian added: 'He'd just released an album, so I think he was probably both the best and the worst guest ever.'

William famously guest-hosted the iconic show back in 2012, and while he left many viewers in hysterics with his quips, one comment accidentally irked residents of an English town.

The veteran actor made a controversial claim about the seaside town of Ilfracombe in Devon. 

After initially mispronouncing the name of the town, fellow panelist Charlie Brooker joked that William made it sound 'deeply sexual'. 

William hit back: 'The place is laced with prostitution,' leading then town's then-Mayor Paul Crabb to pen a letter to the actor's representatives.

In it he invited William to visit Ilfracombe and see for himself that his remarks were completely unfounded.

He wrote: 'As Captain James T Kirk, Mr Shatner has been to places where no man has gone before. However, the episode of Have I Got News for You clearly shows he has never been to Ilfracombe. 

'If he came, we could show him that there is no prostitution in Ilfracombe and that it is a lovely coastal town with spectacular scenery and a close community.' 

William played Captain Kirk in the sci-fi favourite between 1966 and 1969, and since then has appeared in various other TV shows and films. 

Some include the rest of the Star Trek franchise, Miss Congeniality, Jugement at Nuremberg, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, A Christmas Horror Story and The Wild. 

Have I Got News For You has aired 610 episodes over 68 series. 

It was presented by Angus Deayton between 1990 and 2002 and a number of guest presenters have filled the role ever since.

Deayton made headlines in May 2002 after reports in the News of The World emerged that he had allegedly hired prostitute Caroline Martin in Manchester and had sex with her. 

It was also alleged Martin and Deayton used cocaine together while at a hotel in London together.

The host was later fired in October 2002 after further headlines emerged of a further affair with another woman. At the time, his now ex-partner Lise Mayer was at home while pregnant.

In 2021, Jimmy Mulville, the managing director of the show's makers, Hat Trick Productions, hinted that he would like Angus to return as host.

In an interview broadcast on BBC Radio 4, Mulville said: 'I think it'd be very nice for him [to come back to Have I Got News For You]. We're all a little older now.

'He's definitely served his time, and he was a very good host.'

Mulville revealed that Deayton travelled to Italy after the allegations emerged in the News of the World following an interview with Martin, but he was convinced to come back to the UK and present the next show.

At the start of the next Have I Got News For You, Deayton told viewers: 'Do not adjust your set. My face really is this red.'

He was teased mercilessly about it on air by panellists Paul Merton and Ian Hislop, with the former unveiling a T-shirt with the News of the World's 'Deayton's sex romp with vice girl' front page emblazoned across it.

Deayton was reported to have privately thanked them afterwards 'for making something funny out of something so unfunny'.

He appeared in another show later in 2002 after he appeared in the headlines again. And in October that year, he was sacked from the show by BBC executives at Hat Trick Productions, who claimed at the time the scandal was making his role as host a topical satire programme 'untenable'.

Indeed, Mulville said: 'We tried to lurch on but I could see it was becoming more and more uncomfortable because . . . the host needs not to be the main story on the show. Otherwise, you lose your comic platform, your authority.'

Mulville said he realised Deayton had to go when he was taunted by Christine Hamilton in an episode. Deayton had called Christine's husband Neil 'the disgraced former MP' and she shot back, 'If he's disgraced, then what are you?'

'We realised we just couldn't go on like this for the show to survive,' Mulville said.

While Mulville believed it would be good to have Deayton back as the show's host, Ian was less keen.

Speaking on the same Radio 4 show, he said: 'I'm not really asked very often which guests should come on because usually I would say, 'Oh, God no. I hate him, her, them. Can we not have them?' And I'm ignored. So if he appears, it would be nothing to do with me.'

Discussing Deayton's firing, Hislop said: 'It was incredibly difficult. I liked Angus and I thought he was a very, very good host.

'It was certainly my job and our job as a programme to apply the same standards to him that we would have done to anyone else, which we did.'

Since Angus' exit, stars including Alexander Armstrong, Paul Merton, Jeremy Clarkson and Charlotte Church have hosted the show.

Throughout its 35-year run, the show has welcomed a string of big names as guests hosts with Brian Blessed hosting an unforgettable episode of the show back in 2008.

From bellowing his iconic phrase 'Gordon's Alive!' to quaffing water directly from the jug, and dressing up as a giant squirrel, his antics left both Paul and Ian flabbergasted, with the former saying: 'Does anybody remember how this show used to be?' asked Merton wearily. 

In 1993, after MP Roy Hattersley dropped out for the third time, he was replaced by a tub of lard, 'liable to give the same performance and imbued with much of the same qualities.'

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson also made multiple appearances on the show, including a stint as host in 2005.

Just last year, Lorraine Kelly was a far cry from her friendly chat show demeanour, as as she took a savage swipe at fellow daytime star Richard Madeley as she guest-hosted the show.

While showing humorous news clips, Lorraine read on the autocue: 'In other news, Rachel Reeves has been accused of lying on her CV.

'But we've all done that, haven't we, for work purposes. For years I've claimed to be friends with Richard Madeley.'

The gag prompted laughter from the audience and the team of panellists. 

Lorraine presents her own chat show at 9am while Richard is a regular presenter on Good Morning Britain which airs just before. 

Have I Got News For You is produced by Hat Trick Productions and is filmed at Riverside Studios. 

It was originally released on BBC Two, where it aired until 2000, before moving over to BBC One.

Have I Got News For You is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.