News Knight with Sir Trevor McDonald
A satirical news panel show hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald.
News Knight with Sir Trevor McDonald is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for ITV. Airing at 22:00 on Sunday nights, the programme features Sir Trevor McDonald and three comedians satirizing the week's news, with Marcus Brigstocke as a permanent member of the "news team." The title is a pun on McDonald's knighthood and the BBC Two programme Newsnight, and it is often referred to as "News Knight with Sir Trevor McDonald" to avoid confusion.
Quick Facts
- Presenter
- Sir Trevor McDonald
- Starring
- Marcus Brigstocke
- Director
- Lissa Evans
- Network
- ITV
- Series
- 1
- Episodes
- 7
- First aired
- 24 June 2007
- Last aired
- 5 August 2007
Facts from the source article.
Format
The programme is structured around the news broadcast McDonald has always wanted to do, with him setting the news agenda through his top three stories of the week. These stories are discussed with the panel, making the show more akin to a traditional news broadcast than a talk show, but with a comic agenda. Additional features include internet clips from sites such as YouTube, with recurring segments like Planet Stupid, which covers bizarre news stories, and Young People Can Be Idiots, featuring clips of teenagers and young adults doing idiotic things. One episode included a spin-off called Old People Can Be Idiots.
Comments and criticism
Reaction to News Knight has been mixed. Some critics have questioned McDonald's suitability for comedy, with Jim Shelley remarking that a legendary newsreader like McDonald is too dignified for segments such as Saudis Do the Funniest Things or Gay Or Blind. Other critics have noted the show's similarity to Have I Got News for You; The Daily Record described it as a "rip-off" and a "poor man's take" on the BBC programme, criticizing ITV for copying. The first episode drew around 200 complaints after McDonald made a joke about the late controversial comedian Bernard Manning. In a segment called Racist and Dead, McDonald said, "This week it's the turn of incompetent, narrow-minded northerner: Bernard Manning. Personally, I never thought of Bernard Manning as a racist comic; just a fat, white bastard." Jim Bowen called the comment "appalling," but an ITV spokesman defended it as satire, stating, "I'm sure Bernard would find the whole thing hilarious." Ofcom cleared McDonald and ITV of racism charges, ruling that the joke was justified in context and that McDonald was parodying Manning's own style of humour, which often played on real or apparent prejudices. Ofcom noted that McDonald's comments were intended to parody Manning's claim that he was not racist but simply made jokes based on racial stereotypes.
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