Question Time British National Party controversy is the flagship BBC Television political panel show, which began in 1979. The weekly show, hosted by David Dimbleby since 1994, takes place at locations around the country. Questions from a local audience are directed to a panel of invited guests, usually consisting of British politicians, alongside other public figures. The topics for debate during the programme are loosely defined by "set-piece" questions from pre-selected audience members. For each topic, the question is answered by each panel member in turn, followed by supplementary questions on the topic, time permitting. The show is pre-recorded a few hours before being broadcast, and
Question Time British National Party controversy Time", had been proposing an appearance by Griffin over the previous two years. "The Independent" gave credit to the BBC for resisting "the naïve showbiz instincts" of executives at Mentorn, who may have wanted "what Peter Hain calls a 'beanfest' for reasons well removed from the BBC's charter obligations." On 21 October, the day before the broadcast, the BBC Director-General, Mark Thompson, wrote an article for "The Guardian" entitled 'Keeping Nick Griffin off air is a job for parliament, not the BBC'. He said that those arguing for the BNP to be excluded from the programme were making the case