Question Time (TV programme) being taken off the air, and the death of an audience member who collapsed while recording. The programme continued to enjoy good ratings during this period, notably on the day of Margaret Thatcher's resignation on 22 November 1990, which featured two different panels over two editions. David Dimbleby was chosen to succeed Peter Sissons as the programme’s presenter in 1994, after the BBC decided to hold two pilot show auditions between Dimbleby and Jeremy Paxman with two different audiences and two different panels. For a brief period under Dimbleby’s chairmanship in the mid-1990s there were a number of variations to
Question Time British National Party controversy been extended. The BBC Deputy Director General, Mark Byford, also defended the decision on the day of the programme, saying: "[The BNP] should have the right to be heard, be challenged, and for the public who take part in "Question Time" and the viewers to make up their own minds about the views of the BNP. It's not for the BBC to censor and say they can't be on". The BBC's chief political adviser, Ric Bailey, stated after the failed appeal that the BBC "would have been breaking its charter if it had not treated the BNP with impartiality ...