BBC Radio 4 reveals three new hosts for The News Quiz
Nish Kumar, Angela Barnes and Andy Zaltzman will take over the long-running panel show
BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz has settled on three presenters to host the series in 2020.
Comedians Nish Kumar, Angela Barnes and Andy Zaltzman will each have a stint in the hot seat when the panel show returns, taking over for Miles Jupp who has quit after four years.
All three have previously appeared on The News Quiz alongside having several other noteworthy projects on television and radio.
Kumar will be known to many as the host of BBC Two's satirical series The Mash Report, but he has also hosted the BBC radio shows Newsjack and Spotlight Tonight. He will be the first host of 2020, starting his run on Friday 3rd January.
He said: "I’m delighted to be taking the reins at the News Quiz. I look forward to unpacking the country’s continued descent into a Mad Max style dystopia/Britain’s glorious rise from the ashes into a bold new tomorrow (delete as applicable). I look forward to sharing this honour with two of my dearest show business friends, Angela and Andy."
Barnes has been involved in The News Quiz for some time now, first serving as a writer for the show and later taking the role of panellist.
Her hosting duties will start from April 2020, while she is also producing a second series of her other Radio 4 show, Angela Barnes: You Can't Take it with You.
"To say that I'm chuffed to be asked to be one of the new chairs of the News Quiz on Radio 4 is an obscene understatement, it's literally the job of my dreams, though I'm hoping that when I do it for real the audience and I will remain fully clothed," she said.
- The Mash Report's Nish Kumar: How can I launch a satire show when politics is already beyond parody?
Last but not least, Zaltzman will be hosting from September 2020, roughly 14 years since his first appearance on The News Quiz.
He is a prolific voice in comedy and satire, known for working on various Radio 4 programmes as well as his own podcast The Bugle.
He added: "It is a great honour to be entrusted with holding all news to account along with Angela and Nish. Over the course of the year, I hope we will be able to quiz the news so hard that it grows up and starts behaving its age. There has been more news than average over the last 100 to 120 years, so, assuming that trend continues, we should hopefully have plenty of news to address."
Series 101 of The News Quiz begins on Friday 3rd January at 6:30pm on BBC Radio 4
Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
