Question Time is a topical debate programme, typically broadcast on BBC One at 10:45 pm on Thursdays. It is usually repeated on BBC Two (with British Sign Language) and on BBC Parliament later in the week. Leaders specials are broadcast simultaneously on BBC News. Question Time is also available on BBC iPlayer. Fiona Bruce currently chairs the show having succeeded David Dimbleby as presenter in January 2019.

The programme usually takes annual Westminster recess-style breaks especially at Christmas, Easter and Summer.

Mentorn has produced the programme since 1998.

Origins Question Time was first broadcast on Tuesday 25 September 1979, based on the BBC Radio 4 programme Any Questions? The first panel consisted of Labour MP Michael Foot, author Edna O'Brien, Conservative politician Teddy Taylor, and the Archbishop of Liverpool Derek Worlock.

Format Question Time panels are typically composed of five public figures, "nearly always [including] a representative from the UK government and the official opposition." The panel also features "representatives from other political parties across the series, taking as [its] guide the level of electoral support at national level which each party enjoys."

High-profile journalists and authors, television and radio broadcasters, and comedians, join the panel, as do business leaders from well-known companies, and leading or expert academics, lawyers, police officers, and clerics.

With the exceptions of Margaret Thatcher and Rishi Sunak, every British Prime Minister that has held office since the programme began in 1979 has appeared as a regular panelist at some point. Sunak did appear as a panelist once, in a party leader's edition broadcast during the 2024 General Election campaign on June 24. Additionally, former Prime Ministers Edward Heath and James Callaghan also participated in panels, with Callaghan's single appearance coming in a special edition marking the resignation of Thatcher on 22 November 1990. Additionally, every leader of the Conservative party after Thatcher and prior to Rishi Sunak, Labour after Harold Wilson and the Liberal/Liberal Democrat parties after Clement Davies with the single exception of Jeremy Thorpe, have appeared as panelists.

Audience members are selected by the 'audience producer' based on age, gender, occupation, ethnicity, disability status, voting intention, voting history, and party membership. The audience members are "requested to come up with two questions, to be considered for the programme." The panel hears the questions for the first time, when the audience members ask them. Applicants are contacted on the Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday before the programme, although due to a "high volume of requests", the team are unable to call everyone.

Question Time is usually recorded "as-live", and in a single-take, shortly before transmission. The programme is only edited on "very rare" occasions for legal or taste reasons, or because it over-runs. For example, The Observer newspaper reported in 1986 that "The BBC's lawyers ordered nine seconds of Question Time to be deleted by the old-fashioned method of simply cutting off the sound".'"High Tech, low tech, no tech", The Observer, 9 February 1986

Presenters Sir Robin Day Veteran broadcaster Robin Day was the programme's first chair, presenting it for nearly 10 years until June 1989. Question Time soon gained popularity under Day's lead, with his quick wit and interrogation skills. His famous catchphrase when he had introduced the panel was: "There they are, and here we go."

The programme was mainly filmed at the Greenwood Theatre in London on the south side of London Bridge. Day's last appearance as presenter was broadcast from Paris on 12 July 1989. He was allowed to choose his own guests.

Peter Sissons

After Day retired, Peter Sissons took over and continued until 1993. The BBC decided to widen the programme's appeal by moving it around the country. The programme also changed its London location from the Greenwood Theatre to the Barbican Centre. Sissons' tenure as Question Time chair included three different editors. There were several problems during filming, including a bomb scare during a live recording, which resulted in the 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 David Dimbleby succeeded Sissons as Question Time presenter in 1994, after the BBC held two pilot show auditions between Dimbleby and Jeremy Paxman, with two different audiences and two different panels. For a brief period under Dimbleby in the mid-1990s, there were a number of variations to the format, including the audience using voting keypads to take a poll of the audience at the end of the programme and Dimbleby getting out of his seat at intervals to question the audience.

Dimbleby presented Question Time for 25 years, the programme's longest-serving presenter, until his final programme, aged 80, on 13 December 2018.

Fiona Bruce In December 2018, the BBC announced that Fiona Bruce would succeed Dimbleby as moderator. Bruce—along with Samira Ahmed, Victoria Derbyshire, Emily Maitlis, Nick Robinson, and Kirsty Wark—attended October 2018 auditions at London's James Allen's Girls' School. She presented her first Question Time in January 2019.

Guest presenters Question Time has seen various presenters deputise for the main chair. Sir Ludovic Kennedy, Sue Lawley (the first woman to chair the programme), Bernard Levin (who is the only person to have been both programme chair and a panelist), and Donald MacCormick, all moderated in Day's place.

In November 2009, John Humphrys presented in lieu of Dimbleby, who had been "injured by a bullock at his farm" causing him "briefly to be knocked out." In June 2017, Nick Robinson presented a "Leaders Special" edition of Question Time. The programme was moved for news coverage of the London Bridge attack. Dimbleby was preparing for the General Election coverage. Victoria Derbyshire presented the 31 March 2022 edition of Question Time in place of Bruce.

Editors The original 'producer' of Question Time when it began in 1979 was Barbara Maxwell. In 1983, Maxwell was promoted to 'Executive Producer' with Liz Elton becoming the show's producer/editor. At the same time, Ann Morley became the show's regular Director; putting the key production roles entirely in female control. Later in 1983, the role of Executive Producer was renamed 'Editor'. In 1986, Antonia Charlton and Anne Carragher replace Morley and Elton as the show's regular director and producer. After 11 years at the helm, Maxwell stepped down from the show in 1990, with her replacement James Hogan editing his first edition on 20 September 1990 Alexandra Henderson took over as editor on 12 September 1991 Christopher Capron became Series Editor in September 1994 Charlie Courtauld was editor from 1998 to 2000, leaving to join the Independent on Sunday as its comment editor. Nick Pisani was appointed in 2000, resigning abruptly in May 2005 after news was leaked that he had been offered a job as David Cameron's head of TV presentation. Ed Havard was made acting editor in May 2005 after Pisani left. During his time in charge the BBC offered a seat on the panel to Nick Griffin in 2009. He left when the programme's production base moved to Glasgow.

Gill Penlington, the ITV News political producer, was made interim editor in May 2008, when the BBC gave Ed Havard a year-long sabbatical.

Interactivity

SMS contributions Viewers of the show can submit comments to the show via SMS; until October 2012 a selection of those comments was posted on Ceefax. Comments were edited and put to air by a team of four journalists based at Television Centre in London. The system displayed one message at a time, and usually showed several tens of messages throughout each hour-long episode. The system's popularity sprang from its mix of serious and light-hearted comments. On average, around 3,500 texts are received during each hour-long programme, although 12,000 texts were once recorded in one frantic programme in 2004. Quantity of texts is generally related to the composition of the panel.

Twitter On 24 September 2009, the show launched its Twitter presence and the show's presenter has regularly announced its presence on Twitter since late 2009. Using the Twitter ID "@bbcquestiontime" it tweeted using the #bbcqt hashtag. By early 2010, this had become one of the UK's most active "Twitter backchannels" to a TV show. @bbcquestiontime claimed 10,000 tweets had been sent around the show on 7 October 2010. The show had over 40,000 followers on Twitter by October 2010 and this exceeded 50,000 on the evening of 3 February 2011.

On 9 June 2011, Question Time became one of the most-tweeted about shows of the week in the UK, with 5,000 tweets during the programme, with tweeting continuing through to the next day. In addition to the more sober analysis of the discussion, Question Time also has a parallel Twitter backchannel based on the spoof account Dimblebot - purportedly a robot version of Dimbleby - where the entire premise of the programme is claimed to be a demonstration of Dimbleby's ability to defeat the panel. It became clear during the riot special that David Dimbleby knows of the existence of Dimblebot and the associated Dimbledance.Jack Seale, "DIMBLEBOT helps Question Time special draw 3.5m viewers", Radio Times, 12 August 2011. The @bbcquestiontime account nowAs of 3 June 2019. has over 500,000 followers.

In March 2020, Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi and MP Debbie Abrahams sent an open letter to the programme's runners, after Question Time uploaded anti-immigrants Twitter comments from a far-right supporter who allegedly also ran for the National Front and showed support for the English Defence League. Baroness Warsi and Abrahams wrote in their letter: "We understand the producers of the show seek out ‘controversial members of the audience – including those of far-right campaign groups – in an attempt to curry large ratings... By providing a platform for views that are racist or sexist, the institution is normalising them and contributing to the coarsening of public debate and the growing toxicity of our politics."

Locations

Venues Question Time is filmed at a variety of different types of building, these have included: educational buildings, arts venues, and government buildings... airports, religious buildings, and prisons.

The programme has been broadcast from the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Parliament, and Westminster Hall.

Heathrow Airport, Wormwood Scrubs Prison, and the cathedrals of St Paul's and Winchester, have all hosted Question Time.

LSO St Luke's and the Sage are among the arts venues to have held the programme and Queen Mary University of London and the University of Birmingham have also hosted Question Time.

Production The show is recorded at different venues throughout the UK. but the main office of the programme is BBC Scotland in Glasgow.BBC2's "Newsnight Review to get revamp", The Guardian, 24 March 2009.

Famous editions

In early 1981, David Steel declared his support in principle for "a marriage" between the Liberal Party and any party which might be formed by the Gang of Four; David Owen, who was also on the programme, said he could see advantages in an "electoral alliance" between them. This foreshadowed the period 1983–1987 when Owen and Steel were Leaders of the SDP–Liberal Alliance and tension grew over whether their deal was a prelude to a merger of the parties or merely a temporary electoral pact.