Career: Merton worked at the Tooting Employment Office while gaining experience at the London Comedy Store before moving onto the cabaret circuit. He made his TV debut in a small role in a 1984 episode of The Young Ones. After 10 years of performing, his TV career took off thanks to Whose Line Is It Anyway? He then wrote Paul Merton, the Series for Channel 4. Have I Got News For You made him a household name. He claims a highlight of his career was performing at the London Palladium. Merton also hosted Room 101 and is a regular on TV and radio. He has filmed travelogues to China and India for Channel 5 and presented various documentaries on the subject of comedy and silent film for the BBC.

Career: Hislop began submitting articles to Private Eye in 1980, eventually becoming deputy editor. When editor Richard Ingrams, one of the magazine's founders, quit in 1986, Cook offered him his job. Hislop has also regularly contributed to numerous publications, including The Listener, The Sunday Telegraph, The Spectator, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Literary Review and Time Out. Hislop's TV work began in 1983 with an appearance on Loose Talk and scripts for Spitting Image. He became a familiar face thanks to Have I Got News For You, which began its run in 1990. He also co-wrote family sitcom My Dad's the Prime Minister.

Career: Tennant's TV debut was in a 1993 episode of Rab C Nesbitt, but he first made people sit up and take notice thanks to an acclaimed performance in Takin' Over the Asylum a year later. His first film was 1996's Jude. He then appeared in the likes of Duck Patrol, Love in the 21st Century, Bright Young Things and He Knew He Was Right. In 2004, musical mini-series Blackpool helped raise his profile, while Casanova turned him into a heart-throb. Tennant replaced Christopher Eccleston in Doctor Who in 2005, but left the role at the start of 2010; he did, however, return for the 50th anniversary episode in 2013. Projects since include Single Father, Fright Night and Broadchurch - he is also the star of the US version, Gracepoint. He continues to appear on stage whenever possible.

Career: His stand-up career started to take off _ he won the So You Think You're Funny? competition in 2001 and two years later was nominated for the Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2002, he also won over a younger audience when he was cast as Archie the inventor in the children's TV series Balamory, which ran for three years. Since then, he's gone on to appear in acclaimed sitcoms such as The Thick Of It and Rev, and has cropped up on numerous panel shows. He's also appeared in films ranging from Johnny English Reborn to Grimsby and The Legend of Tarzan, and took over from Sandi Toksvig as the host of Radio 4's The News Quiz.

Career: Newman worked briefly at Media Week and as a business correspondent for The Independent before joining the Financial Times as a media correspondent and later a political correspondent. She worked at The Washington Post for four months in 2000 after gaining a Laurence Stern fellowship. In 2006, she joined Channel 4 News as a political correspondent. She became the first female co-presenter of the programme in 2011. Newman has since worked on the Channel 4 TV series Dispatches, been a guest panelist on Have I Got News For You and written blogs for The Daily Telegraph and Economia magazine.