h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well she's got her own show in America - and she has given HIGNFY plenty of material to joke about over the years...

It'll be interesting to see if she gets the show's humour...I'm a bit wary of someone who's probably totally unfamiliar with the show hosting it.

It would be interesting to record the show without an audience so there wouldn't be any clues for her.

I'm no particular fan of Martin Clunes, but I thought he did pretty well. Assuming there wasn't heavy editing, he seems to be able to read an autocue without any obvious problem, and got about the right balance of humour between himself and the teams.
I could certainly stand seeing him present the show regularly.

I was a studio member in the recording studio, and i can safely say that there was not heavly editing, and all Martin's retakes were for technical reasons. He was very proffessional!

So: William Hague. Not terrible, but I thought he made it quite obvious at times that he was reading the autocue and not making stuff up off the top of his head. He had a damn cheek having a go at Ian for being bald though.

Yes, I thought he was trying too hard to be witty & have a go at Ian & Paul, which didn't really come off. I find his voice very irritating too.
Who's the next victim?

I disagree, I thought he was one of the best replacements we've seen so far. Not as good as Angus obviously, but if push came to shove I could live with the old slaphead for a series or two

IDS^H^H^H Hague was definitely much better than I expected, but I suppose I did have rather low expectations.
There seemed to be something hard to define that just wasn't there in the humour (possibly the timing being just slightly off?), and it felt like someone who wasn't one of the lads trying hard to be one, without *quite* succeeding.

I think M Clunes was the best I've seen so far.

I think to really be a good replacement for Angus you have to be able to take the mickey out of yourself as well as sucessfully taking the mickey out of Paul and Ian. William Hague didn't quite manage it, but then I think neither did Martin Clunes, but I agree with potholer, Clunes has been the best so far...

Willie 'Ague may not have been great, but could you imagine M. Thatcher or J. Major? I think they would have been not inconsiderably less satisfactory; oh yes.

Stop it. I'm getting a horibly mental picture of a Steve Bell-inspired outside-underpant-wearing John Major trying to host HIGNFY.

(PS Is it just me, or does anyone else find Linda Smith rather attractive in a Hattie Hayridge kind of way?)

(ps. You're not alone as a Smith / Hayridge fancier; my list also includes Rebecca Front.)

Linda Smith? Yes, I hold my hand up.

Yeah, I felt Hauge tried a little too hard to shoot down Paul and Ian.
And no-one yet has wuite got the dead-pan autocue delivery of Angus.

I thought he did better than I expected him to, and I *really* enjoyed the out-take at the end, never seen that before, plus the "genuine" laugh from Paul, he seems so restrained when he knows the cameras are on him.

I'd like to see Prince Charles do it one week.

I'd give him something to do while he's waiting for the Queen to die.
Then he could pay for all his house-renovations himself.

It would give him something to do

what about....Jon Snow off of Channel 4 news - how do you think he'd fare?

He always strikes me as a bit straight-laced.

I thought both Hague and Martin Clunes were good.

Doesn't it seem that the script is still being written to suit the style of Angus Deayton. You can almost hear Deayton delivering the lines, so it makes any newcomer seem like a pale imitation. If a new host was to become permanent, the style of the jokes would probably alter to better suit the new host.