Question Time's unlikeliest panellists

Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon (pictured bottom left alongside David Dimbleby) is the latest celebrity to join the 'Question Time' panel, and perhaps the most unlikely. We sifted through the show's thirty-three year history to find the unlikeliest panellists and what really ground their gears.

Steve Coogan
Took to Question Time for the first time in February, largely due to his involvement in the phone hacking saga. He also stated that he agreed with a court ruling to not send radical cleric Abu Qatada back to Jordan over concerns about torture in the country.

Will Young
The former ‘Pop Idol’ winner may be the least likely panellist in this list but he may well have been the best. Very eloquent and forming a great argument, he fielded questions about the issue of gay marriage earlier this year saying it should be legalised and lambasting comments of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the leader of the Catholic church in Scotland, in which he likened gay marriage to slavery and called it “grotesque”.

Hugh Grant
In 2011 and in the heat of the phone hacking scandal, Hugh Grant turned in arguably his best performance yet, becoming something of a national hero on the show. His hatred of tabloids shone through in a number of tirades against the red-tops and against former Sun employee Jon Gaunt who was sat opposite. “Who are you to tell us what we can and cannot watch?” Gaunt shouted at Grant on the subject of partial new channels like Fox News in the States. “Who is Rupert Murdoch to tell us who we should and shouldn’t vote for?” retorted Grant to rapturous applause.

Richard Madeley
The former ‘This Morning’ host caused bit of a stir in early 2010 when discussing the burka and whether it should be banned. He said it shouldn’t be because it would be inflammatory but did go on to say, “I hate the sight of burkas,” and later added that he sees them as a symbol of oppression.

Brian Cox
The respected actor took to ‘Question Time’ like a duck to water, taking the sword to David Starkey, who claimed that Ed Miliband ‘stabbed his brother in the back’ to win the Labour leadership race back in 2010. “Your sense of theatre is ridiculous,” he jibed to applause.

Fern Britton
The former ‘This Morning’ presenter tackled questions regarding the credit crunch and binge drinking back in March 2009, eventually going on a venomous rant against male bankers. She said: “Women are traditionally pretty good at making sure the money goes in the pot”, before adding: “We didn't pillage and rob it and stick it all on a horse to see if the money would come in next week which it clearly hasn't.” Quite.

Tony Robinson
Just last week the former Baldrick went onto the show and attacked bankers, questioning whether they were human and saying: "I have no respect for British bankers and the British banking system at all. They’ve have dragged us into that situation and it’s about time they started getting us out of it."

Carol Vorderman
The former ‘Countdown’ math-master didn’t make any fans with her performance on the show in March 2010. The New Statesman were scathing in their criticism, labelling her a “poor man’s Sarah Palin.” On the show, which largely regarded the return to prison of Jon Venables, one of Jamie Bulger’s killers, she was the only panellist to think that the public and Bulger’s parents had a right to know what Venables had done.

Billy Bragg
Folk and pun musician Billy Bragg, who very much ties his music into his strong left-wing views, has made a number of appearances on the show. In 2011 he took on the term “quantitative easing”, saying it was a term manufactured to cause confusion.