Clive Anderson and guests poke fun at the past in this panel show with a yesteryear twist

Originally broadcast on Radio 4 in 2003-4, We’ve Been Here Before is the topical, satirical, historical panel game that aims to show beyond all doubt that there’s nothing new in the news. Hosted by award-winning comedian, broadcaster and Whose Line Is It Anyway? star Clive Anderson, it takes a wry, witty look at long-gone days through a present-day lens, as the panellists battle it out to discover who’s got the best memory for detail when it comes to raking up the past.

Gyles Brandreth, Jimmy Carr, Chris Addison, Mark Steel, Natalie Haynes, Richard Herring, Robin Ince and Steve Punt are among the stellar guests striving to identify news clips from years gone by, and to spot the parallels with contemporary events. From reality TV, BBC-bashing and striking unions to celebrity American presidential hopefuls, European referendums and Prime Ministers under pressure, they find that the stories they sift through sound strangely familiar.

Still funny and relevant over 20 years after it first aired, this entertaining series is the ultimate proof that what goes around comes around. It’s a blast from the past with a modern perspective – and any similarity to current events is entirely the idea...

Production credits

Presented by Clive Anderson

Reader: Lewis MacLeod

Produced by Adam Bromley (Series 1) and Ed Morrish (Series 2)

Series 1 featuring: Gyles Brandreth, Jimmy Carr, John O'Farrell, David Quantick, Jon Holmes, Simon Brett, Lewis Shaffer, Steve Punt, Robin Ince, Maureen Lipman, Simon Brett

Series 2 featuring: Gyles Brandreth, John O'Farrell, Arthur Smith, Arabella Weir, Natalie Haynes, Richard Herring, Mark Steel, David Quantick, Chris Addison, Nick Revell, Helen Atkinson-Wood

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 1-29 August 2003 (Series 1), 11 June-2 July 2004 (Series 2)