Nancy Dell'Olio criticises the BBC's 'sexist' Have I Got News For You Scarcely a shrinking violet, Nancy Dell'Olio has, however, criticised the "sexist" culture of the BBC television programme Have I Got News For You. The former companion of Sven-Göran Eriksson, the ex-England manager, and Sir Trevor Nunn, the theatre director, was a recent panellist on the show. "It is misogynist," Dell'Olio tells Mandrake. There is a sexist atmosphere. Her criticisms echo previous complaints about the programme, on which the team captains are Ian Hislop, the editor of Private Eye, and Paul Merton, the comedian. Victoria Wood said women struggled to compete in "testosterone-fuelled"" panel shows such as Have I Got News For You. "A lot of panel programmes are very male-dominated, because they rely on men topping each other, or sparring with each other, which is not generally a very female thing,"" the double Bafta-winning comedienne said in 2009. The previous year, Mariella Frostrup accused the programme of being sexist. The television presenter said women were invited to appear only as a token presence to be ridiculed by the "testosterone-driven"" Hislop and Merton. Happily, Dell'Olio does not seem to have been scared off the show. The Italian lawyer says she hopes to return as its host. "Next time, I will present it," she tells me. The people loved me and the men all wanted to take me for a drink afterwards, but I couldn't go. She adds: "Soon, I will have my own chat show. It will be very interesting and will give a new perspective on things.