Question Time BBC1, 10.35pm

TONIGHT Nick Griffin appears on Question Time. He is hoping that engaging with mainstream television will give him a legitimacy in the eyes of the British electorate. Look out for him as guest singer on next week's X Factor.

There are plenty of questions to throw at Nick Griffin. Did he really once call the Holocaust the 'Holohoax?'. Did he once describe gay people as 'repulsive'? And what chip-shop does his hair?

Rare is it that Question Time is the TV event of the week but if any good can come of the controversy over Griffin's appearance it is, in a time of unparalleled apathy made worse by the MPs' expenses scandal, the firing again of the political animal in people's bellies.

No BNP representative has ever before made it on to the BBC's flagship panel show but the Corporation reviewed its position following the party's success in last June's European elections in which Griffin was one of two BNP candidates to be elected as an MEP.

The BBC has said it is obliged to treat all parties with "due impartiality". But anti-fascist campaigners have said they will stage a demonstration.

As well as Griffin and Justice Secretary Jack Straw, panellists are expected to include Conservative peer Baroness Warsi, Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne and playwright and critic Bonnie Greer.