The edition has taken months to negotiate because two of the panellists have difficult relations with Beijing. One is Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong (where he was known as Fatty Pang). He will be joined by author Jung Chang, whose bestseller Wild Swans was heavily criticised in China. A Chinese government official and the businessman David Tang complete the panel.
The audience will be able to ask whatever it likes, even about touchy subjects such as Tibet and human rights. But David Dimbleby does not expect a punch-up or a repeat of the petulant scenes in last week’s edition of the show from Belfast.
“My main worry is the difficulty of coaxing an audience to engage with the panel,” he says. “They’re