Many young BBC production recruits were given the programme for a month or so in order to get to grips with scripted comedy and working with performers.
(Debbie) Barham, Peter Baynham, Julian Dutton, Harry Hill, Al Murray, Ben Moor, Tony Lee, Rich Johnston, David Baddiel, Rob Newman, Graeme Sutherland, Kim Morrissey, Barry Pilton, Paddy Murray, Ivan Shakespeare, Barry Atkins, Stewart Lee, Colin Bostock-Smith and Martin Curtis.
[citation needed] For several months during 1997, Week Ending carried a musical number written by Gerard Foster and performed by Richie Webb.
From the early 1980s, the theme tune was a loop of the instrumental section of The Associates' 1982 hit "Party Fears Two", which replaced the original 'whistled' flute piece, "Smokey Joe".
Over the years, the tune changed a number of times – totalling four pieces, the third debuting in 1993 and the fourth in 1997 – but the final edition in 1998 finished with the original (each of the others having been heard briefly in sketches set in earlier decades).