The Andrew Marr team visited 10 Downing Street for the first show of the year, during which Prime Minister Gordon Brown said a general election was the "furthest thing from his mind".
Given the lead amassed by the Conservative Party they may have felt dismayed at the lack of an election, but Shadow Chancellor George Osborne took the fight to both the government and senior banking staff.
"Rank and rugged" Russell Crowe, interviewed at The Dorchester, railed against the media who have "praised, flayed and betrayed" him before he gave Andrew one of the year's most sarcastic "cheers, mate".
By early summer the economy looked bleak, and the polls worse for Labour, but the prime minister rallied by saying the MP's expenses scandal offended his "Presbyterian conscience".
Liberal Democrat economic spokesman Vince Cable watched Ed Balls talk about government debt, waiting in the wings before he attacked the Conservatives on public expenditure plans.
With the nation officially in the steepest slump since the 1930s by mid-summer, scrutiny was on Chancellor Alistair Darling, rumoured to have just survived a cabinet reshuffle in the previous weeks.
Lord Mandelson warned internal party plotters against attacking the prime minister while fellow Labour-appointed peer Sir Alan Sugar accused Andrew of being part of making politics a constant "reality show".
Foreign Secretary David Miliband updated the nation on the emergency in Iran as British Embassy officials were put on trial in Tehran accused of stirring up unrest.
Between Iran, Afghanistan, recession and expenses, and before the clamour of conference season, the show enjoyed a moment when the only high tension was on the strings of violinist Nicola Benedetti.
While the Liberal Democrats debated tuition fees in Bournemouth and Lord Mandelson stole Labour's Brighton conference, David Cameron spoke to the Conservatives in Manchester about tough spending choices ahead.
Jay-Z may be married to Beyonce, may have sold records by their millions, and may be close friends with the first black president of the US but he was also the Andrew Marr Show website's most-viewed interview of 2009.
John Bercow, appointed speaker of the House of Commons in the autumn following Michael Martin's departure over the expenses row, welcomed Sophie Raworth to his new quarters.
In a Remembrance Sunday special Sir Liam Donaldson told people not to panic over swine flu, Sir Ian Blair fretted that politics was influencing appointments at the Met, and Sting rang the bells for more live music.
The show also interviewed Korean War veteran Sir Michael Caine, who talked about a career in films from Zulu to Get Carter to Batman and insisted that his latest film, Harry Brown, was truly "against violence".
Rolf Harris explained why painting has given him something that none of his other work has, and London Mayor Boris Johnson outlined the "financial case for saving the planet" in December.
After a year featuring live performances by Sting, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Ray Davies and others the last note was Ronan Keating's, who played out the show, and 2009, with Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.
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