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Why did Richard Osman leave Pointless?
Eve Edwards
Pointless fans were surprised by the arrival of Sally Lindsay onto the show as Alexander Armstrong's co-host, leading to many questions about why Richard Osman has left the quiz show.
Over the past decade, Pointless has grown into one of the BBC's best loved quiz shows, inviting on members of the public to provide the most niche answers to a question. While Alexander Armstrong is the show's quiz master, Richard Osman has served as the show's fact-checker who often surprises viewers with intellectual titbits.
If you're wondering why Osman left his post behind the fact-checking desk, here's what you need to know about his departure from the show.
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Back in April, it was reported that Richard Osman was leaving Pointless to focus on his writing career. The Sun broke the news on April 8, 2022, that Osman was leaving the series after 13 years and almost 1,300 episodes. This is to focus on writing, as he has found significant success with his Thursday Murder Club book series.
A BBC source revealed to The Sun: "Richard has become a staple of the daytime schedule but sadly all good things must come to an end. Richard has loved every second of doing the show alongside Xander but he really wants to give his all to his writing career which has been an enormous success."
"His departure is completely amicable but he just does not have enough hours in the day to do everything so sadly something had to give," the source continued.
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Richard Osman has more books in the works
Richard Osman's literary career took off in 2020 with the release of his first novel, The Thursday Murder Club. Its sequel, The Man Who Died Twice, was released a year later. This year sees the release of Osman's third in the series, The Bullet That Missed.
To shed light on Osman's success as an author, his first novel is the third best-selling hardback of all-time in the UK. His second novel is the sixth best-selling of all time. Film rights have also been bought by Steven Spielberg, the iconic director behind Jurassic Park, Jaws, and Schindler's List.
So, it might not come as a surprise that Richard Osman is planning to write and release more books. Earlier this year, it was announced that Osman is planning to embark on a new crime series. Osman told BBC News that the brand new series is "a sort of Thursday Murder Club meets The Da Vinci Code."
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Who is replacing Richard on Pointless?
It won't just be Sally Lindsay seated behind the Pointless fact-checking desk this season, as a number of other celebrities and comedians will be filling Richard Osman's role.
First up is Sally Lindsay, and after her will be Stephen Mangan, Lauren Laverne, Alex Brooker, Konnie Huq and Ed Gamble. It is unconfirmed whether the rotational co-host format will continue in future series.
So, Alexander Armstrong will be in good company moving forward on Pointless!
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