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<title>
BBC TV blog
 - 
Richard Osman
</title>
<link>https://meleleh.pages.dev/blogs/tv/</link>
<description>Get the views of BBC bosses, presenters, scriptwriters and cast from the inside of the shows. Read reviews and opinions and share yours on all things TV - your favourite episodes, live programmes, digital channels, the schedule and everything else.</description>
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	<title>Pointless: How I became the co-host</title>
	<description><![CDATA[<p>So <a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/programmes/b012j71d">Pointless</a> started at 5.15pm on <a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/bbcone">BBC One</a> on Monday, launching with a week of celebrity programmes. </p>

<p>We've already done over 100 shows on <a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/bbctwo/">BBC Two</a> and now we're making the big leap up to BBC One. Very exciting. </p>

<p>In one swoop I will go from being "Whassisname, that bloke from that thing on BBC Two," to "Whassisname, that bloke from that thing on BBC One".</p>

<div class="imgCaptionCenter" style="text-align: center; display: block; "><a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/blogs/tv/assets_c/2011/07/110705_Pointless_500-77027.shtml" onclick="window.open('https://meleleh.pages.dev/blogs/tv/assets_c/2011/07/110705_Pointless_500-77027.shtml','popup','width=500,height=333,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img alt="Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman on the set of Pointless" src="https://meleleh.pages.dev/blogs/tv/assets_c/2011/07/110705_Pointless_500-thumb-500x333-77027.jpg" width="500" height="333" class="mt-image-center" style="margin: 0 auto 5px;" /></a><p style="max-width:500px;font-size: 11px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);margin: 0 auto 20px;">Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman </p></div>

<p>If you haven't seen it - for example, you might have a job - Pointless is a quiz show where you win by giving obscure answers to simple questions. </p>

<p>We also like to have some fun along the way. </p>

<p>The wonderful <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Armstrong_(comedian)">Alexander Armstrong</a> is the host and I'm his 'pointless friend', providing extra facts, trying to tell jokes, and adding to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brokeback_Mountain">Brokeback Mountain</a>-style sexual frisson of the show.</p>

<p>I had never appeared on TV before. My background is behind the camera. </p>

<p>First as a writer on shows like <a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/programmes/b006mkw3">Have I Got News For You</a> and <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/whose-line-is-it-anyway">Whose Line Is It Anyway?</a>, and then as a producer on shows as varied as <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/deal-or-no-deal">Deal Or No Deal</a>, <a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/programmes/b00lpnkd">Total Wipeout</a> and <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/8-out-of-10-cats">8 Out Of 10 Cats</a>.</p>

<p>My new TV presenting career came as an unexpected but lovely surprise. So how did it happen?</p>

<p>Well, my day job now is creative director of <a href="http://www.endemoluk.com/">Endemol UK</a>, and part of that role is trying to sell new shows to TV channels. </p>

<p>The Endemol creative team had come up with the format for Pointless and we headed off to the BBC to do a run through of the show for the brilliant <a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/pressoffice/biographies/biogs/daytime/liam_keelan.shtml">Liam Keelan</a> and Pam Cavannagh, who run the whole of BBC Daytime. </p>

<p>In this run through, the executive producer of Pointless, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086843/">Tom Blakeson</a>, played the role of the host, and I played the role of co-host.</p>

<p>Liam and Pam were sufficiently impressed/hoodwinked that they bought the show. Hooray! </p>

<div class="imgCaptionCenter" style="text-align: center; display: block; "><a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/blogs/tv/assets_c/2011/07/110705_BarneyHarwoodHelenSkelton_500-77033.shtml" onclick="window.open('https://meleleh.pages.dev/blogs/tv/assets_c/2011/07/110705_BarneyHarwoodHelenSkelton_500-77033.shtml','popup','width=500,height=333,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img alt="Barney Harwood and Helen Skelton on Pointless Celebrities" src="https://meleleh.pages.dev/blogs/tv/assets_c/2011/07/110705_BarneyHarwoodHelenSkelton_500-thumb-500x333-77033.jpg" width="500" height="333" class="mt-image-center" style="margin: 0 auto 5px;" /></a><p style="max-width:500px;font-size: 11px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);margin: 0 auto 20px;">Barney Harwood and Helen Skelton on Pointless Celebrities </p></div>

<p>Alexander was the perfect choice as host - warm, witty, clever, sickeningly talented and handsome - but Liam and Pam wondered if I might like to be the co-host for real?</p>

<p>I pretended to consider the offer for nearly two to three seconds, but inside I couldn't have been more excited. </p>

<p>I love television, I love its presence in the corner of every living room in Britain, I love the sense of belonging that television uniquely can bring. </p>

<p>To me, actually appearing on TV - in a quiz, my favourite thing, filming at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Television_Centre">BBC Televison Centre</a> - is a dream come true. </p>

<p>Excuse me while I get teary-eyed for a bit. I just hope you enjoy the show as much as we enjoy making it.</p>

<p>So, that's the story so far. Now, though, it's the move to BBC One, to the slot filled so brilliantly for so long by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Robinson">Anne Robinson</a>. We're not the <a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/programmes/b006mgvw">Weakest Link</a>... hello.</p>

<p><em>Richard Osman is the co-host of <a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/programmes/b012j71d">Pointless Celebrities</a> and <a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/programmes/b00rhg2r">Pointless</a>.</p>

<p><a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/programmes/b012j71d">Pointless Celebrities</a> is a week of special episodes on <a href="https://meleleh.pages.dev/bbcone">BBC One</a> at 5.15pm until Friday, 8 July. The regular quiz show Pointless resumes on BBC One at 5.15pm on Monday, 11 July.</p>

<p><strong>Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.</strong></em></p>]]></description>
         <dc:creator>Richard Osman 
Richard Osman
</dc:creator>
	<link>https://meleleh.pages.dev/blogs/tv/2011/07/pointless-celebrities-richard-osman.shtml</link>
	<guid>https://meleleh.pages.dev/blogs/tv/2011/07/pointless-celebrities-richard-osman.shtml</guid>
	<category>bbc daytime</category>
	<pubDate>Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:57:21 +0000</pubDate>
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