Join Richard Osman’s House of Games Night?

For someone who didn’t set out to be a gameshow host, Richard Osman has proved to be very good at it.

He started his TV career behind the scenes, becoming an executive at a production company, which led to him working on shows ranging from 8 Out of 10 Cats to Deal or No Deal.

It was in his capacity as a producer that he first pitched the quiz show Pointless to the BBC, and to demonstrate how the format would work, he took the role of the presenter’s assistant. The Beeb not only liked the show, they also took a shine to Osman and offered him the job of co-host.

Osman has since written: “I pretended to consider the offer for nearly two to three seconds, but inside I couldn’t have been more excited.”

As presenter Alexander Armstrong’s ‘Pointless friend’, he went on to see the show go from strength to strength following its launch in 2009. He was offered more jobs in front of the camera, including hosting the quiz Two Tribes, notched up appearances on numerous panel shows, and even won Heat magazine’s Weird Crush award.

Then in 2017, there came proof that he’d really made it – he landed a show with his own name in the title, Richard Osman’s House of Games. If it had flopped, that could have been something of a millstone, but luckily it proved to be a big hit with BBC2 viewers on tea-time week nights and even enjoyed something of a ratings boost during lockdown.

So, no wonder the BBC decided that a primetime move to BBC1 was in order, with the slightly tweaked title of Richard Osman’s House of Games Night.

For newcomers, the format of the BBC2 version sees Osman challenging celebs to take part in a variety of general knowledge-based challenges (which viewers can play along with at home, which might be why it proved to be a lockdown favourite). Each episode has an individual winner, but the stars are given points which accumulate across the week, until an overall champion is declared.

The new version will have a similar format – the same stars will play across five episodes, hoping to win a coveted House of Games trophy, but it won’t quite be business as usual.

Osman says: “I’m very much looking forward to bringing the show to primetime on BBC1. We’ve got some great celebrity guests lined up, and on top of our regular games we’ve also got a few new surprises in store.”

The contestants are comedians Roisin Conaty, Jason Manford and Jennifer Saunders as well as footballer-turned-pundit Jermaine Jenas.

They’ll be joined by a new house band and some special guests as they battle it out – and unlike on the BBC2 version, they might even get a chance to take a sneak peek at other rooms within the House. If that wasn’t exciting enough, for tonight’s winner, there are some spectacular prizes on offer, from the much-coveted House of Games suitcase to the brand new House of Games eggcups. Clearly, the budget has gone up with the move to BBC1…

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