Richard Osman has quit Pointless after 13 years.
It has been said the TV star, 51, is keen to focus on his writing career after finding great success with his books The Thursday Murder Club and The Man Who Died Twice.
Osman, who will continue to host future series of Pointless Celebrities, said: “Pointless has been a joy from start to finish, working alongside my friend Alexander Armstrong, backed by the most wonderful team, and for the best viewers in the world.
“I will miss everyone so much, but I’m thrilled that I’ll still be presenting the celebrity shows. I can’t thank everyone enough for 12 amazing years.”
He tweeted: “After 13 wonderful years I’m leaving daytime Pointless, to concentrate on writing. Will still be doing the celebrity shows and ‘HouseOfGames’. It has been the GREATEST pleasure and I can’t wait to start watching as a viewer. Thank you to everyone!”
“Will miss the whole team, especially the incomparable @XanderArmstrong. Thank you to everyone who watches, it really has been a dream, and I know the show will continue to go from strength to strength.”
Now it has been reported the writer is having to be “more choosy” about his TV work.
A BBC source told The Sun: “Quiz fans and housewives all over the country will be gutted by this news. 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. His literary career is going from strength to strength so he’s having to be slightly more choosy with what he does TV-wise.”
Osman will be replaced by rotating guest co-hosts and the new series starts filming in May.
During his time on Pointless, he filmed more than 1,300 episodes and nearly 30 series of the show.
However, the presenter will continue to host House of Games for the BBC.
His literary career has really taken off and Hollywood’s Steven Spielberg has already bought the film rights to his book The Thursday Murder Club.
His agent Juliet Mushens said: “When Richard told me he had written a novel I knew that it would be warm and witty.
“However, I wasn’t quite prepared for how brilliantly the Thursday Murder Club would come to life.”
Nearly five million copies have been sold.
In September last year, Osman revealed he become a crime writer because he loves to write and he loves to read those books.
He told The Guardian: “It’s tough being an author and it’s tough breaking through as an author. And, you know, I don’t underestimate that.
“But Val McDermid was a reporter, then became a crime writer, Mark Billingham was a standup, then became a crime writer; we all do something before.
“No one’s born a crime writer. And I write crime because I read it. And because I love to write, and because I love to write the sort of books I read. So I’m very proud of what I’ve done, and how I’ve done it.”
The Standard has reached out to Richard Osman’s representative for further comment.
