Richard Osman quits BBC's Pointless after 13 years to focus on new career

dailystar.co.uk:

BBC show Pointless after 13 years to focus on his writing career, it has been reported.The 51-year-old has been a part of the show alongside co-star Alexander Armstrong for almost 30 series and more than 1,300 episodes.But he is set to be replaced by a series of rotating guest stars, according to The Sun.The move will give Richard the chance to focus on his successful writing career, which has seen him become a best-seller.The new series is set to begin filming in May but it will be the first one since 2009 that Alexander will front the show without Richard.While Alexander hosted the show and asked the questions, Richard was always there with his laptop to provide some "pointless" facts.It is reported that Richard will continue to appear on Pointless Celebrities for now – however he will eventually step away from that as well.A BBC source told the publication: "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."They claim he is now being "more choosy" with his television jobs, but will still host House of Games for the BBC.It's reported that his exit from the show will be a "headache" for the channel, who must decide what to do in the long term.For now, he will be replaced by a number of stand-in guests – although with filming starting in a few weeks it doesn't give long for the BBC to find worthy fill-ins.For.