Pointless host Richard Osman reveals health condition that stopped him pursuing his DREAM job

FORMER Pointless host Richard Osman has revealed the health condition that stopped him chasing his DREAM job.

The BBC star – who recently stepped down from his presenting role on the much-loved game show – said his “terrible eyesight” ruined his chances of working in the police.

BBC

The BBC star didn’t always want to be a TV host[/caption]

Alamy

Richard said his eyesight stopped him from becoming a detective[/caption]

Richard, 51, quit Pointless last month having filmed more than 1,300 episodes and nearly 30 series across 13 years as the show’s host.

He revealed he was doing so in order to focus on his hugely successful writing career – which has seen him become a best-selling author.

But the TV star didn’t always want to work as a writer and presenter, and had his sights set on a very different path as a child.

Richard revealed to the Radio Times that he was keen to be a police detective “like his grandfather” as a child.

“I would love to have been a detective like my grandfather,” he said.

“Sadly, I have a condition called nystagmus that means I’ve got terrible eyesight, so it was never a possibility.”

It comes after Richard has revealed the toll the quiz show took on him after his shock exit as he took a swipe at the show.

Speaking to Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humes on This Morning, Richard said it “took a lot out of him” to film.

“My thing has been people only play Pointless once or twice, and I want to give them a good time and have it be exciting for everyone,” he said. “It takes a lot out of you.

“I’ve always given 100 per cent to Pointless, and I was getting to the stage where I don’t have time to give 100 per cent to everything.”

He added: “I had done 12 years of it, so if one thing could go, because I still love House of Games, and I love doing the writing.

“It was just the one thing where I was like, you know what let someone else have a go at this.”

Richard has become a runaway success in the literary world having
released his first novel The Thursday Murder Club in 2020, and its sequel The Man Who Died Twice in 2021.

The first book is the third best-selling hardback of all-time in the UK while the follow-up is the sixth best-selling.

The film rights have already been bought by Hollywood icon Steven Spielberg.

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.”

The series has since sold nearly five million copies in total.