Richard Osman - hospitalised after suffering 'unbelievable pain' - undergoes operation at Charing Cross Hospital

Presenter, author - and fast becoming national treasure - Richard Osman, has revealed he was admitted to hospital after suffering agonising pain. The 54-year-old was taken to London’s Charing Cross Hospital.

It was discovered the star, who rose to fame on BBC quiz show, Pointless, had a kidney stone and required an operation for its removal. Osman, speaking on The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, said: “I've had quite the week of it. I woke up the other night in pain and I had a kidney stone.

“It is the single most painful thing that has ever happened to me. The doctors kept saying it's more painful than childbirth but I'm not sure I can buy that.”

Kidney stones, which can develop in one or both kidneys, are relatively common, affecting one in 10 people, according to the NHS. They most often affect people aged 30 to 60 and can be extremely painful, potentially leading to kidney infections or the kidney not working properly if left untreated.

Kidney stones can develop when people don’t drink enough fluids, take certain medications or with certain medical conditions that raises the levels of certain substances in your urine. While small stones may be passed in the urine, larger stones may need to be broken up or removed with surgery.

Grateful to the NHS staff who took care of him, Osman said: “It was unbelievably painful but thank you to everyone at Charing Cross Hospital who were so great. I was having liquid morphine and it didn't touch the sides. Then I had an op and they took it out. So I have the absolute joy of not being in pain.”

To prevent kidney stones from recurring, doctors recommend drinking plenty of water. “That I can do,” Osman said. “No major lifestyle changes, just drink more water.”

Last month Osman achieved platinum status for the third time with the most recent novel in his Thursday Murder Club series. The Last Devil To Die, the fourth book in the murder mystery series, was among five titles honoured at the annual Bestseller Awards in London on Monday evening, having sold more than a million copies in the UK.

After leaving Pointless in 2022 to concentrate on writing, having co-hosted alongside Alexander Armstrong since its debut in 2009, the first book in The Thursday Murder Club series became a platinum bestseller, and book number three, The Bullet That Missed, achieved the same status last year.

The film rights to Osman’s debut novel have been sold to Steven Spielberg’s production company. Dame Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie will play the lead roles in the Netflix film, while the cast also includes Richard E Grant, Tom Ellis, David Tennant, Jonathan Pryce, Naomi Ackie, Daniel Mays and Henry Lloyd-Hughes.

The 2020 bestseller follows retirement residents who attempt to investigate murders in their sleepy English village for fun, but find themselves caught in a real case.