Pointless: new guest hosts replacing Richard Osman announced, from Andi Oliver to Gyles Brandreth to Ria Lina

Since Richard Osman announced his departure from Pointless, the role of Alexander Armstrong’s quiz show co-host and sidekick has been filled by a revolving door of different celebrity guests.

With the 28^th series of Pointless now drawing to a close – which saw guest hosts including Lauren Laverne, Konnie Huq, and Stephen Mangan sitting behind the Pointless desk – BBC One have announced who viewers can expect to see appear when the show returns.

Here’s everything you need to know about the next slate of Pointless guest hosts ahead of their appearance on the show later this year.

Who is going to guest host Pointless?

Andi Oliver – having previously both won and been sent home in the first round of different episodes of Celebrity Pointless – will be one of the first guest hosts taking over from Osman. You’ll recognise Oliver from both judging and presenting The Great British Menu. Oliver will be followed by Gyles Brandreth, the Conservative MP turned television host and presenter, as well as comedians Nish Kumar (The Mash Report), Lucy Porter (QI), and Ria Lina (who previously won Celebrity Mastermind). Rose Matafeo (Starstruck), Sally Phillips (Veep), and radio broadcaster Vick Hope will all guest host Pointless as well.

“It has been a really fun process sharing the hosting with so many different guests,” commented Pointless host Alexander Armstrong. “They have all brought their own styles and senses of humour, keeping the show fresh and exciting every time and I can’t wait to welcome more celebrity hosts to the show this year.”

Rob Unsworth, Head of BBC Daytime and Early Peak says: “It’s great to see the success the celebrity guest hosts have had with audiences so far, so we can’t wait to see how this new line-up of celebrity hosts fares behind the famous Pointless desk.”

When did Richard Osman leave Pointless?

Richard Osman – television producer turned presenter turned novelist – announced in April 2022 that he’d be leaving the daily Pointless shows, scaling back his presenting duties to just the celebrity edition of the quiz show so that he could devote more attention to writing.

Osman’s final episode of Pointless – it’s Series 27 Episode 55, if you wanted to look it up on iPlayer – aired on Wednesday 20 July 2022. Since then, he’s continued to host his BBC Two quiz show Richard Osman’s House of Games. The Bullet That Missed, the third book in his Thursday Murder Club series, was published in 2022, with a fourth scheduled for publication in 2023.

Who has already guest hosted Pointless?

Sally Lindsay was the first of the celebrity guest hosts to take over from Richard Osman, with Series 28 kicking off on Tuesday 20 September 2022.

Since then, Pointless has been guest hosted by Desert Island Discs’ Lauren Laverne, actor Stephen Mangan, former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq, The Last Leg’s Alex Brooker, and comedian Ed Gamble.

When will a permanent Pointless co-host be announced?

So far, we don’t know. There’s technically been no official confirmation either way as to whether a permanent co-host will be put in place at all, and it’s possible (if unlikely) that the show could be moving towards an ongoing rotating host set up in the same vein as something like Have I Got News For You.