TV Blog

So Pointless started at 5.15pm on BBC One on Monday, launching with a week of celebrity programmes.

We've already done over 100 shows on BBC Two and now we're making the big leap up to BBC One. Very exciting.

In one swoop I will go from being "Whassisname, that bloke from that thing on BBC Two," to "Whassisname, that bloke from that thing on BBC One".

Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman

If you haven't seen it - for example, you might have a job - Pointless is a quiz show where you win by giving obscure answers to simple questions.

We also like to have some fun along the way.

The wonderful Alexander Armstrong is the host and I'm his 'pointless friend', providing extra facts, trying to tell jokes, and adding to the Brokeback Mountain-style sexual frisson of the show.

I had never appeared on TV before. My background is behind the camera.

First as a writer on shows like Have I Got News For You and Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and then as a producer on shows as varied as Deal Or No Deal, Total Wipeout and 8 Out Of 10 Cats.

My new TV presenting career came as an unexpected but lovely surprise. So how did it happen?

Well, my day job now is creative director of Endemol UK, and part of that role is trying to sell new shows to TV channels.

The Endemol creative team had come up with the format for Pointless and we headed off to the BBC to do a run through of the show for the brilliant Liam Keelan and Pam Cavannagh, who run the whole of BBC Daytime.

In this run through, the executive producer of Pointless, Tom Blakeson, played the role of the host, and I played the role of co-host.

Liam and Pam were sufficiently impressed/hoodwinked that they bought the show. Hooray!

Barney Harwood and Helen Skelton on Pointless Celebrities

Alexander was the perfect choice as host - warm, witty, clever, sickeningly talented and handsome - but Liam and Pam wondered if I might like to be the co-host for real?

I pretended to consider the offer for nearly two to three seconds, but inside I couldn't have been more excited.

I love television, I love its presence in the corner of every living room in Britain, I love the sense of belonging that television uniquely can bring.

To me, actually appearing on TV - in a quiz, my favourite thing, filming at BBC Televison Centre - is a dream come true.

Excuse me while I get teary-eyed for a bit. I just hope you enjoy the show as much as we enjoy making it.

So, that's the story so far. Now, though, it's the move to BBC One, to the slot filled so brilliantly for so long by Anne Robinson. We're not the Weakest Link... hello.

Richard Osman is the co-host of Pointless Celebrities and Pointless.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.