Osman was born in Billericay, Essex, to Brenda Wright and David Osman, and grew up in Haywards Heath, West Sussex. His mother is a teacher. When Osman was nine years old, his father walked out on the family, which Osman says created difficulty for the rest of his life. Osman's older brother is musician Mat Osman. Osman attended Warden Park School in Cuckfield. Whilst still at school he got his first broadcasting experience, as a regular contributor to Turn It Up, an open-access music show which went out every Sunday evening on BBC Radio Sussex. Between 1989 and 1992, Osman studied Politics and Sociology at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a contemporary of Pointless co-presenter Alexander Armstrong, who read English Literature.
Television career
Production
Osman began his career working as executive producer on numerous British game shows, including Deal or No Deal, Channel 4 comedy panel game8 out of 10 Cats and satirical comedy 10 O'Clock Live. Richard was the creative director at tv giant Endemol, pitching the idea for Pointless to the BBC, becoming its co-presenter with his former University friend, Alexander Armstrong, when it launched in 2009. He created the short-lived 2013 ITV gameshow Prize Island. Osman's other credits include Whose Line is it Anyway?, Total Wipeout and the game show 24 Hour Quiz. As a producer of Deal or No Deal, Osman was the one who revealed the identity of The Banker to be the show's producer Glenn Hugill. Osman acted as script editor for BBC One's Total Wipeout and in 1999, created and wrote the Channel 4 sitcomBoyz Unlimited with David Walliams and Matt Lucas. In 2005, Osman co-created and co-wrote the animated Channel 4 sitcom Bromwell High.
Presenting and ''Pointless''
Since 2009, Osman has co-presented the BBC One teatime quiz show Pointless with host Alexander Armstrong. He created the show where he is jokingly known as Armstrong's "pointless friend". Having previously worked exclusively in behind-the-camera roles, Osman got the job as co-presenter/assistant when he pitched the idea for the show to a panel of BBC daytime heads, taking the role of the assistant in the demonstration. Osman guest hosted Have I Got News for You in October 2013. In 2014, Osman began presenting a new BBC Two quiz show called Two Tribes. A second series began airing in February 2015. Since October 2014, Osman guest-presented numerous episodes of The One Show. Since 2016, Osman has been a team captain on the BBC Two comedy panel show Insert Name Here, hosted by Sue Perkins. A second series was commissioned to begin airing in January 2017. In February and December 2016, Osman presented Dragons' Den: Pitches to Riches, two special episodes which looked back over the past thirteen series of Dragons' Den on BBC Two. Since 2016, Osman has presented Child Genius on Channel 4. Osman appeared on the telethon Red Nose Day 2017 with The World Cup of Biscuits 2017. This involved polling with Twitter to find the best British biscuit. The chocolate digestive won. In April 2017 Osman appeared in the first episode of the third series of Murder in Successville. In 2017, Osman began hosting his show Richard Osman's House of Games. On five days each week four panellists compete in general knowledge tests in a variety of entertaining games. The overall winner is crowned on Friday. Three series of the show have been made.
Comedy
Osman has appeared multiple times on Would I Lie to You?. He has appeared as a panelist seven times on Have I Got News for You: in December 2012, April 2013, April 2014, October 2015, December 2017, April 2018 and May 2019. He has also been a guest on I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue six times: twice in Series 66 2016, twice in Series 70 2018 and twice in Series 71 2019. He has appeared several times as a guest on QI. In 2016 he was a contestant on the second series of Taskmaster, hosted by fellow TV presenterGreg Davies. Osman is a regular on the darts show Let's Play Darts. He presents The Birthday Game podcast. In 2012 Richard created, organised and hosted the World Cup of Crisps making Frazzles the champion.
Literary career
, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, acquired the rights to Osman's debut novel, The Thursday Murder Club, and one other novel, for a seven-figure sum in a 10-publisher auction in 2019. Osman's first book will be published in autumn 2020, and the second the following year, as part of a classic crime series. The Thursday Murder Club is set in a luxury retirement village in Kent where four residents gather to investigate crime cases, including a "live" murder mystery. Osman said that he was "in talks" for a TV adaptation of the novel.
Personal life
Osman was born with nystagmus, an eye condition that significantly reduces his vision. Osman has two children, aged 17 and 19 years. Osman is a season ticket holder at Fulham FC. On 6 December 2011, Osman became an 'unlikely heartthrob' after winning Heats 'Weirdest Crush Award'.
