History Series / Pointless

* Anita Rani (18 April 2024 onwards)[[note]]Her and Hugh Dennis' stint above are as planned.[[/note]]

* Vick Hope (26 January 2024 - 6 February 2024)

** The final round of an episode broadcast in 2024 was based on ''Series/DoctorWho'', and one of the subcategories were names of episodes from Creator/JodieWhittaker's time as the title character (2018-22). [[https://thedoctorwhocompanion.com/2024/01/20/the-most-memorable-thirteenth-doctor-episode-title-uhm-none-of-them-awkward/ Not a single person surveyed was able to name one.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSGdaMdyLU0 One episode was asking for artists who had the 40 best-selling albums in the UK for 2015]], and one contestant said Alexander Armstrong. He thought it would be wrong, but was flattered at the thought. To his surprise, the answer turned out to not only be ''correct'' but also '''pointless''', which surprised everyone! As Osman explains, Armstrong had released an album of songs in 2015, and it placed #33 on the list.

** One episode was asking for artists who had the 40 best-selling albums in the UK for 2015, and one contestant said Alexander Armstrong. He thought it would be wrong, but was flattered at the thought. To his surprise, the answer turned out to be not only correct but also pointless.[[note]]Armstrong released an album of songs in 2015, and it placed #32 on the list.[[/note]]

** The final round of an episode broadcast in 2024 was based on ''Series/DoctorWho'', and one of the subcategories were names of episodes from Creator/JodieWhittaker's time as the title character (2018-22). Not a single person surveyed was able to name one.

* Andi Oliver (15 November - 24 November 2023 [[note]]repeats were shown in between[[/note]], 8 - 10 January 2024)
* Sally Phillips (11 January 2024 - Present)

A game show broadcast on Creator/{{BBC}} One (with reruns on Challenge), hosted by Creator/AlexanderArmstrong (of ''Series/TheArmstrongAndMillerShow''), with Creator/RichardOsman as assistant. It has been broadcast since 24 August 2009, making it a LongRunner. Osman announced in April 2022 that he would be stepping down due to other commitments; his final episode aired on 20 July to mark the end of Series 27.

** A new format was added in June 2013. Contestants choose one category from a list of four, and are given 60 seconds to come up with three answers for any of three questions within that category. If at least one answer turns out to be pointless, they win the jackpot.

** Series 28 has changed the Final Round again to a choice of only two sub-categories rather than the old three, and also awards a £500 bonus on top of the jackpot for giving three pointless answers.

*** It's possible that a motivation behind this was that a section of the viewership wasn't tuning in until roughly five minutes into the programme, when the quizzing itself would begin.
** The earlier seasons included more shots of the studio audience. This pretty much stopped altogether after production moved to BBC Elstree. Since the Covid-19 pandemic there has been no audience, only sound effects. The show moved to a new studio (Versa London Studios) in 2022 and it is not clear that the new set has any provision for a studio audience at all.

** LovelyAssistant: Alexander's "pointless friend", Richard Osman; a rare male example in the world of game shows.

** One couple asked Alexander to say "Hi!" to their younger son as they really like ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' (in which he plays the titular character). Xander obliges, though as he's reluctantly points out, [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent it's literally just his own voice]].

* AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering: During their joint appearance on a celebrity edition, Janet Street Porter tried to influence Christopher Biggs into giving an answer to a question on countries containing certain words, probably hoping to have him say “Papua New Guinea”; an answer she was thinking of. Instead, he incorrectly said “South Pacific”, much to her disbelief.

* AudienceParticipation: Beyond being part of the normal appeal of a game show, it is frequently invoked by Richard with phrases like "There's gonna be twelve in all to have a go at at home" and "well done if you got that at home".

* BlatantLies: According to Alexander, any time a contestant claims they are only on the show for the trophy. This was said in the context of a pair of finalists going for a record-equalling £20,250 jackpot, whose three answers (on the subject of Music/ManicStreetPreachers singles) scored 1, 1 and 2 respectively.

-->'''Richard:''' I say "Well done if you got that at home!", that's like a catchphrase isn't it?

-->'''Richard:''' Here's a catchphrase: 'That ain't bread, that's toast!'
-->'''Alexander:''' "That ain't bread..."
-->'''Richard:''' "That's toast!"

-->'''Alexander:''' Meanwhile, it's goodbye from Richard...
-->'''Richard:''' Goodbye.
-->'''Alexander:''' ...and it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

** And Richard has "We're looking for any feature film made for cinematic release for which [name of actor] has received an acting credit. (As ever) no TV films, short films, documentaries, or anything in which he's played himself -- but voice performances do count", and "by country we mean a sovereign state that is a member of [[UsefulNotes/UnitedNations the U.N.]] in its own right."

* ContinuityNod: In Series 26, an episode featured a couple where one half mentioned that they'd made her own South African patterned dress, and that it was reversible, and multiple jokes throughout the episode are about not wanting them to win the money so they they could all see the reversed design. They do eventually get knocked out, and come the following episode, Alexander giddily mentions that the dress they're wearing is reversible and mentions how good it was for this BrickJoke to pay off.

** One contestant was stuck and chose to guess the name of the founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints as Joseph Smith, which is very much correct (and got a low score of 9).

* DramaticPause: Used between a contestant giving an answer and the column either starting to scroll down to the number of people who gave that answer, or flashing red with a fail-chord as they've given an incorrect answer.

** The most epic opening round (up until that point) was the category Music/{{U2}} singles. All four teams got incorrect answers on the first pass. They then made the ultimate comeback, as on the second pass all four teams got correct -- and good! -- answers. In fact the highest score of the second pass was only 19, and that team lost the round by exactly 1 point.

** Zigzagged in a series 11 round on winners of the Best Actor/Actress at the British Soap Awards, which was another extremely high scoring round, though more through incredibly bad luck than ignorance. The first five answers all scored 100, as did the 7th, but the 6th and 8th scored four. This made the round the first in the show's history where only two different scores were achieved. Unlike previous cases where the contestants have known nothing of the subject, every answer given was a prominent soap star who just happened not to have won the award. Perhaps deservedly, the round delivered the first ever pointless answer given in a tiebreak.

* GenreSavvy: There are many rounds where it definitely helps to be familiar with the show, and in particular with the sort of answers that tend to score low. Genre Savvy contestants will know which countries, US presidents, and chemical elements generally elude the "hundred people".

** Done gloriously by Richard in a Pointless Celebrities special which included Tony Blackburn, a past winner of ''I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here''. As that show is known for making its contestants eat disgusting Australian 'bush tucker' as a challenge, Richard got some out, and said that any time a contestant got a question wrong and scored 100 points... "''Xander'' has to eat some". Alexander's DoubleTake reaction has to be seen.
** In a round of "Words ending in ...air", Alexander was about to describe an incorrect (but worthy) answer as being "unfair" before realising and succesfully switching it with "unjust".

** One episode was asking for artists who had the 40 best-selling albums in the UK for 2015, and one contestant said Alexander Armstrong. He thought it would be wrong, but was flattered at the thought. To his surprise, the answer turned out to be not only correct, but also pointless.[[note]]Armstrong released an album of songs in 2015, and it placed #32 on the list.[[/note]]
* LittleKnownFacts: In the more recent series Richard has taken to mixing some of these into the actual facts about answers he reads out at the end of the round. His deadpan delivery is such that if the joke is subtle enough, sometimes the audience can't tell if they're straight facts or or not.

* MissionControl: Richard sits at a desk with a computer, giving detail on what answers they'll accept, explaining why wrong answers were wrong, etc. The computer is a prop, which was lampshaded when Alexander gave Richard a power cable for it [[FandomNod in response to viewer complaints that it isn't plugged in]]. However, the laptop mysteriously started to work after Richard left the show.

** Similarily, the lights dimming and the set turning red in the Head-to-Head round.

** After an unbroken string of nothing but incorrect answers in the infamous "wishing songs" round, the final contestant to play guessed that "Wishing on a Star" was sung by Val Doonican. Alexander exasperatedly exclaimed "It's not even a man who sings it!"
** Richard occasionally too. Unlike Xander he already knows the questions and answers in advance, and avoids making eye contact with the contestants until he formally reveals the status of an answer. He sometimes slips up too though. For example, one pair were given picture clues to signs of the zodiac, and chose the weighing scales (which of course is Libra). However, they overlooked the obvious answer and assumed it was a StealthPun referring to the scales of a fish, [[EntertaininglyWrong and so gave the answer "Pisces"]]. The contestant noted that since Richard was laughing he guessed the answer was incorrect, and Richard then said "I can honestly say it's one of my favourite answers of all time!", effectively revealing it was wrong in advance.

** This has turned into a bit of a RunningGag with the number of times he's mentioned it. Fortunately he has turned out to be wearing them, as seen in the rare occasions when he either stands up from the desk or is seen on-camera from far enough back to one side.

** As of episode 501, the final round consists of four subjects rather than five, but there are three separate categories within it. Contestants still have 60 seconds to come up with three answers, any of which must be pointless in order to collect the jackpot, but they can give their answers in one or more categories as they see fit. However, they must specify which category they are trying for with each answer. Fundamentally, this format-change allows the show to include questions for which there might be only or two pointless answers (so as to avoid forcing contestants to give an incorrect answer, such questions were unusable before this).

** Richard claiming that the element Osmium is named after him, because it's "extremely dense and difficult to work with".
** The Central African Republic as an obscure answer for many questions of the form "Name a country that is X". If it's in the category (countries beginning with ''C'', landlocked countries, countries that drive on the right, etc., etc.) it's almost always Pointless. In a more recent episode it actually scored 2 points and Richard joked that it was because they had been raising awareness for the country on ''Pointless'' for so long (the same thing happened in a series 8 episode with another oft-times pointless country, Vanuatu. Richard joked that he'd been given a month's holiday by the country's tourist board, which he enjoyed much more than that of CAR, which was in the middle of a civil war at the time). Such is its infamy on the show, that on the 300th episode Richard's gift to Alexander was a framed picture of the country, saying it was "the most common pointless answer".
** Richard offering the opinion that [[Series/TheArmstrongAndMillerShow Armstrong's comedy partner Ben Miller]] is the more talented of the pair, and that [[Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook Mitchell and Webb]] are more talented than either of them, to which Armstrong, being the affable chap he is, will invariably meekly agree.

** If a contestant says they're a civil servant, or is otherwise vague about their job, it will be suggested the contestant is actually a spy, which Xander and Richard think is the coolest job in the world.

-->'''Richard''': They're huge gas balls that haven't yet become a fully fledged star.
-->'''Alexander''': Like some of the people on ''Series/BritainsGotTalent'', you mean?

A game show broadcast on Creator/{{BBC}} One (with reruns on Challenge), hosted by Alexander Armstrong (of ''Series/TheArmstrongAndMillerShow''), with Creator/RichardOsman as assistant. It has been broadcast since 24 August 2009, making it a LongRunner. Osman announced in April 2022 that he would be stepping down due to other commitments; his final episode aired on 20 July to mark the end of Series 27.//
//

** In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vFVjyhWM6Y&t=2m37s episode 21.08 (aired Feb 06, 2019)]] two pairs managed to get three answers about playwrights wrong (scoring each pair 300 points) only to then get a completely new tie-breaking question (about ''Film/JamesBond'' movies) with final scores of 321 to 304

A game show broadcast on Creator/{{BBC}} One (with reruns on Challenge), hosted by Alexander Armstrong (of ''Series/TheArmstrongAndMillerShow''), with Creator/RichardOsman as assistant. It has been broadcast since 24 August 2009, making it a LongRunner. Osman announced in April 2022 that he would be stepping down due to other commitments; his final episode aired on 20 July to mark the end of Series 27. Beginning with the Series 28 premiere in September 2022, he is currently being replaced by a rotating group of guest assistants that changes every 11 episodes[[note]]or fewer if they're a returning assistant[[/note]]:

* Andi Oliver (15 November - Present)

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