[tv show] Jeremy Paxman to step down from University Challenge after 28 incredible years

[6Foot2]

Link: Jeremy Paxman to step down from University Challenge after 28 incredible years - [bBC] Media Centre

 

I’ve had a blast hosting this wonderful series for nearly 29 years. I’ve been lucky enough to work with an amazing team and to meet some of the swottier brains in the country. It gives me hope for the future.

Jeremy Paxman, who has presented the show since 1994, will film his last episode this autumn and his final series will air on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer from Monday 29 August through to summer ’23.

 

Paxman says: “I’ve had a blast hosting this wonderful series for nearly 29 years. I’ve been lucky enough to work with an amazing team and to meet some of the swottier brains in the country. It gives me hope for the future.”

 

Kate Phillips, BBC’s Director of Unscripted, says: “Since the BBC revived University Challenge in 1994 Jeremy has been at the front and centre of the show’s success and is without doubt one of the world’s finest, and most formidable quizmasters. We are hugely grateful to Jeremy for his dedication to the programme for an incredible 28 years, he will be much missed by us all and the show’s millions of viewers.”

 

Peter Gwyn, Executive Producer of University Challenge, said: "Jeremy has been our presenter, colleague and friend for twenty-eight years, and everyone on the University Challenge production team will miss him greatly. He'll be sorely missed too by both our audience and by the generations of students who've relished the chance to pit themselves against him in more than a thousand matches."

 

This year University Challenge celebrates 60 years of being Britain’s longest running quiz show. A special documentary will air on BBC Two and iPlayer on Monday 29 August at 9pm.

 

University Challenge is produced by Lifted Entertainment, part of ITV Studios, and is based on the format of College Bowl by Richard Reid.

 

A new presenter will be announced later this week.

[6Foot2]

Link: Amol Rajan to take over from Jeremy Paxman as University Challenge host - BBC News

 

Amol Rajan will take over from Jeremy Paxman as the host of University Challenge, the BBC has announced.

 

The journalist and broadcaster, who is also one of the hosts of Radio 4's Today programme, will start presenting the BBC Two quiz show next autumn.

 

In a statement, he said: "Being asked to host my favourite TV programme is dream-come-true territory."

 

Rajan becomes only the third presenter in the show's 60-history, following Paxman and Bamber Gascoigne.

 

Paxman announced earlier this week he was stepping down after 28 years. The 72-year-old revealed last year that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

 

Rajan's new job means he will step down as the BBC's media editor later this year.

 

"I have watched University Challenge obsessively for years, addicted to its high standards, glorious title music and inspirational contestants," he said.

 

"It's the best possible antidote to cynicism about young people, allowing millions of us to test our wits against the best minds of a new generation, and annoy and impress our families by barking answers from the sofa."

 

Referring to the long-running show's previous hosts, he added: "I am very conscious that in the late, great Bamber, and that giant of British culture, Jeremy, I have vast shoes to fill.

 

"With his immense intellect, authority and respect from students and viewers alike, Jeremy hands over a format, and show, as strong as ever."

 

'Shameless intellectual ambition'

Gascoigne hosted University Challenge on ITV between 1962 and 1987, before the BBC revived it with Paxman in the hot seat in 1994.

 

Rajan will remain a co-host of the Today programme as well as continuing Amol Rajan Interviews.

 

In a further statement on Instagram, he wrote: "I can honestly say University Challenge is my favourite show. I love it. The music, the students, the format, the history, the shameless intellectual ambition. And I love being a quizmaster, as my mates can attest. So this feels massively humbling."

 

Paxman will film his final episodes this autumn, and they will be broadcast next summer.

 

"I've had a blast hosting this wonderful series for nearly 29 years," the former Newsnight presenter said in a statement on Tuesday.

 

"I've been lucky enough to work with an amazing team and to meet some of the swottier brains in the country. It gives me hope for the future."...