Jeremy Paxman To Step Down From BBC Quiz ‘University Challenge’ After Nearly Three Decades

Max Goldbart
·2 min read

Jeremy Paxman is to step down from stalwart BBC quiz show University Challenge after almost three decades.

The former Newsnight presenter will film his last episode this fall and his final series will air from August to next Summer.

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A new presenter will be announced later this week for the UK’s longest-running quiz show.

Paxman said he’d “had a blast hosting this wonderful series for nearly 29 years” and had “been lucky enough to work with an amazing team and meet some of the ‘swottier’ brains in the country.”

“It gives me hope for the future,” added Paxman, who is also a formidable political interviewer. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease last year.

Paxman led a revived BBC Two Newsnight, which is based on U.S. format College Bowl, from 1994 after the ITV Studios-produced show was axed by ITV in 1987 following a 25-year run helmed by Bamber Gascoigne. He developed a reputation over the decades for his no-nonsense approach to questioning some of the country’s brightest students, and the way in which he comically hurries the contestants into an answer.

BBC Unscripted Director Kate Phillips celebrated Paxman as “at the front and centre of the show’s success and 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,” she added.

Similar BBC Two quiz Mastermind also recently lost long-time presenter John Humphrys after 18 years, who was replaced by BBC Newsreader Clive Myrie.

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