INTERVIEW
With his fourth novel hitting the shelves, Richard Osman reveals how his mum’s retirement community inspired his writing and opens up about his recent wedding to actor Ingrid Oliver
Richard Osman loves his mum so much that he bought her a new home – but just like in The Thursday Murder Club, the first of his hugely popular series of murder mystery novels, this story has a massive plot twist.
‘I made a bit of money and there was this quite upscale retirement village near where my mum lived,’ he begins to explain in the deep, amiable tones we know so well from the quiz shows Pointless and House of Games. ‘A few of her posh friends moved in so I said, “OK, Mum, you’ve given me your all, everything I’ve had in life I owe to you, so I’ll give you this. Let’s get you a place there”.’
That was an exceptionally generous thing for a son to do, but as we meet to discuss his latest book, The Last Devil To Die, it is clear that Richard, 52, is still full of gratitude towards his mother – and for good reason.
Schoolteacher Brenda Wright brought up her two sons on her own, after Richard’s father, David, walked out on the family. Richard was just nine at the time, his brother Mat was 12. The boys were never really reconciled with their father before his death seven years ago. Money was tight, but there was a lot of love in their house in Cuckfield, West Sussex, and both boys found success: Mat grew up to play bass in the band Suede and Richard went into television, where a gift for playing games allowed him to become the backstage genius behind massive shows such as Deal Or No Deal and Survivor. He was persuaded to step in front of the camera himself in 2009 while demonstrating how a dry, sardonic co-host holding all the answers would work well alongside his old university friend Alexander Armstrong on a quiz he had made up called Pointless.
This genial giant, who stands 6ft 7in in his socks, has learned to deal with his height – and the way everyone turns to look at him when he walks in a room – by developing a soothing, gentle manner that made him a hit with viewers. He looks and sounds like a natural on screen, partly because he’s often making it up on the spot – the eye condition nystagmus leaves everything in soft focus and makes an autocue a blur.
Yet despite this TV success, Richard still credits being good to his mum as the moment that changed his life. ‘She settled into her new home in a heartbeat – it’s really pretty, you can see the South Downs, there are lakes, there are birds overhead,’ he says, returning to the story. ‘With the sort of bra
