Pointless is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay subsidiary Remarkable Entertainment for the BBC hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode, four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers to four rounds of general knowledge questions, with the winning team eligible to compete for the show's cash jackpot. All questions used on the show are factual in nature and are asked of a panel of 100 individuals in a pre-conducted public survey. A correct answer scores one point for each survey subject who gave it, and the objective is to achieve as low a score as possible. "Pointless" answers are correct responses that were not given by anyone surveyed; these answers score no points and are the most desirable. Every pointless answer given during the main game increases the jackpot by £250, and the team that reaches the final round has three chances to win it by giving one such answer.
Pointless debuted on BBC Two on 24 August 2009. The success of its first three series led the BBC to move it to BBC One from 2011. From late June to mid-July, the programme usually takes a two-week break to make way for the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. On occasions when BBC1 carries live broadcasts of major news or sport events, the programme is transferred to BBC2, for example during the pandemic of 2020. , the programme is airing its 29th series and has had peak audience figures of over 7 million viewers. An offshoot of the show entitled Pointless Celebrities was first shown in 2011 and had reached series 15. The format has been exported internationally.
The first 27 series were co-presented by Richard Osman, who announced on 8 April 2022 that he would step down from the role to focus more on his writing career, although he would still co-present with Armstrong on Pointless Celebrities on a short-term contract before leaving the series fully. Beginning with series 28, a rotating group of guests will take his place until a new permanent co-presenter is found.
Gameplay
Teams of two contestants attempt to provide answers that are not only correct, but also as obscure as possible. The programme initially featured five teams per episode, but the field was later reduced to four. On each episode, contestants answer a series of questions that were put to 100 members of the general public in a previously conducted online survey, which had a time limit of 100 seconds. Once a question is asked at the start of a round, the contestants are given details as to what constitutes a valid answer. If a team's answer is correct, they score one point for each participant who gave it during the survey; an answer given by none of the participants is termed "pointless" and adds nothing to the team's score. Incorrect answers add a penalty of 100 points. Once a question or pass is complete, depending on the specific format of the round, any remaining pointless answers are stated along with the high-scoring answers given in the survey, usually the top three.
The game begins with two Elimination Rounds, in which teams must achieve as low a score as possible. The rounds are scored independently of one another, and the team with the highest score in each round is eliminated from the game. If two or more teams are tied for the highest score in either of these rounds, a "lockdown" tiebreaker is played among them, using the last question from the round and the same scoring rules. If the score remains tied, an "emergency question" is asked to break it. In the "Head-to-Head", the two surviving teams compete against each other to find low-scoring answers; the first team to win two questions moves on to the Final.
Teams may return to the programme until they have either reached the Final once or been eliminated in three consecutive episodes, whichever occurs first. The team that reaches the Final is awarded a pair of trophies to keep. They must then supply three answers to a question with many correct answers (e.g. name films directed by a specified director, name a song by a specified singer). If any of the answers is pointless, they win the jackpot as it stands for that game; otherwise, the money rolls over to the next episode. Starting in Series 29, teams can win a £500 bonus in addition to the jackpot by giving three pointless answers in the Final.