EditorWelsh star Michael Sheen to host BBC quiz show in surprise career move
Welsh actor Michael Sheen is swapping Hollywood scripts for quiz questions after landing a surprise new role hosting a popular BBC show.
The Port Talbot-born star has been announced as the new presenter of Richard Osman’s House of Games, taking over after creator and long-time host Richard Osman confirmed he was stepping down.
The hit programme, which airs on BBC channels BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, has become a staple of early evening television since launching in 2017.
Sheen will now take over hosting duties when new episodes are filmed and broadcast later this year.
The award-winning actor admitted he has “very large shoes to fill” but said he was thrilled to be joining the show.
“I’m a huge fan of the programme and incredibly excited to be able to move into the House,” he said.
Writing on Instagram, Richard promised to clean the place before the Michael arrived.
He said: “Beyond thrilled to be handing the House Of Games keys over to the one and only Michael Sheen. I promise to put the hoover round before he arrives.
“Best of luck Michael, you’re such a great choice, and I know you, and the viewers, will have an amazing time.”
The move marks Sheen’s first ever quiz show hosting role, in what many fans see as an unexpected turn in the star’s career.
Sheen has built an international reputation through acclaimed roles in film, television and theatre, including portraying former Prime Minister Tony Blair in multiple productions and appearing in films such as Tron: Legacy and Midnight in Paris.
But despite his Hollywood credentials, the actor has remained closely tied to Wales.
In recent years he has funded major cultural projects, including launching a new Welsh theatre company aimed at developing talent across the country.
Now he is set to become the new face of one of the BBC’s most popular quiz formats.
Each week on House of Games, four celebrities compete across five episodes in a series of quirky trivia and puzzle rounds, battling it out for daily prizes and the chance to be crowned the weekly champion.
Osman, who has hosted the show since it began nearly a decade ago, said it had been a “great pleasure” presenting the programme but that it was time for someone else to take over.
For fans of the show, that someone will now be a familiar Welsh face.
And for Sheen, it means stepping into the living rooms of millions of viewers every evening — not as a character, but as the man asking the questions.
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