‘Being in someone’s household is a privilege you can’t underestimate’

Ben Shephard tells Gemma Dunn that he counts his lucky stars to be presenting four hit programmes

Tipping Point has no shortage of celebrity admirers – but even longtime host Ben Shephard was surprised to discover its latest convert.

For it seems the daytime quiz show, which sees four players take on an extraordinary machine (think arcade-style penny falls) in the hope of winning a cash jackpot, has proved quite the hit in the Dench household.

“The other week I went into my dressing room on Good Morning Britain and there was a signed photo on my desk...” Shephard, 44, begins.

“It said, ‘Hi Ben, thank you for letting me use your dressing room. I just wanted you to know that we love Tipping Point in our house, lots of love Ju’. It was from Dame Judi Dench!” he recalls.

“I was like, ‘Someone’s having a laugh’,” he admits. “But she’d taken the time to write it, so that’s pride of place now. I’ve moved the kids off the mantelpiece.”

It’s not the only time the Essex-born presenter has been caught off-guard by famous fans.

“I remember just after the referendum vote for Scottish independence, I was up in Glasgow with Susanna [Reid], and Brian Cox, the Scottish actor, came in...” Shephard remembers.

“He sat down, lent over to me, and said, ‘Just to say, Ben, we love Tipping Point’. On the eve of this extraordinary moment in political history, here in the UK, that was what he wanted to say to me!

“And Andrew Lloyd Webber is a big fan [too] – I think he had an injury and he was sitting at home convalescing and really got into it...” Shephard adds.

Since its inception in 2012, the ITV series has gone from strength to strength, doubling the slot’s average share with its latest episodes and breaking the three million and 30 per cent share mark for the first time, with a consistent reach of nearly 8.5m viewers a week.

It’s even branched out into celebrity specials known as Tipping Point: Lucky Stars – and recently Shephard filmed its tenth series, and 1,000th

0 Dame Judi Dench is a fan of Ben Shephard’s Tipping Point

episode, both of which will air next year.

So why is it so popular? “I’ve worked in telly for quite a long time now, but what you can never really be sure of, is how something will translate,” Shephard muses, confessing he struggled to understand the concept in its initial stages.

“But what we’ve somehow been able to do is take the little bit of nostalgia that you get from that machine, and put it into people’s front rooms – and everybody watches and enjoys it together.”

Yet, having been in the business for over two decades, Shephard refuses to take the show’s success for granted.

“One of the things – and I’ve talked to Bradley [Walsh] about this, and Alexander [Armstrong] from Pointless – is that you can’t underestimate what a privilege it is to be in someone’s household,” he notes.

“I’ve done a thousand of these shows now, so I’ve stood 4,000 contestants!

“It’s something like 65,000 questions I’ve probably asked; we’ve given away nearly £4 million, and I still get as much delight, no matter how tired I am or how many I’ve done.

“I’m just obsessed by it!” concludes the father of two.

It’s still a far cry from Shephard’s other weekday gig, co-hosting the ITV breakfast

show Good Morning Britain, alongside Susanna Reid and Kate Garraway.

“The lovely thing about Good Morning Britain, particularly, is that it’s live, and there’s nothing like being live to keep you on your toes.

“Breaking news and the nature of that show, and how much goes into it, is really exciting – it’s a real test of your different skills,” he adds.

“But [Tipping Point] is my show; this is the show that is an absolute baby for me and it’s been nurtured and evolved from its initial incarnation to where it is now.”

Shephard also co-presents ITV’S Ninja Warrior in addition to Sky Sport’s Goals On Sunday, alongside Chris Kamara.

It’s a nice position to be in, to have four solid shows under his belt.

“It’s not like having a proper job – all of this works at the same time...” he says. “Ninja is in the can, I’m doing Tipping Point at the moment, Good Morning Britain on Thursdays and Fridays, and Goals On Sunday,” he lists.

“So I just do a working week – it’s not like I’ve got loads of jobs.

“Someone once said to me, ‘Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life’ and I don’t think anything could be more true.

“I wouldn’t ever deny the fact that I have been very lucky to have the opportunities that I’ve had,” he finishes. “And hopefully I can keep enjoying them all and doing the best job I can.”

“I’ve asked something like 65,000 questions on 1,000 shows”

● Tipping Point airs weekdays on STV