Edwards realises the Impossible dream, a Saturday prime time slot
Quiz show host Rick Edwards talks to Gemma Dunn about the celebrity version of his daytime hit
Rick Edwards is recalling the exact moment he realised his fan demographic had changed.
“I was in the gym the other day when a girl, who was probably in her late teens, came over and said, ‘Ooh can I get a selfie?’” the TV presenter, 39, explains when we meet.
“I said yes, even though I was horribly sweaty,” he says. “But she took it and then said, ‘Oh, my mum is such a fan!’
“I was like, ‘Oh. Oh right’,” he quips, with a laugh. “So it’s quite a broad range now...”
Up until fairly recently, the Londoner was best known for his time presenting T4, a Channel 4 scheduling slot that was widely recognised as ‘hangover TV’ for a twentysomething audience.
A springboard for Edwards and many of his former co-stars – Miquita Oliver, Steve Jones, Alexa Chung and Nick Grimshaw, to name but a few – the popular show attracted hoards of young viewers before it folded in 2012.
But luckily for Edwards, his career didn’t go with it.
The broadcaster – who started out on the stand-up circuit after graduating with a degree in natural sciences from Cambridge University – has since paid his dues on such hits as ITV2’S comedy panel show, Safeword; BBC3’S live current affairs debate show, Free Speech; E4 reality series Tool Academy, and Channel 4’s Paralympic Breakfast Show.
The gig he holds responsible for his enlightening gym encounter, however, is BBC1 hit daytime quiz show Impossible.
And he’s about to up the ante further, as he prepares to launch its first prime time reincarnation, Impossible Celebrities.
“I’m thrilled the BBC thinks it deserves a celebrity version,” he says of the starstudded spin-off, which will see 18 famous faces competing to win £10,000 for a charity of their choice.
“Although I’m slightly apprehensive, because our little show has been doing nicely in daytime and then you put it up on Saturday night and you just want people to like it,” he says.
“But there’s no point worrying,” he adds. “I really love the show, I love the format and I think it really works. It makes sense that it would work with celebrities.”
The logistics? In each episode, the celebrities must avoid giving “impossible” answers as they battle it out across three rounds of impossible-style multiple choice questions. Every right answer takes them a step closer to a shot at that jackpot – but a single “impossible” answer will knock them out for that episode.
Those taking on the challenge include TV presenter Gregg Wallace, comedian Russell Kane, Steps singer Ian ‘H’ Watkins and Paralympic champion and crossbench peer Baroness Tanni Grey-thompson.
“It was fun doing it with celebrities,” Edwards says of the six-part run. “They’re sort of a nightmare when you’ve got 18 of them – trying to wrangle them all. But it’s worth it.”
“The two people I was most excited about were Gregg Wallace – whenever I watch him, and I watch him quite a lot, it’s like, ‘What is this man? He’s so odd. He’s a strange man’. And now I get to do a quiz show with him. Good.
“And [the other is] Debbie Mcgee because I’ve always loved Debbie Mcgee.
“I really enjoyed her on Strictly, and then I met her and loved her. And so it was nice to have her on.”
How does he think he would fare in the all-star line up himself?
“It’s so much harder than doing it when you’re watching from your sofa,” points out Edwards, who is married to actress Emer Kenny. “You get hot under the lights, clammy, red-faced and anxious about looking like an idiot.
“But I go through all the questions before a recorded show and try and play along, and I tend to do alright,” he notes, revealing all the celebs – apart from TV presenter Angela Scanlon – were surprisingly competitive.
With years of live TV behind him, however, Edwards is used to thinking on his feet. In fact, over the years he’s learned that mistakes are fine – even if things don’t go as hoped.
“You don’t need to speak like a perfect automaton at all times,” he insists. “Whereas when I started out, I imagined that you did. It’s just telly!” So what’s next?
“I’d love to do more science stuff,” he says. “I do a science podcast [Edwards hosts Science(ish) alongside Dr Michael Brooks] and I’ve got a science book out at the moment, so I’d quite like to do that on telly.
“It’s my first love, if you like,” he says. “There’s room to do more of the science stuff that I’d like to watch on TV.”
“Celebrities are a sort of a nightmare when you’ve got 18 of them – trying to wrangle them all. But it’s worth it”
● Impossible Celebrities begins tomorrow, BBC1, 7pm