Chris Tarrant has revealed that he’s retired from major TV work.
The TV star, 78, has had an incredible career spanning 50 years and his last project was Extreme Railways on Channel 5 which ran for six series.
He is best known for presenting the ITV children’s television show Tiswas from 1974 to 1981, and the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? from its inception in 1998 until 2014.
Asked if he had retired this week, Chris told The Sun: ‘Yes. I’ve stopped.
‘I mean I think lockdown really, you just started to get everything in a bit perspective and I thought, I’ve done this thing for 50 years.
‘You know, I don’t need the money, without sounding silly. So I was thinking, why am I still doing this?’
Chris Tarrant has revealed that he’s retired. The TV star, 78, has had an incredible career spanning 50 years
He is best known for presenting the ITV children’s television show Tiswas from 1974 to 1981, and the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (seen) from its inception in 1998 until 2014
Since 2020 he has only taken talking head slots or interview appearances.
Chris appeared on Alan Titchmarsh’s Love Your Weekend in 2023 and a compilation show, Britain’s Favourite Sitcoms.
But since stepping down from TV he has been focusing on travelling and recently visited Borneo with his partner Jane Bird as well as enjoying a safari with his two eldest grandkids.
Despite leaving TV work behind he said he is still flooded with offers – including for The Masked Singer which he turned down.
Last December Chris was keen to focus more on his radio work and returned to the airwaves for the first time in over ten years.
The legendary broadcaster hosted a show on Boom Radio at 4pm on Boxing Day, playing some of his favourite music and chatting to special guests.
It was the first time Tarrant had presented a Christmas radio show since leaving Capital Radio in 2004 and his first programme since a special on BBC Radio 2 in 2013.
‘I just suddenly fancied doing a radio show again,’ said Tarrant at the time. ‘I haven’t done one for years and years. I like the guys at Boom.
Asked if he had retired this week, Chris told The Sun: ‘Yes. I’ve stopped. ‘I mean I think lockdown really, you just started to get everything in a bit perspective and I thought, I’ve done this thing for 50 years’
Last December Chris was keen to focus more on his radio work and returned to the airwaves for the first time in over ten years
‘A lot of them are old mates, lot of people I’ve actually worked with, and I know. I really like the station’s instincts about the playing of music, so it’s not this constant rotate, rotate, rotate, which drives me as a listener up the wall and was beginning to happen when I left Capital Radio’.
Tarrant started his radio career at Capital in 1984 and presented its breakfast show three years later, becoming the voice who woke up London for 17 years throughout the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s.
After leaving Capital, he returned to TV – and fronted what was to become one of the world’s biggest game shows Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
Tarrant’s career began in 1972, when he was hired by the television broadcaster, ATV.
He presented ATV Today, a current affairs programme serving the Midlands area of England, until 1982.
Tarrant rose to prominence after becoming a co-host on Tiswas, the children’s television show broadcast on a Saturday morning from 1974 to 1981.
In 2012, Tarrant began a travel documentary series, Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railways, with locations including the Congo-Ocean Railway, the Ghan across Australia and the Konkan Railway in India.
In 2012, Tarrant began a travel documentary series, Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railways
But since stepping down from TV he has been focusing on travelling and recently visited Borneo with his partner Jane Bird
His other television credits include Tarrant on TV, a programme which showed clips featuring a number of unusual television programmes from around the world, and Tarrant Lets the Kids Loose.
He also hosted several other game shows including It’s Not What You Know and The Colour of Money.
Tarrant received an OBE in 2004 for his charity work, in particular his campaigning on behalf of disadvantaged children.
