The Generation Game host Jim Davidson is to step down from the British game show after seven years, it was announced on Thursday. He is scheduled to star in a major new BBC sitcom after he presents his final slot next month.
Jim, who is the show’s longest-running host, says he thinks he has taken the programme as far as it can go. “To be fair it reached its peak a couple of years ago and if I keep doing it there aren’t so many places to go with it,” he says.
“It’s like saying goodbye to one of your children – it’s tough,” he admitted. “But I had to make a decision. I was offered a sitcom written by Carla Lane and it’s not something I could let slip through my fingers.”
The Saturday night staple has graced British screens for 30 years – fronted at various times by other key funnymen Larry Greyson and Bruce Forsyth – but in recent months has lost out to the more modern format of Pop Idol.
“Jim has done a terrific job on The Generation Game and I’m sure he will continue to delight viewers with his new ideas for the channel. He will be a hard act to follow,” said BBC1 Controller Lorraine Heggessy.
The veteran memory-based game show will not disappear completely, however. A source at the Beeb says it is likely to return but with a new, slightly younger face at the helm.
Meanwhile, Jim will follow up his current 49-date sell-out tour with a special BBC1 programme to mark the end of the Falklands War 20 years ago.
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