Bradley Walsh reveals plans to retire from The Chase after more than a decade

The series began in 2009

Author: Natalie ReesPublished 16th Jul 2021
Last updated 16th Jul 2021

Bradley Walsh has revealed he is making plans to retire after presenting The Chase for over 10 years.

The 61-year-old has hosted the popular ITV daytime show and it's spin-off series since its inception in 2009, but has admitted he is now preparing to call time on his 40-year career.

Bradley spoke to the Sliding Doors podcast about giving up his quizmaster duties. He said: “You know what, in a couple of years time I won’t have to do any of it, I’ll be retired and that’ll be it.”

The actor, comedian and singer has been a regular on our screens for many years, most recently he presented revived comedy game show Blankety Blank for a one-off special in 2020.

In the past, he has also appeared on shows including Coronation Street, Sunday Night at the Palladium, as a companion in the eleventh and twelfth series of Doctor Who and alongside his son Barney in Bradley Walsh & Son: Breaking Dad.

Bradley also launched his singing career in November 2016, releasing his debut album 'Chasing Dreams', which went on to become the biggest-selling debut album by a British artist that year. His follow-up LP 'When You're Smiling' reached Number 11 in the UK chart.

Bradley admitted that his busy filming schedule doesn’t allow for much time off. He added: "It seems like I’m on your screen all the time only because I cram everything in a certain area of the year. We make 210 Chases, 16 Celebrity Chases, 16 Beat The Chasers. It’s only actually 86 days recording.

“So out of 365 days, you’d imagine I have loads of time off. But once you’ve got your bedrock of shows set in, that allows you then to go off and do other things.

"I don’t actually have time off, I have meetings, I have personal appearances I have to make and stuff like that with other things I’ve got going on, so it’s quite tricky to juggle it about.”

Bradley is set to host new BBC game show Take Off alongside Holly Willoughby and appear in The Larkins, a remake of ITV’s Darling Buds of May.

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