Richard Osman explains why J K Rowling is 'culturally important' 

Richard Osman has praised J K Rowling for getting people 'to sit down and read', and says he hopes his own huge literary success - and the money that's pouring in from a quartet of bestsellers - won't spark jealousy from his peers. 

The former Pointless presenter has seen the four fiction books he's written so far, including The Thursday Murder Club, which has been turned into a film directed by Steven Spielberg, and his latest release, We Solve Murders, propel him to global fame with book lovers. 

Speaking to The Times this week, the TV man turned author said he wanted to encourage other writers and denied that his fellow authors are jealous of his huge commercial achievements. 

Referencing the Harry Potter series, which has gone on to spawn a film franchise, theme parks and merchandise, he said the books' now controversial author had succeeded in making people fall in love with literature, saying: 'I know it is the old JK Rowling argument but it is important culturally to get people to sit down and read 300 pages and she has done that.'

Rowling has become a prominent campaigner to protect what she describes as women's rights - fuelled by her own experiences of domestic abuse - in the face of pro-trans causes, prompting many of those who starred in the Harry Potter films to publicly distance themselves from her views.   

The former TV exec, who was once a creative director for Endemol and is most well known for his role alongside Alexander Armstrong on BBC 1 quiz Pointless, added that he hoped the success of his quartet of books would only make the path easier for current and aspiring authors.  

He said: 'I hope that a rising tide raises all ships and so for people who go and buy We Solve Murders. I hope that I give enough recommendations for other writers, debut authors and stuff like that.'

The writer, who's married to British actress Ingrid Oliver, said the financial gains of such huge literary success wasn't his reason for writing his books, saying: 'That is not me thinking how can I make the most money out of this. I am doing it to try and spread the greatest joy over the greatest number.'

Iconic Hollywood director Steven Spielberg picked up the rights to adapt The Thursday Murder Club in 2020, with Helen Mirren playing Elizabeth, Ben Kingsley playing Ibrahim, Pierce Brosnan playing Ron and Celia Imrie taking on the role of Joyce. The film will be released next year. 

Last month, Osman told parents to stop worrying about the hours their children spend playing video games or are glued to smart phones because they are learning valuable skills.

He said screens had become 'the great bogeyman', arguing that they can increase children's knowledge, happiness and even sociability, as well as lead to well-paid careers.

The best-selling author revealed he watched endless TV programmes as a child and drew heavily on his own experience when issuing his impassioned defence of technology.

The 53-year-old, who has two children from his first marriage, said that when he was growing up, his mother – a teacher – saw no problem with him watching so much television because of his fascination with it.

He said the knowledge he gained paved the way for his successful career, including being creative director at Endemol, the production company behind hit TV shows such as Pointless, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Deal Or No Deal. He went on to present programmes including Pointless before becoming a highly successful writer.

Osman said his childhood interests helped him secure a job on a computer games television show after finishing university. He believes today's youngsters could similarly benefit from their time on devices and computers.

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Speaking on the forthcoming episode of the High Performance podcast, Osman said: 'You get parents now with kids who say, 'Oh my God, they spend all their time playing video games or something'. 

'You think, 'Well, how do you mean? Do you mean slack-jawed? Or do you mean they're excited by what's happening and the next one that's coming out, they know who makes it, and they understand why it's different to the previous game, and they understand who's selling what to who?'.

'If they get all of that stuff, then let them play, because they're going to know something that's going to be incredibly commercially useful in ten years' time.'

Osman added: 'And my mum got that, because she was a primary school teacher.

'She understood that, by and large, if a kid is not interested in something, it's not going to end up being their career.

'So if your kid likes something, whether it's science, languages, musicianship, television, video games, just let them do it.'