Jeremy Vine, long-time host of Eggheads, shares uncertainty about the show's future. (Image: David Bagnall / Alamy)

After 20 years on air, quiz show Eggheads had become something of a British TV institution.

The show began life on BBC One way back in 2003, with Dermot Murnaghan at the helm, before making the short journey to BBC Two in 2005, where it remained until 2020, until it was picked up by Channel 5 in 2021.

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The programme features a team of game show champions, known as the Eggheads, who take on a new quiz show team in each episode.

If the Eggheads win, £1,000 is added to the prize fund until they are defeated. A record £75,000 was won in one episode in series eight.

But after airing more than 2,000 episodes and handing out nearly £2 million in prize money - could the Eggheads run be over?

Eggheads Odds-On To Be Shelved

Eggheads is odds-on, at 4/6, to be permanently shelved, after host Jeremy Vine - who has been in the role since 2008 - recently admitted he isn't sure whether the show will return.

Vine told The Sun newspaper: "I haven't heard anything about Eggheads for a while now. I think I have done about 1,200 shows - but whether we are doing any more, I don't know. We last filmed an episode over a year ago."

The final episode of the 24th series aired on April 19, 2023, and a 10th celebrity series then aired from April 20th to April 26th last year, but there has been nothing since.

While Jeremy admitted there are "no immediate plans for anymore" episodes, there is some hope for Eggheads super-fans.

Because the TV presenter also said: "It may well be we are doing it in 30 years' time, who knows."

Slim Hope?

Despite this, Eggheads is 6/4 to return at some point in the future, because surely TV bosses cannot keep such a fantastic bunch of know-it-alls off our screens forever.

It wouldn't be a huge surprise if the show returned, perhaps with a whole new team of super-quizzers.

There have also been 10 celebrity series of Eggheads, so it could just return for some star-studded episodes.

Quiz shows remain a hugely popular part of terrestrial TV, with programmes such as ITV's The Chase - which also features contestants taking on quiz experts - and BBC's Pointless both in their 15th year.

Former Eggheads include Judith Keppel, who was the first £1 million winner of another legendary quiz show - Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

Judith - who scooped the jackpot in 2000 - retired from Eggheads in 2022, but she returned in March 2023 to celebrate the programme's 2,000 episodes.

Hopefully, Eggheads will hit the 3,000-episode mark one day.