Richard Osman and Julie Ritson on New Year's Honours List
Local broadcaster and camerawoman given awards
Richard Osman (left) and Julie Ritson on an assignment in Kabul (right)
December 30, 2025
Two familiar Chiswick names appear on the New Year Honours list announced this Monday (29 December).
An OBE has been given to the author and television presenter Richard Osman for services to literature and broadcasting. He described himself as ‘absolutely thrilled’ with the honour.
Initially best known as the co-host of the quiz show Pointless in which he has appeared alongside Alexander Armstrong since 2009, he has more recently seen massive success with his Thursday Murder Club series of crime novels, the global rights to which have been secured by Steven Spielberg’s production company.
He has stepped back from Pointless after more that 1,300 episodes over 30 series but still appears on Pointless Celebrities as well as House of Games and his podcast with Marina Hyde, The Rest is Entertainment.
An MBE was given to film editor and camerawoman Julie Ritson for services to journalism. Her 36-year career with the BBC began in 1988 as an Assistant Film Editor before moving to Television Centre, London to work as a News Picture Editor.. She later moved into camera journalism, covering major international stories in conflict zones including Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Gaza and Ukraine, and spent six years posted to the BBC ’s New York and Moscow bureaux before returning to London to work for Newsnight.
This year she shifted to freelance filmmaking and now trains journalists and organisations in professional-standard smartphone filming and editing, while continuing to produce content and maintain a public presence through tutorials and local ‑interest videos. She is recruiting and training the next generation of cameramen and women as well as testing and introducing newer lighter weight cameras which made the role more accessible to all genders of filmmakers and journalists from a variety of different backgrounds. She is known to many people locally for the high-quality pictures she shares of the Chiswick House Dog Show.
Julie said, “I’m extremely proud to be awarded an MBE for services to Journalism in the New Year’s Honours List. And I think I’m right in saying that I’m the first Broadcast News Camerawoman to be honoured in this way. I believe this award is in recognition of the many years I dedicated to UK and foreign News coverage and for training up the next generation of camera crews/editors entering the world of journalism.”
If there are any other people with Chiswick connections in this year’s list who we have not mentioned, please send details to editor@chiswickw4.com.
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