One of the original members of the TV quiz show Eggheads has announced they are retiring from the programme.

Judith Keppel, who joined the programme in 2003, has said she will will not return when Eggheads starts its 24th series on Channel 5 on Monday (October 10).

She told the PA news agency on retiring from Eggheads: “I love doing it, but I have done it for 19 years and my memory is definitely not what it was.”

Keppel, 80, first came to fame as the first UK winner of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in 2000 before going on Eggheads.

The programme involves teams of contestants trying to beat a panel of specialist quizzers in a test of their general knowledge.

The Northern Echo: Judith Keppel will not be coming back for the 24th series of Eggheads (Channel 5/PA)Judith Keppel will not be coming back for the 24th series of Eggheads (Channel 5/PA) (Image: Channel 5/PA)

The programme began in 2003, airing on the BBC originally and moving to Channel 5 in 2021, with current host Jeremy Vine joining the programme in 2008.

Speaking on leaving Eggheads, Keppel said it had been a "difficult decision" but thought it "was time to go" as she noticed she can't "learn as well" as she used to.

Keppel added that it had been "great fun", saying: “Because it’s a game, we all get on very well. I love all the behind-the-scenes stuff, and make-up and wardrobe and all that. I mean, it’s just great fun, the whole thing, it’s been great fun.”

Asked what she will miss most about Eggheads, she said: “I think what I’ll funnily enough miss is having to concentrate.

“Because it was very good for me in that I started reading the papers, concentrating hard. Now, of course, I cast away any sports pages there are, don’t have to do that, don’t have to read about pop music or anything like that.

“So I’m going to get very out of touch with kind of popular stuff, I think.

“And I probably won’t concentrate like I used to.”

Her fellow Eggheads panellist Kevin Ashman, who has been a fixture on the show since 2003, said: “We’ll miss Judith terribly.

“She brought a real touch of class to proceedings… I remember one team coming to set and they had a spreadsheet of our strengths and weaknesses.

“Judith they had identified as good at history, arts, books, as you’d expect, but they’d also put her down for ‘posh stuff’ whatever that category covers.”

Eggheads returns to Channel 5 on October 10 at 6.30pm.