Countdown is a UK TV words and numbers game, based on the French original, "Des Chiffres et Des Lettres", and was the first programme broadcast on Channel 4, on November 2nd, 1982. It is produced by ITV Yorkshire in Leeds, England, and is presented by Des O'Connor and Carol Vorderman. Until July 2005, Countdown was hosted by the late Richard Whiteley; from October 2005 to December 2006, it was presented by Des Lynam. It is currently aired on Channel 4 from Monday to Friday at 3.25 p.m., with repeats shown on both the same channel and digital channel More4.
Following Wednesday's announcement that Des O'Connor is to leave the show at the end of the current series, Carol Vorderman has today (Friday 25th) announced, via her agent John Miles, that she too is to quit. This raises the obvious question of who will replace the pair as the hosts of the programme, and could potentially alter the complexion of Countdown completely. Let us again hope that the team at ITV Yorkshire can come up with a combination that will keep the majority of viewers satisfied and continuing to tune in.
** Site updated 20th July!! ** - to read the latest update, please click here.
Please be aware that several pages on this website (including this one) refer to recent editions of Countdown. If you have yet to watch these programmes, and do not wish to know the results, please come back later when you have!
Welcome to the Countdown Page, probably the most extensive archive of Countdown results on the Web.
Apart from the final scores of almost every show, there is much more to explore, including round-by-round details of Grand Finals, a list of series champions in the Hall of Fame, reviews of classic games and the names of all the celebrity guests to have appeared in Dictionary Corner. If your thirst for knowledge is still not satisfied, you will also find links to lots of other Countdown sites.
Contributions for the programme and opinions you wish to direct to the production team should be emailed to the official Countdown email address. For details of how to apply to appear on the programme, please click here. For information on applying for audience tickets, please click here.
If you have any information you would like me to add to this page or if you have any other comments or questions about the site or Countdown, please mail me. Your correspondence is always appreciated, but while I endeavour to read every email I receive, I cannot promise to reply to everyone individually.
If you would like to chat to others about Countdown (or just read their comments), please visit the C4 Countdown forum.
This is the first update for the new series and, remarkably, it has only been a month since Series 59 kicked off. Whether I will manage to maintain any kind of regularity throughout the second half of the year remains to be seen! Anyway, without further ado, on with the motley...
The first four weeks have failed to produce an octochamp, with the number one seed so far being the professional footballer Neil Mackenzie, who has the honour of leading the seedings at present, with 5 wins and 480 points to his name. Three others have managed to accumulate three wins each, namely Lee Simmonds, Patricia Jamieson and Tony Gilgun (with one of his wins being registered at the end of the previous series). We have also had only three centuries thus far - two 104's from Neil and a 100 on the nose from Lee - so I think it's fair to say that we have had a slow start, if high scoring is to be considered a gauge of performance (which to some extent, it has to be) and entertainment (which is not so clear). A longish run of low scores and a lack of octochamps is certainly not without precedent, and I'm sure it won't be long before another Countdown star emerges; maybe things will have changed come the next update to the Page.
In Dictionary Corner, we have had no newcomers yet, and instead have had what I would consider to be a reasonably high-quality start to proceedings, with Ken Bruce, Barry Norman, Lynda Baron and Rick Wakeman all taking their turn - a combination that has a whopping 223 appearances to its name (albeit with Lynda only contributing 10 of them). I'm sure it won't be long before some of the other regulars are back, either, along with the inevitable sprinking of new faces, which amongst others, are rumoured to include Andrew Sachs and Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
On the site, there is a new Countdown Experience for you to enjoy, this time from the pen of Series 55 number one seed Steven Briers, who was unluckily knocked out at the quarter-final stages of the competition. That doesn't prevent him from having an interesting tale to tell, and you can read it now by going here. I have also updated the Links Page after a long hiatus, although there have been surprisingly few changes considering the length of time that has passed - some two years since it was all checked out thoroughly. The biggest changes are, of course, C4 Countdown changing to a phpBB forum and the launch of the Countdown Wiki (both of which have been largely driven by the ubiquitous Charlie Reams), but there have also been other changes, including the addition of two more 'Off The Telly' reviews, another conundrum game (this time from PlayTheShow.com), and a reference to the many Countdown clips on YouTube. We have also seen the loss of QuizPlayers.com, Neil Mitchell's solver and (sadly) Big Mags Fan Homepage, which included 'Leotard Watch', which even got a mention on the show from Richard before his untimely departure.
Naturally, the update wouldn't be complete without me mentioning in time-honoured fashion that all the usual statistics have been amended to take into account recent results, and although I have been able to leave several pages alone this time around (thanks to the slow start alluded to earlier), this has still meant changes to the Dwellers and Lexicographers pages, as well as the launch of the results and seeds pages for the new series.
More additions are planned for the next update, which all being well should appear towards the end of August. In the interim, stay tuned to Channel 4 (or one of its variants) and try to guess who the next octochamp is going to be. John Sergeant returns to the Corner on Monday, and Margaret Taroni attempts to build on her debut score of 90. Don't miss it!
See you soon for more Countdown banter.
Mike
For full round-by-round analysis of every game of the current series (compiled by members of C4 Countdown), visit the Series 59 Recap Index, managed by Charlie Reams, keeper of the ever-expanding Countdown Corral.
Mark Tournoff has now published "Crucial - A Champion's Tale", which tells the story of how he became Series 52 Champion and then went on to be runner-up in the twelfth Championship of Champions contest. The book, which was given to all finalists in the last series of Countdown, contains Mark's recollections of meeting the likes of Richard Whiteley, Carol Vorderman, Des Lynam and Susie Dent, as well as giving an insight into some of the techniques he used when he was on the programme. "Crucial" is priced at just £7.50 and can be ordered from all bookshops, including Amazon. Signed copies can be obtained direct from the author, by sending a cheque for the above amount, together with an address for delivery to:
'Forestdale Publications', 24 Cornwall Court, Wilbury Avenue, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 6GJ. Further details about "Crucial", as well as information on Mark's other books, are available at the
Forestdale Publications website.
Countdown Contestants ITV Yorkshire LEEDS LS3 1JS
(Please include a self-addressed envelope)
Countdown Tickets ITV Yorkshire LEEDS LS3 1JS
You can find a brief description of each section of The Countdown Page on the Countdown Contents Page.
