The Countdown Page

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 Studios in Manchester, England, although until the middle of 2009, almost every edition was made in the Yorkshire Television studios at Leeds. The programme is presented by Jeff Stelling and Rachel Riley, with Nick Hewer taking over as host in January 2012. Until July 2005, it was hosted by the late Richard Whiteley. It was presented by Des Lynam from October 2005 to December 2006 and by Des O'Connor from January 2007 to December 2008. Carol Vorderman appeared in almost every edition of the show from November 1982 before leaving at the end of 2008. Apart from breaks during the summer and at Christmas, Countdown is currently aired on Channel 4 from Monday to Friday at 3.10 p.m. with repeats an hour later on Channel 4+1 and two-and-a-half days later at approx. 5 a.m. (also on Channel 4).

Welcome to the Countdown Page, one of the most extensive archives of Countdown results (and certainly the oldest) 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, over twenty-five Countdown Experiences written by former contestants 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.

Countdown's official home on the Web can be found by going to www.channel4.com/programmes/countdown. It's also on Twitter.

And if you wish to practise your word game skills online, either alone or against live opponents, why not give the legendary apterous a try?

Since the last time I wrote, there have been two series of Countdown broadcast, consisting of some 220 programmes. There were also four Countdown Specials recorded during 2011, two of which have been shown with the other two remaining unbroadcast (with Jeff Stelling no longer hosting the show, one wonders if they'll ever now be aired).

The first of the two series, otherwise known as Series 64, started in January and featured five octochamps - in order of appearance, these were Adam Gillard, Edward McCullagh, Ned Pendleton, Andy McGurn and Tom Barnes. Strangely enough, the first two of those were to end up as number one and two seeds respectively and perhaps inevitably they ended up facing each other in the final, which, rather oddly, aired at the very start of June. What may have taken some people by surprise however was that it was Edward who ran out the winner, although the fact that their average scores over eight games were less than a point apart shows how closely matched they were.

Series 65 duly started immediately afterwards and ended up being the longest series since Series 57 took place four years ago. This time there were six octochamps - Graeme Cole, Mark Deeks, Dave Taylor, Carl Williams, Jayne Wisniewski and Paul Keane - and again the highest two seeds of the series were the first two to feature (although on this occasion they were in the opposite order). In early December the six players regrouped along with seven-time winners Nikki Roberts and David Butcher (who unfortunately got well and truly beaten by Mark), but surprisingly it wasn't the top two who made it to the grand final. Having overcome Jayne in the quarter-finals, Carl Williams proceeded to knock out Mark in the semis with a crucial conundrum spot and the stage was set for what could have been a win for the number four seed. The game was a tight one, still tied at the end of Part One and with Carl only four points in front at the end of Part Two. By the end of the final numbers game, it was 95-85 in Graeme's favour, but Carl made the scores even once more by unravelling the 'bye to Jeff' conundrum TIMEUPLAD in a heart-stopping 26 seconds. However, the form book finally came good when Graeme solved the tie-break conundrum in a couple of seconds to become the twelfth person to lift the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy.

As usual, there have been some new guests in Dictionary Corner and this year the debutants were Jonathan Maitland, Debra Stephenson, Mark Durden-Smith, Carol Smillie, Patti Clare, Delia Smith, Jon Culshaw, Michael Vaughan, Robin Cousins, Anneka Rice, Les Dennis and Cheryl Baker. Regular contributors Ken Bruce, Paul Zenon, Phil Hammond, Alastair Stewart all put in appearances as well as more recent favourites such as Tim Vine and John Inverdale. None of the celebrities who have appeared on more than 84 occasions (as Ken Bruce has now done) have been on the show for some time and it will be interesting to see whether any of them ever do so again - perhaps a change of host will mean that they do (Keith Barron is sitting expectantly with 99 shows to his name).

And so, what better time to bring up the subject of the new host, having mentioned it in passing a couple of times already? As everyone must surely now be aware, Jeff Stelling is hanging up his Countdown hat (after a rather spooky 666 shows and 6 Specials) to return full-time to his 'day job' on Sky Sports and is being replaced by Nick Hewer, one of Alan Sugar's two sidekicks on BBC One show The Apprentice. First of all, it's worth saying that Jeff certainly brought a very polished performance to Countdown and also appeared to play along with the games more than any previous host. His sense of humour and banter with Rachel provided another important element (whether you liked his jokes or not!) and by the time it was announced that he was leaving, I was certainly starting to get very used to him as host, having got over my initial reservations based on his sport-based background. So what of the newcomer? Well, he's certainly an interesting choice, having never presented before and not even appeared on many other TV shows, but personally I think that could be a plus and the decision could turn out to be an inspired move. Although some will mourn the loss of Jeff to Countdown, I suspect that Nick may well bring new people to the show, even if most of them might just be curious to see how he gets on, having seen him on The Apprentice. Having seen him in action during some of his first recordings, I would say he's quite a different 'animal' to Jeff and has a very dry sense of humour (although he did attempt at least one pun, so we'll see!), but he's also very well-spoken and highly educated (not that I'm saying Jeff wasn't, of course!); it will also be interesting to see what guests come to the show as a result of his arrival (odds on Lord Sugar or Margaret Mountford, anyone?).

Last time I wrote that there was a project taking place to put full round-by-round details of every Countdown episode on the Web and noted that it was around 70% complete. I must say the speed with which this progressed (largely thanks to James Robinson - but others should take a bow too) took me by surprise and by the middle of the year we had reached the stage where 98% of games are now recorded (although a few of these are incomplete). I'm hoping that we can make further inroads into the gaps in the next twelve months, but for the meantime you can see the progress by visiting the Countdown Wiki and the Countdown Database.

Before I sign off, a brief mention of the Countdown tournaments that have taken place in the past year - COLIN (the original - and some may say the best? - based in Lincoln) took place in January (and does so again in 2012 - see this thread on the C4 Countdown forum for details if you fancy taking part) and was won by Kirk Bevins; COLEI (based in Leicester) took place in April and was won by Jack Hurst; CONOT (based in Nottingham) was held in July and was won by Rob Foster; CO:LON (based in London - note the amusing colon in CO:LON!) was held in October and was won by Matt Bayfield; and finally the inaugural CoChest (based in Chester and replacing the aforementioned COLEI) took place at the end of November and was won by (yes, it's him again!) James Robinson. There should be plenty more events coming up in 2012, including one north of the border - if it comes to fruition - so keep your eyes peeled (or whatever they say in Scotland!).

Well, that just about wraps things up for now. It probably goes without saying that I've updated all the usual bits of the site (but - there - I've said it) and I'm still planning to publish a couple more Countdown Experiences quite soon. Until the next time we cross paths, I wish every one who reads this a Happy New Year and hope you all enjoy Nick Hewer when he bursts onto your screens on Monday 9th January (along with the new title sequence - but the same set as before). And if you'd like to let me know how you think Mr Hewer's doing, please do drop me a line at the usual email address - I'd love to hear from you.

Mike

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The Countdown Page is run by Series 48 contestant Mike Brown and has no official affiliation to either Channel 4 or ITV Studios. Countdown is an Armand Jammot game.

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