Countdown (game show)

For other meanings of the term countdown, see Countdown (disambiguation).

Countdown
File:Countdown logo.jpg
Created by	Armand Jammot
Starring	Richard Whiteley (original host, 1982-2005) Des Lynam (2005-) Carol Vorderman (all series) Susie Dent (lexicographer since 1992)
Country of origin	UK
No. of episodes	4,000+
Production
Running time	45 minutes (since 2001) (was 30 minutes, 1982-2001)
Original release
Network	Channel 4
Release	2 November 1982 – present

Countdown is a British game show formerly presented by Richard Whiteley (1982–2005), and currently Des Lynam (2005–), with the assistance of Carol Vorderman and lexicographer Susie Dent, and shown daily on Channel 4. It was the very first programme aired by the station when it was launched on 2 November 1982, and is one of the longest running game shows in the world, with over 4,000 episodes. Production was suspended following the death of Whiteley on 26 June 2005, but on 10 October 2005, filming resumed with Des Lynam as the new host.

History

Origins

Countdown is based on the French game show Des chiffres et des lettres (Digits and Letters). It was originally broadcast in the Yorkshire Television ITV region as Calendar Countdown – Calendar being that region's local news magazine show which was, at the time, fronted by Whiteley. The programme was seen by Cecil Korer, who had been appointed Head of Light Entertainment at the soon-to-be-launched Channel 4. Korer quickly entered into negotiations with the French format owners to bring the show to a wider audience, with the result that Countdown became the first show to be aired on Channel 4 when the station launched at 4.45pm on 2 November 1982. After the death of Whiteley, Sir Jeremy Isaacs, the then head of Channel 4, said that he had been the one to decide to bring over the French programme and had only then learnt of YTV's programme.

Richard Whiteley, presenter from 1982–2005

Presenting team

Originally, Richard was assisted by two "vital statisticians" - Carol Vorderman and Dr Linda Barrett - who checked the mathematical calculations, and two "hostesses" - Kathy Hytner and Beverley Isherwood. This arrangement was much-mocked, with critics quick to point out that having four regulars was surplus to requirements. Isherwood was axed at the end of series 1, and Barrett left at the end of series 3. Hytner remained with the show until 1987, being replaced first by Karen Loughlin and then by Lucy Summers, but neither of these remained with the show for long, so in 1990 Carol Vorderman became the sole hostess, and remains so to this day.

As well as the regular presenters, each episode has a guest from the world of light entertainment in "Dictionary Corner", who provides additional entertainment before the first commercial break of each programme. These entertainments take various forms and have included jokes, show business anecdotes, poems, puzzles and magic tricks.

Timing

For many years the show ran from 4.30-5pm. A major change in the programme's format came in 2001, when it expanded from its traditional 30-minute slot to 45 minutes which meant the programme aired at 4:15pm, two commercial breaks were had instead of one. In 2003, Countdown was shifted to an even earlier time slot of 3:15-4.00, which both Richard and Carol disliked due to the fact that school children and students wouldn't be able to watch what they considered to be an educationally beneficial programme. A running joke was that you could watch it at 4.15 if you emigrated to Spain and had satellite, due to the time difference.

The programme currently airs from 3:30 to 4:15pm, with each programme repeated in the early hours of the morning (usually at around 5.10am, sometimes slightly earlier) about two and a half days later. Probably as a result of its timeslot, the show is most popular amongst the elderly and students, both groups being well represented in the mix of contestants. For digital satellite and cable viewers, they get to have another chance of watching Countdown normally around 12.20pm. It is the first programme of the weekday More4 schedule shown one day later (or three days later if it is aired on Mondays).

From Saturday 7 January 2006, Countdown was extended to broadcast on Saturdays also, possibly due to the success of the Saturday editions of Deal or No Deal. It broadcasts at a different time to the weekday editions, usually from 4:00 to 4:50pm.

Teatime Teaser

In 2001, Countdown introduced the teatime teaser, an eight- (originally seven-) letter anagram similar to the conundrum, set as a puzzle for the viewers over the commercial break (the goal presumably being to minimise channel hopping). Whiteley gave a (often punning) clue to the answer just before the break. Since this was often written for him by the producers, amusement would sometimes stem from Whiteley not understanding the clue himself. A forerunner of the teatime teaser had appeared from 1999 to 2000, when the show was sponsored by healthfoods manufacturer Seven Seas. Their sponsorship bumpers each side of the ad break would feature an anagram in the same fashion as the later "teasers", though this was down to the sponsor and nothing to do with the show itself.

Countdown, like most of the "old guard" of British game shows, is never so much about winning prizes as simply competing (and possibly showing off to the nation how smart you are). The current prize fund tends to be a board game and other assorted items for every contestant (and even this is significantly more generous than the prizes available when the show started) and a full Oxford English Dictionary for the series winner.

Whiteley's banter with the contestants would occasionally sound uncomfortable, sometimes even to foot-in-mouth proportion (such as referring to himself and guest adjudicator Richard Stilgoe as "a pair of Dicks"), however, it became legendary for its pun content. It is still not certain how much of this content was written professionally and how much by Whiteley himself (though the contestant introductions, which invariably ended with multiple puns, are known to have been written by the producers), but this has led to him being described by many as the "Pun King".

From Whiteley to Lynam

In July 2004 it was announced that both Whiteley and Vorderman had extended their contracts to present the show until 2009. When Whiteley fell ill with pneumonia in 2005, guest presenters were drafted in as hosts to fill his spot, however filming with these guest hosts was postponed, and ultimately cancelled, after Whiteley's death in June 2005. The news was shocking for everyone concerned as there had never been a time when anyone involved with the show considered the fact that Whiteley would not recover and return to the show, and Vorderman was devastated by his death. After a meeting that lasted throughout the night following the news, it was decided that, after the cancelling of that day's show, a quarterfinal playoff match, the remaining editions that Whiteley had recorded before falling ill (five in all) would air in tribute, with both semifinals airing on the same day (30 June 2005) and the final as scheduled (1 July 2005). The show then went on an extended hiatus, with a lot of uncertainty regarding if the show would return at all. In July 2005 it was announced by Vorderman [1] that the series would return with a permanent replacement host.

In August 2005, there were rumours that Des Lynam, Noel Edmonds and Paul Merton had been shortlisted for the role of new presenter. Lynam was named as host for the show as of 24 September 2005, and taping for Series 54, an unusually long eight month series, began 10 October 2005, with the show returning to television on 31 October 2005.

2006 changes

Yorkshire Television, now part of the Granada Television group, still makes Countdown for Channel Four. Since the new Granada Productions company structure came into force on 1 November 2004, the show has been credited as a Granada Yorkshire production. Since January 2006 the show has been credited as a Granada Production.

As well as adding a 6th episode, early 2006 runs have featured Carol introducing the Dictionary Corner guests, often using Whiteley-style puns. Criticism of this has been heard, with a Daily Express newspaper article alleging that Carol's ego had grown beyond its status.

Format

In each episode, two contestants compete in a mixture of letters, numbers and conundrum rounds. In the preliminary rounds of each series, the winning contestant stays on to face a new challenger in the next show. If a contestant wins eight times in a row, they become an "octavian" (or "octochamp") and must retire, though their high score means they are almost guaranteed a quarter-final place. Eventually the series shifts into a knock-out mode, with the eight highest-scoring players from the preliminary rounds facing off through three rounds to decide the series champion.

Letters rounds

The letters round

Most of the game's rounds are "letters rounds"; one contestant selects nine letters from two randomly-shuffled piles of vowels and consonants (the distributions of letters in which are designed to roughly reflect that in the English language, in much the same way as Scrabble tiles). The ability to choose between vowel or consonant allows a moderate degree of control for the selecting contestant, though since the rules stipulate a minimum of three vowels and four consonants, there are in fact only two letters over which this control can be exercised. Until 1995, only a minimum of three vowels was stipulated, meaning that a contestant who had built up a lead could then prevent the other player from catching up by choosing an excessive number of vowels. The vast majority of contestants "played fair", but an outbreak of such tactical play led to the imposition of the current rule.

The contestants then have thirty seconds to find the longest word they can using some or all of the letters (with no reuse). Only words in the Oxford Dictionary of English are permitted, the ultimate arbiter being the "guardian of the dictionaries"; this role was originally filled by a number of different lexicographers supplied by the OUP, but in recent years has become synonymous with Susie Dent, who takes only very occasional breaks from the job. As well as ruling on the admissibility or otherwise of words, the lexicographer (assisted by the celebrity guest, who sits next to them) points out any long or particularly interesting words that the contestants missed. As in Scrabble, proper names, hyphenates and abbreviations are not permitted. Where there are variant UK and US spellings of a word, only the UK spelling is permitted. Because the distribution of the letters in the Countdown tile set approximately reflect their frequency in the English language, some words which are made up mostly or entirely of common letters are frequently seen. One of the most famous is "leotards", whose frequent appearance has become a running joke on the show, and has even appeared in the programme's opening titles. (The anagrams "lodestar" and "delators" are also permitted and sometimes offered as alternatives.) Others include "tangelo"/"tangelos" and "goitre"/"goitred", variations on "painter"/"pointer"/"repaint" and the nine-letter anagrams "relations" and "orientals".

Only the contestant who found the longer of the two words scores any points (both score in the event of a tie), the number of points being equal to the number of letters in the word (doubled for the rare nine-letter words).

Numbers rounds

File:Countdown numbers game.jpg

The numbers round. Both contestants have scored five points for getting a solution ten away from the target figure.

For a numbers round, a set of numbers are laid out face-down on a board; the top row always consists of the four "large numbers" 25, 50, 75 and 100, while the other rows are filled with two copies of the numbers 1 to 10. Six numbers are chosen (the ability to choose one or more "from the top" gives the same sort of partial control as the vowel/consonant split in the letters game). The contestants attempt to combine these numbers to reach the three-digit target randomly generated by the resident computer, CECIL (Countdown Electronic Calculator In Leeds), using the basic arithmetical operations of multiplication, division, addition and subtraction (brackets are also allowed, but are rarely explicitly referred to as such).

The established perception is that one large number provides the easiest games (although this is statistically incorrect: two large numbers renders the most solvable games, although whether the solutions are more easily found is debatable), meaning that some contestants who feel they are strong at the numbers will choose a combination in which it is more likely that they will outscore their opponent. Four large numbers is a popular aggressive choice (notably used by 15-year-old Jon O'Neill, whose performances in 2005 earnt national newspaper coverage), while six small numbers is seen as providing the highest chance of a puzzle not being solvable to within 10, so it is sometimes used as a 'spoiling' tactic by players who are not confident with numbers - although some players have made ground up by using it.

Ten points are scored for an exact solution, seven for being within five of the target number in either direction, five for a response within ten of the target, and none otherwise. Similarly to the letters rounds, if one contestant is closer than the other, only that contestant scores. These rounds highlight Vorderman's famous prowess at mental arithmetic, since it falls to her to provide a solution if both contestants fail. The three-digit target is chosen at random and it is often impossible to reach it, therefore it's not surprising that even Vorderman is occasionally stumped.

Conundrum

The final round of each show is the "Countdown Conundrum" – a scrambled nine-letter word is revealed, and ten points go to the first contestant to buzz in and correctly identify it (with, as in all the other rounds, a thirty second time limit). Players are allowed only one attempt each to answer, so if an incorrect answer is given, the other player has all the remaining time to themselves. Whiteley would often refer to this round as a "crucial Countdown Conundrum" in situations where the ten points could be decisive. A recent addition is that now, in the event of a "crucial Countdown Conundrum" the studio lights are dimmed to add to the atmosphere. During any game between series 1 and 21, a dead heat would lead to a re-match the following day, however now an additional conundrum is used to break the tie.

The clock

The centrepiece of the Countdown set is a large 2m high analogue clock situated between the two contestants. The clock has only a second hand, which counts down the time allotted in each round, with lights illuminating in a trail behind the hand as time progresses. Accompanying the clock are the famous Countdown "Chimes", a 30-second jingle composed by Alan Hawkshaw that plays while the contestants think (the last three seconds or so of this music has a similar place in British popular culture to the Jeopardy! "think" music in American culture). The clock is stopped by a player buzzing to answer the Conundrum, and then continuing on if their answer is incorrect. The fact that all rounds have a time limit of only thirty seconds means that during the game, the left-hand side of the clock face is never used (although television viewers have rarely ever seen the clock being reset between rounds, so are left to ponder which half of the clock face this is done on - for the record, the clock lights quickly fade off after 3 seconds, and then the hand continues at an increased speed in a clockwise direction to return to the 12 o'clock position). The left hand side of the clock does not have any bulbs underneath and never has, to this day, been illuminated.

During practice rounds before filming initial episodes of Series 54 (2005), new host Des Lynam had to learn that he had to start the clock during the game, having reportedly been heard saying that had he still been at the BBC, he'd have had 12 engineers doing it for him.

For the original pilot programme, the format specified 45 seconds for each round (as in the original French version Des Chiffres et des Lettres), however, it very quickly became obvious that this seemed to take an age to pass in the studio, as well as causing the show to drag somewhat. The decision was made immediately after the show that the final format would cut this to the now-familiar 30 seconds.

Order of rounds

In the original 30-minute format, the rounds were arranged as follows:

• 3 Letters Rounds
• 1 Numbers
• Break
• 3 Letters
• 1 Numbers
• Conundrum

At this time, Grand Finals were special extended 45-minute editions, with the format:

• 2 Letters
• 1 Numbers
• 2 Letters
• 1 Numbers
• Conundrum
• Break
• 2 Letters
• 1 Numbers
• 2 Letters
• 1 Numbers
• Conundrum

The current 45-minute format runs:

• 4 Letters
• 1 Numbers
• Break
• 4 Letters
• 1 Numbers
• Break
• 3 Letters
• 1 Numbers
• Conundrum

with no change for Grand Finals.

Champions

The Champion of Champions is a mini-series usually comprising the eight most successful contestants of the past few years.

Year	Series	Winner
1982	1	Joyce Cansfield
1983	2	Ash Haji
	3	Andrew Guy
1984	4	Brian Hudson
	Champion of Champions I: Mark Nyman
	5	Peter Evans
1985	6	Darryl Francis
	7	Ian Bebbington
1986	8	Clive Spate
	Champion of Champions II: Clive Freedman
	9	David Trace
	10	Harvey Freeman
1987	11	John Clarke
	12	Stephen Balment
	Champion of Champions III: Harvey Freeman
	13	Hilary Hopper
	14	Nic Brown
1988	15	Dick Green
	16	Tony Vick
1989	Champion of Champions IV: Nic Brown
	17	Lawrence Pearse
	18	Rajaretnam Yogasagarar ("Yoga")
1990	19	Michael Wareham
	20	Liz Barber
1991	Champion of Champions V: Tim Morrissey
	21	Barry Grossman
	22	Chris Waddington
1992	23	Gareth Williams
	24	Wayne Summers
1993	Champion of Champions VI: Wayne Summers
	25	Don Reid
	26	Andy Bodle
1994	27	David Elias
	28	Damian Eadie
1995	Champion of Champions VII: Don Reid
	29	Darren Shacklady
	30	Verity Joubert
1996	31	David Acton
	32	Alan Sinclair
	Champion of Champions VIII: Chris Rogers
	Supreme Champion: Harvey Freeman
1997	34	Huw Morgan
	35	Peter Cashmore
	36	Tony Baylis
	37	Ray McPhie
1998	Champion of Champions IX: Natascha Kearsey
	38	John Ashmore
	39	Kate Ogilvie
1999	40	Terence English
	41	Scott Mearns
	Champion of Champions X: Scott Mearns
2000	42	Michael Calder
	43	Graham Nash
2001	44	Stuart Wood
	45	John Rawnsley
	46	Ben Wilson
2002	47	Chris Wills
	48	Julian Fell
2003	Champion of Champions XI: Graham Nash
	49	John Davies
	50	Chris Cummins
2004	51	Stewart Holden
	52	Mark Tournoff
2005	53	John Mayhew
	54	In progress – ending May 2006

Countdown in popular culture

• Countdown is watched by the protagonist Will Freeman in the film About A Boy.
• Countdown is mentioned in the Doctor Who episode "Bad Wolf" (originally broadcast on BBC One on June 11, 2005) by Big Brother housemate Lynda. She explains to the Doctor that contestants got 30 seconds to stop a bomb from going off.
• A clip of Richard Whiteley introducing the Countdown Conundrum is heard at the start of the track "Stoned to Say the Least" on Saint Etienne's debut album Foxbase Alpha.

Rude words

Due to the random way in which letters are chosen in the letters round, it is inevitable that rude words feature in the show. Rude words are rarely spelled out when the letters are chosen because most contestants select vowels and consonants in an order to prevent this from happening. However the letters 'FART' have been selected in that order on at least one occasion.

A more problematic situation for the show is when a highly offensive word can be made from the letters selected. Due to the timeslot in which the programme is broadcast the makers of the show deem certain words too offensive to be shown. If a contestant submits an offensive word in a round, other letters are put up on the board and that contestant is given another word of the same length to submit, so that the score is not affected.

On one occasion in 2001 a contestant found the word 'orgasmed' from the selection of letters ADIRGOMES . Surprisingly this was not cut from the show and the incident featured in the press and other media soon afterwards. In particular a photograph of Carol Vorderman standing in front of letters spelling out "I Orgasmed" was printed in a number of tabloid newspapers. The most notorious "rude" word to have been found on countdown was 'wankers', which was found by both contestants and dictionary corner guest Gyles Brandreth during a Champion of Champions match in 1991. This incident was not broadcast on the show, though the word has since been both found and broadcast by other contestants, and the clip has featured many times on out-takes shows.

External links

• Countdown at Channel 4
• "The Countdown Page" by series 48 contestant Mike Brown
• The c4countdown Yahoo! group popular forum dedicated to the show
• The Countdown Corral, round-by-round details of every game from the last two years
• UK Gameshows Page: Countdown
• Countdown Number Solver for Windows 95 and above
• Flash conundrum game
• A fan Page by Dan Smith, a countdown viewer