Countdown (game show)

2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Television

Countdown
Genre	Game show
Created by	Armand Jammot
Presented by	Des O'Connor Carol Vorderman
Starring	Susie Dent
Theme music composer	Alan Hawkshaw
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	British English
No. of series	56
No. of episodes	4376 as of June 2007
Production
Producer(s)	Yorkshire Television Granada Productions Michael Wylie Damian Eadie
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	36 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Channel 4
Picture format	PAL ( 576i)
Original run	November 2, 1982 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Countdown is a British game show presented by Des O'Connor and Carol Vorderman. It was the first programme aired on Channel 4, and over fifty series have been broadcast since its debut on 2 November 1982. With over 4,000 episodes, it is one of the longest-running game shows in the world. The programme was presented by Richard Whiteley for over twenty years, until his death in 2005. His position was taken over by Des Lynam, who retired from the show on December 22, 2006 and was replaced by Des O'Connor on January 2, 2007. A celebrity guest features in every programme, and provides a brief interlude before the first advertisement break.

The two contestants in each episode compete in three disciplines: eleven letters rounds, in which the contestants attempt to make the longest word from nine randomly chosen letters; three numbers rounds, in which the contestants must use arithmetic to make a random target number from six other numbers; and the conundrum, a buzzer round in which the contestants try to be first to solve a nine-letter anagram. During the series heats, the winning contestant returns the next day until he or she has accumulated eight wins. The best contestants are invited back for the series finals, which are decided in knockout format. Contestants of exceptional skill have received national media coverage, and the programme as a whole is widely recognised and parodied within British culture.

History

Origins

Countdown is based on the French game show Des chiffres et des lettres (Numbers and Letters), created by Armand Jammot. The format was brought to Britain by Marcel Stellman, a Belgian record executive, who had watched the French show and believed it could be popular overseas. Yorkshire Television purchased the format and commissioned a series of eight shows under the title Calendar Countdown, which were to be part of their regional news programme Calendar. As the presenter of Calendar, Richard Whiteley was the natural choice to present Calendar Countdown - his daily appearances on both shows earned him the nickname "Twice Nightly". These shows were only broadcast in the Yorkshire area.

An additional pilot episode was made, with a refined format, although it was never broadcast. A new British television channel, Channel 4, was due to launch in November 1982, and bought the newly-renamed Countdown on the strength of this additional episode. Countdown was the first programme to be broadcast on the new channel.

Presenters

Calendar Countdown was presented by Richard Whiteley, with Cathy Hytner and Denise McFarland-Cruickshanks managing the numbers and letters rounds respectively. When Countdown was commissioned for Channel 4 the number of hostesses expanded further: Cathy Hytner and Beverley Isherwood selected the letters and numbers tiles respectively, and calculations in the numbers rounds were checked by Linda Barrett or Carol Vorderman. Vorderman, a Cambridge graduate and member of Mensa, was appointed as one of the numbers experts after responding to an advertisement in a national newspaper which asked for a young woman who would like to become a game show hostess; unlike almost any other game show hostess of the time, however, the advertisement also made it clear that the applicants' appearance would be less important than their being a talented mathematician.

Gradually the tasks performed by the extra presenters were taken over by Carol Vorderman, whose role within the show is now essentially that of co-presenter. The show was briefly taken off air following Whiteley's death in June 2005, but reappeared in October 2005 with Des Lynam as presenter. On September 30, 2006, Lynam admitted that he had decided to leave the programme after Christmas 2006. Lynam's departure was due to travel requirements for the demanding filming schedule, with the show recorded in Leeds and Lynam living 250 miles away in Worthing, West Sussex. Channel 4 had tried an extra programme on Saturday in early 2006 which Lynam had agreed to, subject to part of the filming schedule being moved nearer to his home. However, viewers reacted angrily to the idea of the show leaving Leeds and, when Lynam found out that a move would cause considerable disruption for many of the programme's camera crew, he decided to leave. On 7 November 2006, it was announced that Des O'Connor would succeed Lynam as host. Lynam's final show as Countdown presenter was broadcast on December 22, 2006.

Diagram of the Countdown studio illustrating the position of:
1 - Carol Vorderman;
2 - Lexicographer;
3 - the celebrity guest;
4 - the champion;
5 - the challenger;
6 - Des O'Connor

The other studio mainstay is Dictionary Corner, which houses a lexicographer and that week's celebrity guest. Initially farmer & broadcaster Ted Moult was on hand for verification. The role of the lexicographer is to verify the words offered by the contestants (see Letters round rules) and relay any longer or otherwise interesting words available. The lexicographer is aided in finding these words by the show's producers, currently Michael Wylie and Damian Eadie. Many lexicographers have appeared over the years, but since her debut in 1992, Susie Dent has become synonymous with the role, and has now made over a thousand appearances. The celebrity guest, sometimes known as the "Dictionary Dweller", also contributes words, and provides a short interlude at the end of the first section of the show. Dwellers have included Jo Brand, Martin Jarvis, Geoffrey Durham, Gyles Brandreth and John Sergeant providing poems, anecdotes, puzzles and magic tricks.

Character

Countdown quickly established cult status within British television -- an image which it maintains today, despite numerous changes of rules and personnel. The programme's audience comprises mainly students, housewives and pensioners, due to the "teatime" broadcast slot and inclusive appeal of its format and presentation. Countdown has been one of Channel 4's most-watched programmes for over twenty years, but has never won a major television award. In its mid-afternoon broadcast slot, the show draws about 1.7 million viewers every day — around half a million fewer than with Richard Whiteley presenting — and the Series 54 final, on 26 May 2006, attracted 2.5 million viewers. Up to 2 million viewers had watched the show daily in its previous 4.15pm slot. The drop in viewers following the scheduling change, coupled with the show's perceived educational benefits, even caused Labour MP Jonathan Shaw to table a motion in the UK Parliament, requesting that the show be returned to its later time. Minor scheduling changes have subsequently seen the show move from 3.15 to 3.30 to 3.25.

A Countdown teapot is awarded to any contestant who wins a game.

In keeping with the show's friendly nature, contestants compete not for money but the Countdown winner's teapot, which is custom-made and can only be obtained by winning a game on the programme. The prize for the series winner is a leather-bound copy of the twenty-volume Oxford English Dictionary, worth GB£4,000. However Series 31 winner David Acton refused this prize on account of his strict veganism, instead opting for a CD-ROM version of the dictionaries and donating the monetary difference to charity.

The studio before the start of the game

Though the style and colour scheme of the set has changed many times, the clock has always provided the centrepiece and, like the clock music composed by Alan Hawkshaw, is an enduring and well-recognised feature of Countdown. Executive producer John Meade once commissioned Hawkshaw to revise the music for extra intensity; after hundreds of complaints from viewers, the old tune was reinstated.

Format

Countdown has occupied a tea-time broadcast slot since its inception. Currently an episode lasts around 45 minutes including advertising breaks. During the normal series, the winner of each game returns for the next day's show. If a player wins eight games, he is declared an "octochamp" and retires until the series finals. At the end of the series, the eight players with most wins (or the highest total score in the event of a tie) are invited back to compete in the series finals. They are seeded in a knockout tournament, with the first seed playing the eighth seed, the second playing the seventh, and so on. The winner of this knockout, which culminates in the Grand Final, becomes the series champion. Each series lasts around six months, with about 125 episodes.

Approximately every four series, a Champion of Champions tournament takes place. For this, sixteen of the best players to have appeared since the previous Championship are invited back for another knockout tournament. The producer, former contestant Damian Eadie, decides which players to include, but typically the tournament includes the series winners and other note-worthy contestants. Series 33 was designated a "Supreme Championship", in which 56 of the best contestants from all the previous series returned for another knockout tournament. Series 10 champion Harvey Freeman was declared Supreme Champion after beating Allan Saldanha in the final. There are also occasional special episodes, in which past contestants return for themed matches. For example, David Acton and Kenneth Michie returned for a rematch of their Series 31 final, while brothers and former contestants Sanjay and Sandeep Mazumder played off against each other on 20 December, 2004.

The game is split into three sections, separated by advertising breaks. The first two sections each contain four letters rounds and a numbers round, while the last section has three letters rounds, a numbers round and a final "Conundrum". At the end of the first two sections, O'Connor poses an anagram with a cryptic clue for the viewers at home, called the Teatime Teaser - the solution is revealed at the start of the next section. When the Teatime Teaser was first introduced, the anagrams were seven letters long, but have since been extended to eight.

Letters round

Letter tiles are arranged face-down into two piles; one all consonants, the other vowels. The contestant chooses a pile, and Vorderman reveals the top tile from that pile and places it on the board. A selection of nine tiles is generated in this way, and must contain at least three vowels and four consonants. Then, the clock is started and both contestants have thirty seconds to come up with the longest word they can make from the available letters. Each letter may be used only as often as it appears in the selection. The frequencies of the letters within each pile are weighted according to their frequency in natural English, in the same manner as Scrabble. For example, there are many Ns and Rs in the consonant pile, but only one Q.

Contestants write down the words they have found during the round, in case they have the same one. After the thirty seconds is up, the players declare the length of their chosen word, with the player who selected the letters declaring first. If either player has not written their word down in time, he or she must declare this also. The words are then revealed. If either player has not written their word down, that is revealed first; otherwise, the shorter word is shown first. Only the contestant with the longer word scores points; both score in the event of a tie. One point is scored per letter, except for nine-lettered words, which score eighteen points. If a contestant offers an invalid word then they score no points, if the second player reveals the same word as the first, this must be proved by showing the word to either the host or celebrity guest - whoever is closest. Finally, Dictionary Corner reveals the best word they could find from the selection, aided by the production team.

Any word which appears in the Oxford Dictionary of English is allowable, as well as some inflections. Standard inflections of nouns and verbs - for example, escapes, escaped and escaping - are accepted though not explicitly stated in the dictionary. Comparative and superlative forms of monosyllabic adjectives - for example, greater and greatest - are valid although these too are not explicitly stated. For longer adjectives, the inflections must be stated explicitly. However, some words given in the dictionary are not permitted: proper nouns (Kurdistan), hyphenated words (re-embark), some plurals of mass noun (mankinds), and words that occur only in combination - for example, mistle is invalid as it is used only in mistle thrush. Also, only British spelling is permitted - American spellings and inflections, such as flavor and signaled, are invalid.

Example:

Contestant One chooses five consonants, then three vowels, then another consonant.

Selection is:

G Y H D N O E U R.

Contestant One declares 7, while Contestant Two declares 8.

Contestant One reveals younger, but Contestant Two has hydrogen and scores eight points. Contestant One receives no points for this round.

Dictionary Corner note greyhound, which would have scored eighteen points, since nine letter words score double.

Numbers round

One contestant selects six of twenty-four shuffled tiles. The tiles are arranged into two groups: four "large numbers" (25, 50, 75 and 100) and the remainder "small numbers", which comprise two each of the numbers 1 to 10. The contestant dictates how many large numbers are in the selection; anywhere from none to all four. A random three-digit target is generated by an electronic machine, affectionately known as "CECIL" (which stands for Countdown Electronic Calculator In Leeds). The contestants then have thirty seconds to get as near to the target as possible by combining the six numbers selected with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Numbers can be used as many times as they appear in the selection, and need not all be used. Decimals and fractions are not allowed - only integers may be used at any stage of the calculation.

Points are awarded for the closest solution, and again both contestants score if the solutions are equally close. 10 points are given for an exact answer, 7 points for a non-exact solution up to 5 from the target, and 5 points for a solution between 6 and 10 from the target. If neither contestant can get within 10, no points are awarded.

Example:

Contestant One requests two large numbers and four small numbers.

Selection is:

75, 50, 2, 3, 8, 7.

Randomly generated target is:

812.

Contestant One declares 813, while Contestant Two declares 815.

Contestant One is closer and so reveals: 75 + 50 - 8 = 117. 117 × 7 - (3 × 2) = 813, which scores seven points.

Carol Vorderman notes: 50 + 8 = 58. 7 × 2 × 58 = 812, which would have scored ten points.

For some games, there are many ways to reach the target exactly. However not all games are solvable, and for some selections it is impossible even to get within 10. There is a tactical element in selecting how many large numbers to include. One large and five small numbers is the most popular selection, despite two large numbers giving the best chance of the game being solvable exactly. Selections with zero or four large numbers are generally considered the hardest.

Conundrum

The final round of the game is the "Countdown Conundrum". A board revolves to reveal the "conundrum" - a nine-lettered anagram, usually arranged into the form of two condensed words (see example). The contestants have thirty seconds to find the word. The first contestant to buzz with the correct answer is awarded ten points, but each contestant may guess only once. If neither contestant guesses correctly, the presenter asks if anyone in the audience knows the word, and if so, chooses someone to shout it out. Once a contestant guesses correctly or the time expires, a second board rotates to reveal the answer. Each conundrum is designed to have only one solution but if, unintentionally, the conundrum has two answers (e.g. CARTHORSE and ORCHESTRA) then either is accepted.

A "crucial Countdown conundrum" occurs if, before the conundrum, the leading contestant is ahead by ten points or fewer. The studio lights are dimmed and the first contestant to answer correctly wins the game. If the scores are level after the conundrum, additional conundrums are used until the match is decided.

Example:

Conundrum is revealed:

C H I N A L U N G.

Contestant One buzzes, and says launching, which scores 10 points.

Evolution

The rules of Countdown are derived from those of Des chiffres et des lettres. Perhaps the biggest difference is the length of the round; DCedL's rounds are each 45 seconds long to Countdown's 30. Also, DCedL has a standard letters round as its final round, so there is no analogue to Countdown's Conundrum finale. However DCedL has an alternative two rounds, called "duels", in which players compete to solve a mental arithmetic problem, extract two themed words, or spell a rare word. Other minor discrepancies include a different numbers scoring system (9 points for an exact solution, or 6 points for the closest inexact solution in DCedL) and the proportion of letters to numbers rounds (11 to 3 in Countdown, 8 to 4 in DCedL).

The pilot episode followed significantly different rules to the current ones. Most noticeably, only eight letters were selected for each letters round. If two contestants offered a word of the same length, or an equally close solution to a numbers game, then only the contestant who made the selection for that round was awarded points. Also, only five points were given for an exact numbers solution, three for a solution within 5, and one point for the closer solution, no matter how far away.

Until the end of Series 21, if the two contestants had equal scores after the first conundrum, the match was considered a draw and they both returned for the next show. A significant change in the format occurred in September 2001, when the show was expanded from nine rounds and 30 minutes to the current fifteen rounds and 45 minutes. The older format was split into two halves, each having three letters and one numbers game, with the conundrum at the end of the second half. When the format was expanded to fifteen rounds, Richard Whiteley jokingly continued to refer to the three segments of the show as "halves". Under the old format, Grand Finals were specially extended shows of fourteen rounds, but now all shows follow the same format.

The rules regarding which words are permitted have changed with time. American spelling was allowed until 2002, and more unspecified inflections were assumed to be valid.

In September 2007 a new feature was added to the show, in which during a brief pause in the game Susie Dent explains the origin of a word or phrase which she has been researching. However, this feature has not appeared since Dent went on maternity leave in late October 2007.

25th Anniversary Celebrations

The first episode of Countdown was repeated on 1 October 2007 on More4 and on 2 November 2007 on Channel 4, as part of Channel 4 at 25, a season of celebratory Channel 4 programmes as it celebrated its 25th birthday.

On 2 November 2007, Countdown celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary and aired a special 'birthday episode'. The two players were 2006 winner Conor Travers and 2002 winner Chris Wills. However, for the rounds, VIP guests selected the letters and numbers. Guests included Gordon Brown, Amir Khan and Lord Attenborough.

Notable contestants

Since Countdown's debut in 1982, there have been over 4,000 televised games and 54 complete series. There have also been twelve Champion of Champions tournaments, with the most recent in June 2006.

Several of Countdown's most successful contestants have received national media coverage. Teenager Julian Fell set a record score of 146 in December 2002. More recently, fourteen-year-old Conor Travers became the youngest series champion in the show's history, gaining wide newspaper interest. At eight years old, Tanmay Dixit was one of the youngest players ever to appear on the show when he achieved two wins in March 2005. He also received press attention for his offerings in the letters round, which included fannies and farted. A couple of former contestants have returned to Countdown as part of the production team: Mark Nyman (as producer, and occasional lexicographer in Dictionary Corner) and Damien Eadie (the current series producer).

In 1998, sixteen celebrities were invited to play Celebrity Countdown, a series of eight games broadcast every Thursday evening over the course of eight weeks. The celebrities included Whiteley's successor Des Lynam, who defeated Siân Lloyd. The highest and lowest scores were posted in the same game when Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall defeated Jilly Goolden 47-9.

Richard Whiteley and Carol Vorderman competed in another special episode on Christmas Day 1997. For this game, the presenter's chair was taken by William G. Stewart, the host of fellow Channel 4 game show Fifteen to One. Susie Dent took over Vorderman's duties, and Mark Nyman occupied Dictionary Corner. The game was close-fought, and decided only by the crucial Countdown conundrum mistletoe which Vorderman solved in two seconds.

In popular culture

Countdown is often referenced and parodied in British culture. In the 2002 film About a Boy, protagonist Will Freeman is a regular viewer of Countdown. The programme is mentioned in an episode of British sitcom Father Ted entitled " The Old Grey Whistle Theft," Still Game (in the episode "Kill Wullie") and is also referenced in the very first episode of Little Britain from 2003. BBC impression sketch show, Dead Ringers, parodies Countdown numerous times, and another television programme, The Big Breakfast, parodied Countdown in a feature called "Countdown Under". Comedy show A Bit of Fry and Laurie further lampooned Countdown in a sketch entitled Countdown to Hell. Fry played Richard Whiteley, while Gyles Brandreth got the word sloblock — an anagram of bollocks. The show also has a fleeting reference in British sitcom The Office when Chris 'Finchy' Finch attempts to insult student temporary worker Ricky when he explains he had a job when he was thirteen. Finchy states was it 'professor in charge of watching Countdown everyday'. Commenting on its student audience, and referring to the fact anyone watching Countdown during its 'hometime' time slot can't be out at work.

Countdown has also generated a number of popular outtakes, with the letters producing the occasional word that was deemed unsuitable for the original broadcast. A round in which Dictionary Corner offered the word gobshite featured in TV's Finest Failures in 2001, and in one episode, contestants Gino Corr and Lawrence Pearse both declared the word wankers. This was edited out of the programme but has since appeared on many outtakes shows. Other incidents with only marginally rude words (including wanker, singular) have made it into the programme as they appeared, such as those with Tanmay Dixit referenced above, and a clip from a 2001 episode in which the word fart appeared on the letters board, which also featured on 100 Greatest TV Moments from Hell.

The format of the show has been parodied on Have I Got News for You. In 1999, when Richard was a guest, the numbers game was copied along with the famous clock music and at the end of the show was a conundrum, the conundrum was "PHANIOILS", to which the answer was IAN HISLOP. In 2004, when Carol was a guest one of the usual rounds was replaced with a conundrum round based on the week's news. When Carol hosted the show in 2006, one of the rounds was the "Spinning Conundrum Numbers Round", altering the "Spinning Headlines" round, by adding a number to a picture relating to the week's news, then at the end of the round the 6 numbers from the picture were used for a numbers game.

The Doctor Who episode " Bad Wolf" (2005) mentions a futuristic version of Countdown, in which the goal is to stop a bomb from exploding in 30 seconds. It was referenced again in a later series in " Last of the Time Lords" (2007), where Professor Docherty expresses a keen fondness for the show.

Richard Whiteley was the victim of a practical joke while presenting the show. The contestants and rounds had been planted as part of a "Gotcha!", a regular prank feature on the light entertainment show Noel's House Party. Whiteley did not uncover the joke until House Party presenter Noel Edmonds appeared on the set at the end of the programme.