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Countdown - Printable Version

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RE: Countdown - Nobby - 28-08-2023

(27-06-2023, 02:25 PM)Jon Wrote:  Countdown’s second longest serving presenter, in a sense.

So, in a sense, who is Countdown's second shortest serving presenter?

RE: Countdown - Steve in Pudsey - 28-08-2023

Depends if you count the one off Catsdown that Katherine Ryan did, and the various stand ins while Colin was ill

RE: Countdown - Nobby - 28-08-2023

I count all of those and more, in a sense.

I count Richard Osman as the shortest serving Countdown presenter after he presented, I think, 2 rounds earlier this year.

I think Kathryn Ryan is probably joint second longest serving as she isn't the only presenter to do 1 episode.

RE: Countdown - Yorksman - 28-08-2023

Here is a full list of people who have hosted Countdown:

1. Richard Whiteley
2. William G Stewart (a one off special – Christmas 1997)
3. Des Lynam
4. Des O’Connor
5. Jeff Stelling
6. Nick Hewer
7. Colin Murray
8. Anne Robinson
9. Trevor McDonald
10. Les Dennis
11. Jenny Éclair
12. Floella Benjamin
13. Richard Coles
14. Moira Stewart


Trevor McDonald did 6 episodes, the black to black special in September 2021 and 5 episodes in November 2022.
Les Dennis did 8 episodes in August 2022 and Jenny Eclair did 4 episodes in August 2022 when Colin had Covid.
Floella Benjamin, Richard Coles and Moira Stewart all did 5 episodes each in November 2022.

As for the Catsdown, Jimmy Carr has hosted every episode bar one (a one-off all women's special hosted by Katherine Ryan in July 2018) and Susie is the only person to have taken part in every episode since it started in 2012.

And, as mentioned Richard Osman hosted for a few rounds during an episode earlier this year, as well as Jeff Stelling returning briefly to the hosting chair last week.

RE: Countdown - all new phil - 28-08-2023

Trevor McDonald was great I thought.

RE: Countdown - kianworld - 21-10-2023

Wink Martindale's YouTube channel posted a US pilot for Countdown from 1990, hosted by Michael Jackson (not that one):

Very funny that they don't even bother with the numbers round but overall it seems like a fine enough American way to do it?

RE: Countdown - Brekkie - 21-10-2023

I don't actually hate that. $25k for a 9 letter word in 1990 seemed very generous though, but think pilots often were.

RE: Countdown - Neil Jones - 21-10-2023

I was quite surprised to hear it used Alan Hawkshaw's music and theme, I was expecting some horrible jazzy/saxophone type thing that they seem to love over there for pretty much everything.

Though it is ironic that Michael Jackson there, according to his Wiki page, was actually born in London hosting a show that's quite popular in the UK that is pretty much what that was based on, though he was primarily a radio personality in the States.

But that is not a bad stab at all for a US version of Countdown I have to say, though I feel that had it gone further than a pilot it would have been tipped over the edge in terms of typical American OTT for every little thing that happens. The clock is counter intuitive, that saga that replaces the numbers round and the whole mini-screens everywhere all seem out but that's only because we're used to our format so... Quite minor issues in the grand scale of things.

RE: Countdown - Brekkie - 21-10-2023

(21-10-2023, 09:30 AM)Neil Jones Wrote:  The clock is counter intuitive.
Well it arguably at least counts down rather than counts up like you could say the Countdown clock does. Interesting they were using a "computerised" version of the dictionary back then.

The host very much reminds me of Bob Monkhouse.

RE: Countdown - JAS84 - 21-10-2023

(21-10-2023, 03:54 AM)kianworld Wrote:  Wink Martindale's YouTube channel posted a US pilot for Countdown from 1990, hosted by Michael Jackson (not that one):

Very funny that they don't even bother with the numbers round but overall it seems like a fine enough American way to do it?
No numbers round? Well, it's obvious why they used the British name then, rather than the actual (French) franchise name which is Letters & Numbers. And I'm not surprised they added prize money either.