[nwtv2003]

I went to see Countdown in the late Nick Hewer era and even then they struggled to get an audience…most of them were regulars anyway

Dudley Doolittle was a good warm up though!

Unfortunately the low studio numbers was common during the Jeff Stelling era. I went to a recording at Granada Studios and there were barely 30 people in the audience. In one episode in this recording block an audience member guessed the Conundrum and the production team asked a few people to move seats to make it look less empty on camera.

A shame they no longer have a studio audience yes, but utterly understandable. From memory for the afternoon block of recordings they gave you free food and drink also. 

I would also add Dudley was a great a warmup man. You might not recognise his face, but you’ve certainly heard his laugh.