Countdown

I have always been a fan of Countdown, but now of late I can not watch it! Countdown is mostly a word and a little of a number game, whereby contestants have to find words out of a certain number of given letters. The number game consists of making up the number with the given numbers. At the end of the show is always the conundrum, whereby the contestants are given a 9 letter word and must find the anagram for it. Each game had a 30 second time limit, which was shown on the big clock. Im sure everybody recognises the tune if they heard it. Countdown was the first ever show to be aired on channel 4 and should not be dragged down as such by the ...  Read the complete review

Since ive lost my job, ive got into a bit of a daytime tv rut where i start watching Jeremy Kyle first thing in the morning and before i know it, im watching Deal or No Deal and its nearly dinner time! Countdown is currently on tv now and i have found myself sitting watching it for the past half an hour. If you have never heard of Countdown, it is a game show made by ITV studios but you can watch it on Channel 4. It is on daily at 3:25pm for 45 minutes and is hosted by Jeff Stelling and Rachel Riley. The programme has been on our screens since November 1982 and is one of the longest running television programmes in the world ...  Read the complete review

Countdown comes on at 3.30 in the afternoon on Mondays to Fridays on Channel 4, It is the only programme that has been on since the channel started back in 1982 and there have been over 50 series. The show was derived from the French version of the game called Des chiffres et des lettres. This french version has been running since 1965. The aim of the game is that you have two contestants. They participate in 11 letters rounds, 3 numbers rounds and the final round wchich is to solve an anagram. The letter rounds are when one of the contestants chooses 9 letters from the pack ( they have to have some vowels and some consonants) and then make up ...  Read the complete review

What do we have this time then, Coutndown, a game show? Yes, a british one too, though actually based on Des chiffres et des lettres, the french counterpart which started some 30 years earlier in 1965. Our version has been going since 1982. Oh, ok... so who's hosting it? Well nowadays it's Jeff Stelling with Rachel Riley as the assistant, but most will remember the Richard Whiteley and Carol Vorderman combination which ceased in 2005 following Richard Whitely's death. Carol Vorderman continued until leaving the show in 2008. Ah, so what's the premise? Well, two contestants do battle in 11 word rounds, with the ...  Read the complete review

Countdown has never been the same since Richard Whiteley died back in 2005. At the time I was really gutted (such a bad description) because he was the right presenter for the job. Surely nobody could match up to his standards. The first episode was aired way back in 1982. I think that makes it 27 years since it began. Not bad for a game show based on spelling and a bit of maths. The concept is a fairly simple one. Two contestants battle against eachother, trying to make a word with the highest amount of letters. Each contestant gets a turn for picking out a total of 9 consonants and vowels. These are hidden from them so they don't ...  Read the complete review