īy 1982, after an additional pilot episode was made with a refined format – an episode that was never broadcast - the gameshow was bought up by Channel 4, a new British television channel set to launch in November 1982, based on the refined concept. He was assisted by Cathy Hytner and Denise McFarland-Cruickshanks, who handled the letters and numbers rounds respectively. The spin-off was aired only in the Yorkshire area, with Whiteley earning the nickname of "Twice Nightly Whiteley" because of his daily appearances on both programmes.
The concept was purchased in the early 1980s by Yorkshire Television, which commissioned a series of eight shows under the title Calendar Countdown, aimed at being a spin-off of their regional news programme Calendar with the programme's host deemed the natural choice for the concept. After watching the programme, Belgian record executive Marcel Stellman brought the format to Britain on the belief it could be popular overseas, and proposed his concept for the British version to several networks. Guest presenters and co-presenters of Countdown NoĬountdown originated from the format of the French game show Des chiffres et des lettres ( Numbers and Letters), created by Armand Jammot. Contestants of exceptional skill have received national media coverage and the programme, as a whole, is widely recognised and parodied within British culture. The best eight contestants are invited back for the series finals, which are decided in knockout format. During the series heats, the winning contestant returns the next day until they either lose or retire with eight wins as an undefeated "Octochamp".
The two contestants in each episode compete in three game types: ten letters rounds, in which the contestants attempt to make the longest word possible from nine randomly chosen letters four numbers rounds, in which the contestants must use arithmetic to reach a random target number from six other numbers and the conundrum, a buzzer round in which the contestants compete to solve a nine-letter anagram. Susie Dent has been the permanent lexicographer since 2004, and appears in "Dictionary Corner" alongside a guest. She left in 2008, at the same time as O'Connor, and was replaced by Rachel Riley. Vorderman's role expanded to include placing the number and letter tiles and being a co-host of the show. In the early years, the show had multiple assistant presenters, including Carol Vorderman, who was hired for the first series to check calculations in the numbers round. On 25 July 2022, it was announced that Les Dennis will guest host the show from 4 August to 15 August, with Jenny Eclair hosting the show from 16 till 19 August.
The series was then presented by Anne Robinson, its first female presenter, until July 2022, Colin Murray then returned on 14 July as a stand-in host.
It was then presented by Des Lynam until the end of 2006, Des O'Connor until the end of 2008, Jeff Stelling until the end of 2011 and Nick Hewer until July 2021, with Colin Murray standing in for Hewer during part of the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme was presented by Richard Whiteley for at least 22 years, up until his death in June 2005. Following the development of MediaCityUK, Countdown moved again in 2013 to the new purpose-built studios at Dock10, Greater Manchester. Countdown was initially recorded at The Leeds Studios for 27 years, before moving to Manchester-based Granada Studios in 2009. With more than 7,000 episodes, Countdown is one of the longest-running game shows in Britain of all time, along with the original French version, Des chiffres et des lettres (Numbers & Letters), which has been running on French television continuously since 1965. It was the first programme to be aired on Channel 4, and 85 series have been broadcast since its debut on 2 November 1982. It is broadcast on Channel 4 UK and currently presented by Colin Murray, assisted by Rachel Riley, with resident lexicographer Susie Dent. Countdown is a 1982 British game show involving word and number tasks.