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Clock music

From Countdown
The clock music in a comedy sketch, featuring future contestant Richard Ayoade playing one of the contestants.

The clock music is the famous 'think' music which is played during the rounds, giving time for the contestants to think of words and numbers solutions. It was composed by Alan Hawkshaw and it is claimed that the tune came to him during a trip to the lavatory.

To date there have been three major versions of the clock music, which ran from Series 1 to Series 17, a short-lived version in Series 31 (see below), and the most well-known version, which has run since Series 18. However, there have been various minor changes over the years. The original version did not have a "bong" at the end, which was added for Series 2, and (possibly due to tape damage) the clock music played at a slightly lower pitch in the mid-1990s, from around 1994 to 1996.

Breathing Sounds

The current clock music gives out a breathing sound (a sound created by a percussion instrument called a vibraslap) on 8.5 and 15.5 seconds. The original clock music, used from 1982 – 1989, gave out a breathing sound on 8.5, 12, 15.5, 19.5, 23.5 and 27 seconds.

Extra Intensity clock music

In Series 31, an extra intense remix of the clock music was introduced that gave out 3 dramatic notes 3 times during the clock music, of which sounded during 4–7 secs, 12–15 secs, and 19–22 secs. This was changed after just 12 episodes after millions of people complained that they couldn't think. Glyn Wigley, Dominic Moyes, Maria Thomson, and Anthony Jenkin are the only people to have won a game with the jazzed up clock music.