Darren Shacklady

Darren Shacklady

Darren Shacklady first appeared in Series 29, beating Tony David 69 – 38 on his debut on 18 February 1995, which also happened to be one of the show's few perfect games. Darren went on to win four more games before losing to Tim Dickinson 63 – 52, but his scores — he averaged almost 65 points a game, which if he had completed his octochamp run, would've have put him on a par with Harvey Freeman — saw him return for the finals as #3 seed. Darren beat Barry Hughes and Andy Cusworth on his way to the final against Chris Rogers. Darren dominated the final, winning 105 – 63 to become the 29th champion of Countdown. Darren returned in 1996 for Championship of Champions VIII, beating Satbir Gupta before losing to Kenneth Michie in the semi-finals.

Preceded by Damian Eadie

Series winner Series 29

Followed by Verity Joubert

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
1621	16/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	69 – 38	Tony David	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Ruth Killick
1622	17/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	72 – 23	Liz Rickets	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Ruth Killick
1623	20/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	68 – 41	Peter Andrews	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Ruth Killick
1624	21/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	55 – 26	Brenda Thomson	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Ruth Killick
1625	22/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	73 – 41	Conor Martin	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Ruth Killick
1626	23/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	52 – 63	Tim Dickinson	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Ruth Killick
1648	27/03/1995	QF	Darren Shacklady	66 – 43	Barry Hughes	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Pete Murray	Richard Samson
1651	30/03/1995	SF	Andy Cusworth	46 – 51	Darren Shacklady	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	David Jacobs	Richard Samson
1652	31/03/1995	GF	Chris Rogers	63 – 105	Darren Shacklady	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	David Jacobs, Pete Murray	Richard Samson
1851	3/10/1996	CQF	Darren Shacklady	45 – 34	Satbir Gupta	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Susie Dent
1853	7/10/1996	CSF	Kenneth Michie	46 – 40	Darren Shacklady	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Susie Dent