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Series 15

From Countdown

Series 15 ran from April 1988 to June 1988. The fifteenth of 53 series presented by Richard Whiteley, it was won by Dick Green.

This was probably the strongest series of the 1980s. For the first time in Countdown history – and the only ever time in that decade – two octochamps played against each other in the Grand Final. The final was very close, and even controversial in that runner-up Allan Saldanha had his offering of YOLKED wrongly disallowed. Although the conundrum, solved by Green, would still have been crucial even if it had been allowed, Saldanha was given his own copies of the Oxford English Dictionary – identical to Green's prize – on the grounds that the disallowed word may have affected the prodigy's psychology under pressure.

Seed table

Rank Name Wins Points
1 Allan Saldanha 8 490
2 Dick Green 8 463
3 Gavin Rogers 5 241
4 Kathleen Vickers 4 187
5 Peter Pryer 3 183
6 Pat Martin 3 157
7 Frances Rush 3 155
8 Paul Walker 2 94
Between Series 3 and Series 20, players were ranked by total number of points, including winning and drawing scores, but not losing ones.

Finals progress

Allan Saldanha (1) vs Paul Walker (8) Allan Saldanha (1) vs Peter Pryer (5) Allan Saldanha (1)
vs
Dick Green (2)
Peter Pryer (5) vs Kathleen Vickers (4)
Gavin Rogers (3) vs Pat Martin (6) Gavin Rogers (3) vs Dick Green (2)
Frances Rush (7) vs Dick Green (2)
The winner of each game is displayed in bold.

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
708 11/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 57 – 28 Bridgette Lagden Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 83
709 12/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 61 – 26 Billy Wright Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 73
710 13/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 57 – 26 Alan Brooker Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 73
711 14/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 65 – 23 Margaret Elliot Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 74
712 15/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 60 – 24 Antony Stafford Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 76
713 18/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 81 – 15 Katy Green Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 84
714 19/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 55 – 45 Nick Wilkes Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 69
715 20/04/1988 P Allan Saldanha 54 – 40 Danny Morris Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 73
716 21/04/1988 P Frances Rush 58 – 43 Chris Mackenzie-Thorpe Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Clement Freud Julia Swannell 84
717 22/04/1988 P Frances Rush 57 – 33 Chrystal Rose Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Dinah Sheridan Della Thompson 68
718 25/04/1988 P Frances Rush 40 – 28 Colin Wood Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Dinah Sheridan Della Thompson 73
719 26/04/1988 P Frances Rush 45 – 59 Pat Martin Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Dinah Sheridan Della Thompson 72
720 27/04/1988 P Philip Jones 42 – 43 Pat Martin Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Dinah Sheridan Della Thompson 82
721 28/04/1988 P Dorothy Wood 19 – 55 Pat Martin Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Dinah Sheridan Della Thompson 74
722 29/04/1988 P Peter Pryer 70 – 27 Pat Martin Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Sylvia Syms Della Thompson 72
723 02/05/1988 P Peter Pryer 54 – 43 Jonathan Copping Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Sylvia Syms Della Thompson 72
724 03/05/1988 P Peter Pryer 59 – 57 Doug Workman Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Sylvia Syms Della Thompson 73
725 04/05/1988 P Peter Pryer 26 – 46 Helen Laird Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Sylvia Syms Della Thompson 70
726 05/05/1988 P John Burrall 46 – 34 Helen Laird Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Sylvia Syms Della Thompson 73
727 06/05/1988 P John Burrall 35 – 45 Keith Myerscough Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Sylvia Syms Della Thompson 84
728 09/05/1988 P Dave Clapham 35 – 21 Keith Myerscough Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Derek Nimmo Della Thompson 85
729 10/05/1988 P Dave Clapham 48 – 45 Rose Meyer Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Derek Nimmo Della Thompson 84
730 11/05/1988 P Dave Clapham 38 – 41 Chris Beith Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Derek Nimmo Della Thompson 84
731 12/05/1988 P Dave Hambley 34 – 42 Chris Beith Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Derek Nimmo Della Thompson 76
732 13/05/1988 P Dick Green 51 – 16 Chris Beith Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Derek Nimmo Della Thompson 67
733 16/05/1988 P Dick Green 61 – 33 Neil Carr Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Richard Stilgoe Della Thompson 85
734 17/05/1988 P Dick Green 58 – 37 Dennis Byrne Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Richard Stilgoe Della Thompson 73
735 18/05/1988 P Dick Green 58 – 44 Norma Cooper Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Richard Stilgoe Della Thompson 74
736 19/05/1988 P Dick Green 50 – 26 Margaret Bright Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Richard Stilgoe Della Thompson 73
737 20/05/1988 P Dick Green 64 – 16 Alison Abrams Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Richard Stilgoe Della Thompson 72
738 23/05/1988 P Dick Green 53 – 39 Duncan Hale Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Richard Stilgoe Della Thompson 72
739 24/05/1988 P Dick Green 68 – 20 Tony Morgan Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Freda Thornton 75
740 25/05/1988 P Gavin Rogers 48 – 29 Jean Braden Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Freda Thornton 82
741 26/05/1988 P Gavin Rogers 42 – 36 Les Savage Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Freda Thornton 73
742 27/05/1988 P Gavin Rogers 45 – 20 Sally Henstock Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Nigel Rees Freda Thornton 72
743 30/05/1988 P Gavin Rogers 57 – 35 Ken Toll Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Nigel Rees Freda Thornton 75
744 31/05/1988 P Gavin Rogers 49 – 39 Alison Nicholas Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Nigel Rees Freda Thornton 73
745 01/06/1988 P Gavin Rogers 38 – 40 Paul Walker Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Nigel Rees Freda Thornton 73
746 02/06/1988 P Frank Clark 50 – 54 Paul Walker Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Nigel Rees Freda Thornton 77
747 03/06/1988 P Kathleen Vickers 41 – 31 Paul Walker Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Nigel Rees Freda Thornton 72
748 06/06/1988 P Kathleen Vickers 47 – 31 Alan Harvey Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Nigel Rees Freda Thornton 73
749 07/06/1988 P Kathleen Vickers 46 – 37 Steve Hindle Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Julia Swannell 95
750 08/06/1988 P Kathleen Vickers 53 – 25 Grace Bennett Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Julia Swannell 84
751 09/06/1988 QF Allan Saldanha 50 – 37 Paul Walker Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Julia Swannell 74
752 10/06/1988 QF Frances Rush 65 – 75 Dick Green Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Julia Swannell 81
753 13/06/1988 QF Pat Martin 22 – 59 Gavin Rogers Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Julia Swannell 86
754 14/06/1988 QF Kathleen Vickers 36 – 51 Peter Pryer Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Julia Swannell 73
755 15/06/1988 SF Allan Saldanha 42 – 38 Peter Pryer Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Julia Swannell 74
756 16/06/1988 SF Dick Green 69 – 51 Gavin Rogers Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Gyles Brandreth Julia Swannell 83
757 17/06/1988 GF Allan Saldanha 70 – 81 Dick Green Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Karen Loughlin Richard Stilgoe, Gyles Brandreth Catherine Clarke 115

External Links