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FOCAL is the voluntary organisation responsible for organising the vast majority of unofficial Countdown tournaments since 2016. The organisation's name is an acronym for Finals Of the Co-event Annual League. Perhaps coincidentally, "focal" also means "word" in the Irish language.
Players play in events across the British Isles throughout the year, with the top 8 highest ranked players at the end of the year receiving free entry into the finals event in Birmingham, held alongside a normal tournament that is open to everyone. 2016's FOCAL Champion was Series 66 champion Jack Worsley, 2017's champion was Rob Foster, 2018 Jonathan Wynn and 2019 Callum Todd. All events are hosted on a Saturday, with the exception of the 'hangover' event, held on the Sunday in Lincoln as secondary events.
The organisation was the brainchild of Series 78 champion and former .co.mk organiser Zarte Siempre in mid-2015. The incumbent FOCAL chairman is Series 69 champion Callum Todd. The previous chairmen were Siempre in early 2016 and 2017, Mark Murray in late 2016 and Jeff Clayton from 2016 to 2021.
Current standings for the year and many other details can be found at the FOCAL website. (more...)
- ...that en route to posting the then lowest ever 15 round score on 16 May 2011, Christine Buffrey had areolaes ☓ disallowed for being invalid, using phantom letters, and being misdeclared as a six-letter word?
- ...that three Countdown contestants – Charlie Reams, Dave Dyer and Mark Murphy – have been bleeped for scoring with the word WANKER or WANKERS?
- ...that on 2 November 2011, Dictionary Corner guest Mark Durden-Smith was bleeped after stating that the longest word in round 3 was SHITFACE?
- ...that the target in round 5 on 05/05/05 was 505?
- ...that Countdown was almost hosted by Michael Jackson?
- 2025: John Pakenham beat Chris Harvey with scores of 100 – 66.
- 2023: Ben Bazzard beat Pat Arnold with scores of 99 – 70.
- 2022: Tom Stevenson beat Lauren Bowley in a max game with a score of 154 – 28.
- 2021: Ahmed Mohamed beat Daaniyal Ali, with the game finishing 111 – 51.
- 2020: Jeremy Ankers beat Chris Johnston in a game that ended 87 – 86.
- 2017: Eoin Jackson beat Martin Hunter with scores of 92 – 82.
- 2016: Chris Sinclair beat Mark Gourley with final score 102 – 92.
- 2015: Thomas Carey beat Lee Nixon with a score of 110 – 62.
- 2014: Michael McDowell beat Alan Chumbley in a 95 – 75 game.
- 2011: Jayne Wisniewski beat Brian Poole, scoring 72 – 64.
- 2010: Heather Driver beat Nik Mackintosh in a game that ended 70 – 64.
- 2009: George Raison beat Tricia Finn, by a score of 81 – 57.
- 2008: Junaid Mubeen beat Gerard Doyle with scores of 94 – 45.
- 2006: Andrew Blades beat Angela Madigan with final score 77 – 59.
- 2004: John Gray beat Piers Drew-Wilkinson with a score of 94 – 56.
- 2003: Bonnie White beat Peter Watkins, scoring 95 – 75.
- 2000: Clare Wright beat Roger Smith in a game that ended 72 – 44.
- 1999: Tony Manwani beat Billy Davidson in a 54 – 47 game.
- 1998: Vicky Smith beat Brian Fell, by a score of 54 – 42.
- 1997: Allan Cooper beat Rachelle Kedzior with scores of 57 – 43.
- 1995: Verity Joubert beat Chris Colsmann in the Series 30 grand final.
- 1994: Damian Eadie beat Gregg Magee in the second Series 28 semi-final.
- 1993: Andrew Perry beat Alan Harwood in the first Series 26 semi-final.
- 1989: Mandi Hale beat Doris Beckerlegge with a score of 54 – 36.
- 1989: Derek Rutter beat Peter Scott in a Countdown Masters game.
- 1983: Ted Wiles beat Jackie Nathan, scoring 55 – 47.
- A brief overview of Countdown and some of its records and terminology.
- The team: Colin Murray, Rachel Riley and Susie Dent since the first episode of Series 87.
- The show's institutions: the letters and numbers, the conundrum, the Countdown clock and its music, Dictionary Corner and the Teatime Teaser.
- Patrick Thompson, the reigning series champion and his series grand final against Charlie Harrison.
- The latest Championship of Champions grand final between James Haughton and Ahmed Mohamed.
- The 30th Birthday Championship grand final between Conor Travers and Jack Hurst.
- The show's former permanent presenters: Richard Whiteley, Des Lynam, Des O'Connor and Carol Vorderman, Jeff Stelling, Nick Hewer and Anne Robinson.
- The highest ever score: 154, achieved by Tom Stevenson on 29 September 2022 and Cillian McMulkin on 31 January 2023.
Everyone can edit the Countdown Wiki, just register and then click the edit link at the top of any page (except this one!) and start editing. Here are some useful links:
- Learn about this wiki and how to use it.
- Episode style guide - if you want to help us edit the episode pages, this style guide gives comprehensive help.
- Suggest a featured article which will in turn be featured on the Main Page.
- Apterous, an online game from the same people that run this site.
- Beat The Clock: Words & Maths, a Countdown-inspired Android app created by Series 63 champion Jack Hurst.
- The Countdown Database, detailed statistics and round-by-round details of over 7,800 episodes.
- FOCAL, regular in-person events that anyone can enter.
- c4countdown, Countdown's main online forum, populated by many past octochamps.
- Quantum Tombola, a numbers game solver designed by Series 65 champion Graeme Cole.
- A mobile version of the above.
- Greem, a website listing nearly all Co-event scores until early 2020.
- The Countdown Page, the original site of Countdown stats, created by Mike Brown.
- Online tournaments on Apterous.
- In-person tournaments organized by FOCAL.
- Next scheduled event is Countdown in Dublin on 10 October 2026.
