| February's featured article
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Episode S29 was a special episode of Countdown broadcast on 16 August 2010. It was the third game contested by Junaid Mubeen, the Series 59 champion, and Charlie Reams, runner-up to Mubeen in the series final (pictured) by a score of 88 – 84. The two players were drawn against each other in the second quarter-final of Championship of Champions XIII, broadcast six weeks to the day after the Series 59 final. Therein, neither contestant could solve the crucial conundrum LEGALSIRS and this time Reams prevailed by 88 points to 79. With their head-to-head wins therefore tied at one-all, Episode S29 was played as a decider.
Under the original 15 round format, the player in the challenger's chair chose how many large numbers would be available to use to reach the target for two numbers rounds, whereas the challenger only did so for one. To alleviate this advantage, arithmetician Rachel Riley chose the numbers throughout Episode S29. Furthermore, the standard large numbers – 25, 50, 75 and 100 – were swapped for 12, 37, 62 and 87, first used for a special episode to decide the overall Countdown champion of 2009.
In Episode S29, both Reams and Mubeen scored seven points in the first round, before the darren DOORMAT put Reams ahead in round 2. He extended his lead with SAVANTE in round 4, and took advantage when Mubeen had shooted ☓ disallowed in round 8. A perfect numbers solution reduced Mubeen's arrears in round 10, and at the second commercial break the players were separated by 10 points. Reams spotted ISOTOPIC in round 11 to go further in front, but Mubeen replied with INLANDER in round 12. In the final letters round, Reams offered VIZIERS to go 17 points ahead, but failed to declare in the final numbers round. Mubeen found a route to 651, two away from the target. This earnt seven points and set up a crucial conundrum – wherein a correct solution by Mubeen would force the game to sudden death. However, Reams unravelled KILLABAAA in half a second to win by 87 points to 67. (more...)
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| Today in Countdown history
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- 2025: Christine Smith beat Isaac McIlwrath, with scores of 75 – 72.
- 2024: Michael Calder beat Shabir Hussain, by a score of 83 – 33.
- 2023: Andrew Barrett beat Rochelle Watkins, scoring 79 – 62.
- 2020: Ian Volante beat Michael Haycock in a 96 – 47 game.
- 2019: Misba Sheikh beat Andrew Dandilly with scores of 85 – 51.
- 2018: Phil Davies beat Mike O'Connell in a game that ended 114 – 37.
- 2017: Ashwin Abinashi beat Willie Brazil with a score of 77 – 54.
- 2015: Jen Steadman, Jason Manford, and Sean Lock beat Sarah Millican, Jonathan Ross, and Roisin Conaty by 54 – 28.
- 2015: Kevin Steede beat Gus Aaron, by a score of 104 – 57.
- 2014: Adrian Day beat Andrew Farr with final score 102 – 89.
- 2013: Conor Travers beat Chris Hawkins, scoring 119 – 85, and was the show's 3rd perfect 15-round game.
- 2012: Victoria James beat Ed Barker in a 94 – 59 game.
- 2009: Kate Richardson beat Audrey Lazenby with scores of 84 – 83.
- 2008: Tim Reypert beat Sylvana Carey in a game that ended 101 – 36.
- 2007: Vivienne Mead beat Will Howells with a score of 76 – 57.
- 2006: Paul Howe beat Clare Hughes, by a score of 91 – 47.
- 2004: Richard Pay beat Peter Thompson with final score 89 – 82.
- 2003: Ruth Hartley beat Russell Fleckney with scores of 97 – 86.
- 2002: David Franks beat Tony McManus in a 108 – 73 game.
- 2001: Nicola Smith beat Ray McNamara in a game that ended 49 – 48.
- 1998: Peter Moulding beat Gary Davis with a score of 50 – 30.
- 1997: Stuart Jones beat Roger Hayward, by a score of 49 – 39.
- 1996: Steve Gruzd beat Gail Hardman, scoring 49 – 24.
- 1995: Hazel Hendy beat Christopher Jones with scores of 49 – 39.
- 1992: Phil Jordan beat Maureen Forrester in a 62 – 27 game.
- 1991: Nick Saloman beat Sheena Gray with final score 37 – 36.
- 1991: Sandie Simonis played Jane Smith in the third leg of a Countdown Masters game, which has not been broadcast.
- 1990: Elaine Newcombe beat Tomi Owens with a score of 56 – 44.
- 1990: Cath Powell played Neil Wilkins in the second leg of a Countdown Masters game.
- 1989: Cathy Bland beat Evan Simpson in a game that ended 36 – 34.
- 1987: Alan Johnson beat Robert Reid, by a score of 39 – 30.
- 1986: Andy Keeble beat Steve Athans, scoring 66 – 19.
- 1985: Olivia Lloyd-Potts beat Sheila Alder with scores of 52 – 35.
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- 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 conundrum, the Countdown clock and its music, Dictionary Corner, the pencam and the Teatime Teaser.
- Jase Cullen, the reigning series champion and his series grand final against Brett Davids.
- 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, 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.
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| 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:
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- 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.
- 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.
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| Upcoming Countdown tournaments
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The full list of FOCAL tournaments for 2026 is here.
The next scheduled event is Countdown in London on 21 February.
Almost all online tournaments are now held on Apterous: the list of ongoing tournaments is here. |
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