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Series 47 was the 47th series of Countdown, broadcast on Channel 4 between Boxing Day 2001 and 28 June 2002. Presented by Richard Whiteley and Carol Vorderman, it was the second series to use the 15 round format and was won by Chris Wills (pictured). It was the first series of Countdown where eight octochamps appeared in the preliminaries: alongside Wills were Tom Hargreaves, Lee Hartley, Wendy Roe, Rupert Stokoe, Kevin Thurlow, Mike Pullin and Brenda Jolley. The series also featured three seven-time winners who therefore did not appear in the series finals: David Franks, Peter Coutts, and Julia Wilkinson. Wilkinson won her seventh heat game on the day immediately prior to the first quarter-final, and therefore had to continue her run in Series 48, where she qualified for the series finals as #5 seed.
Wills played Jolley in the first quarter-final of Series 47, and whilst both scored 30 out of 30 on the numbers rounds Wills beat Jolley in two letters rounds and unravelled the conundrum CELERYFIT to win 110 – 86. In the second quarter-final between Pullin and Hargreaves, the lead changed hands three times before Hargreaves won on a crucial conundrum. Two further crucial conundrums enabled Thurlow to defeat Hartley, and Stokoe to win against Roe. Stokoe returned the following day to play Wills in the first semi-final, but he lost three consecutive letters rounds to go 22 points behind by round 7, with Wills winning comfortably by 118 points to 78. In the second semi-final, Hargraves dropped just three points across the first 14 rounds, and dispatched Thurlow despite failing to solve the conundrum OUTERSUNS. In the series final, Hargraves had roadsail ☓ disallowed in round 4 and by the second commercial break he had fallen 25 points behind. Both players missed the nine-letter word VIDEOTAPE in round 11, effectively ending Hargreaves' chances as Wills ran out the ENDVICTOR by 110 – 67.
In March 2002, approximately halfway through Series 47, there was a three day break from the main competition to make way for the Junior Championship. This three day mini-tournament featured four contestants who were aged between 8 and 12 years old upon their original appearance. The four contestants were Perry Fung from Series 40, Amey Deshpande and Andrew Hulme from Series 42, and Bruce Lambert from Series 43. Hulme beat Fung in the final by 53 points to 41 after a crucial conundrum. He returned to Countdown as an adult, becoming the runner-up of Series 61 and participating in the 30th Birthday Championship. (more...)
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| Today in Countdown history
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- 2025: Shemina Kirby beat Kevin Pollock, with a score of 75 – 51.
- 2024: Stacey Burke beat Phil Campbell, with the game finishing 74 – 65.
- 2021: Daniel Crews beat Roger Peak, with the game finishing 65 – 64.
- 2019: Colin Beattie beat Jamie Frier in a 86 – 79 game.
- 2018: Lewis Carson beat Jodine Lawrence with scores of 84 – 60.
- 2015: Judy Bursford beat Pat Lonergan with a score of 93 – 83.
- 2014: Rob Jennings beat Sue Melling, by a score of 69 – 39.
- 2013: Ryan Taylor beat Michelle Nevitt in a special episode.
- 2013: Steve Grimble beat Mark Harrison in a Series 69 game, which has not been broadcast.
- 2012: Carol Coley beat Alex Forster, scoring 76 – 63.
- 2010: Ryan Loughborough beat Ali Kelly in a game that ended 97 – 75.
- 2009: Innis Carson beat Mike Moran with final score 94 – 47.
- 2008: Neil MacKenzie beat Ken Dunbar in a 72 – 69 game.
- 2007: Julie Davies beat Gary Cook with scores of 83 – 57.
- 2004: Angela Jones beat Steve Dawes with a score of 52 – 50.
- 2003: Lilian Bland beat Stephen Grant, scoring 75 – 59.
- 2002: Grace Page beat Colin Richards, by a score of 108 – 71.
- 2001: John Rawnsley beat Leonard Lavelle in a game that ended 61 – 37.
- 1999: Scott Mearns beat Gareth Mort with final score 55 – 43.
- 1998: Robert Muir beat Arthur Barrow in a 55 – 32 game.
- 1997: Bill Arnold beat Andy Stacey with scores of 42 – 21.
- 1996: David Ligat beat Sheena Urquhart by 43 – 26.
- 1992: Wayne Summers beat Clive Dean with a score of 42 – 19.
- 1991: Una Szewc beat David Radcliffe, scoring 50 – 38.
- 1990: Tony Clarke played Leslie Martin in the first leg of a Countdown Masters game.
- 1987: Cath Powell beat Peter Medhurst, by a score of 56 – 28.
- 1983: Ash Haji beat Russell Byers in the Series 2 grand final.
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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 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.
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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 Oxford on 11 July.
Almost all online tournaments are now held on Apterous: the list of ongoing tournaments is here. |
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