| 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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- 2024: Michael Calder beat Julia Blake, with a score of 109 – 49.
- 2023: Seán Dennehy beat Charlotte Rimmer, scoring 77 – 69.
- 2022: Robbie Oliver beat Caelyn O'Reilly, scoring 90 – 88.
- 2021: Coral Heath beat Claire Spinks, with the game finishing 79 – 74.
- 2019: Dinos Sfyris beat David Ellis with final score 117 – 23.
- 2018: Philip Aston beat Sylvia O'Brien in a 123 – 40 game.
- 2017: Wesley Jardine beat Gillian Simpson with scores of 102 – 58.
- 2016: Paul Erdunast beat Ben Dali, by a score of 130 – 73.
- 2013: Jon O'Neill beat Jack Worsley in the second 30th Birthday Championship quarter-final, and was the show's 4th perfect 15-round game.
- 2012: Peter Lee beat Chris Stokes in a game that ended 99 – 28.
- 2011: Ned Pendleton beat Greg Bowler, scoring 92 – 59.
- 2010: Barney Maunder-Taylor beat Heather Badcock with a score of 89 – 86.
- 2008: Barbara Fletcher beat Ronnie Clark with final score 90 – 42.
- 2007: Pauline Woodward beat Mike Swift in a 82 – 76 game.
- 2006: Matthew Shore beat David McDougall with scores of 103 – 59.
- 2005: John Mayhew beat Cliff Pettifor in a game that ended 118 – 42.
- 2002: Lee Hartley beat Andy Cooper, by a score of 93 – 46.
- 2001: Wilbur Notley beat Elspeth Wilkes with a score of 49 – 43.
- 2000: David Ballheimer beat Barbara Curr with final score 40 – 28.
- 1999: Ricky Cohen beat Sue Rose in a 46 – 26 game.
- 1996: Kevin Fisk beat John McNally, scoring 48 – 37.
- 1995: Darren Shacklady beat Conor Martin with scores of 73 – 41.
- 1994: Gus Stewart beat Daniel Simonis, by a score of 60 – 51.
- 1993: Don Reid beat George Rowe in a game that ended 69 – 46.
- 1991: Gillian Tickle beat Mark Birch with a score of 51 – 31.
- 1991: Diana Beasley beat Marianne Croll in a Countdown Masters game, which has not been broadcast.
- 1990: John Prince beat Dick Burden in a 40 – 38 game.
- 1990: Sheila Mann played Clive Spate in the fourth leg of a Countdown Masters game.
- 1989: Lawrence Pearse beat Jim Saywell with a score of 53 – 34.
- 1985: Helen Grayson beat Diana Gritt with scores of 56 – 45.
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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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