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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 Matt Brooks, with a score of 86 – 70.
- 2024: James Swinnerton beat Stacey Burke in a game that ended 73 – 45.
- 2023: Adrian Clarke beat Mike Lott with a score of 94 – 74.
- 2019: Tom Silverlock beat Colin Beattie in a game that ended 83 – 71.
- 2018: Lewis Carson beat Tom McDonald with a score of 88 – 53.
- 2017: Tom Chafer-Cook beat Carmel O'Brien, scoring 118 – 37.
- 2015: Rachel Riley, Roisin Conaty, and Sean Lock beat Sarah Millican, Rhod Gilbert, and Susie Dent by 44 – 22.
- 2015: Judy Bursford beat Tim Batchelor with 78 – 61.
- 2014: Rob Jennings beat Denise O'Neill, by a score of 41 – 37.
- 2013: Steve Grimble beat Erin O'Reilly in a 84 – 77 game.
- 2012: Baljeet Nijjhar beat Carol Coley with scores of 91 – 53.
- 2009: Innis Carson beat Danny Marsh with final score 115 – 70.
- 2008: Neil MacKenzie beat Emlyn Lewis in a game that ended 104 – 59.
- 2007: Kath Lambert beat Julie Davies with a score of 88 – 51.
- 2006: Phil Watson beat Carlos Da Silva, scoring 98 – 62.
- 2003: Lilian Bland beat Shelley Heywood in a 94 – 84 game.
- 2002: Grace Page beat Margaret Goldsmith with scores of 100 – 74.
- 2001: John Rawnsley beat Michael Galgut with final score 38 – 34.
- 1998: Clive Freedman beat Robert Muir in a game that ended 52 – 42.
- 1997: Bill Arnold beat Wendy Mackay, by a score of 59 – 40.
- 1996: Graeme Sugarman beat David Ligat with a score of 47 – 42.
- 1995: Sue Renwick beat Donal Moriarty, scoring 44 – 40.
- 1992: Wayne Summers beat Tracy Moore with scores of 46 – 33.
- 1991: Una Szewc beat Tony Hodgson in a 55 – 41 game.
- 1990: Liz Barber beat David Morris with final score 58 – 33.
- 1990: Tony Clarke played Leslie Martin in the second leg of a Countdown Masters game.
- 1989: Tony Clarke played Dorothy Bailey in the first leg of a Countdown Masters game.
- 1987: Hilary Hopper beat Cath Powell in a game that ended 60 – 23.
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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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