Darryl Francis

Darryl Francis octochamp statistics
Final position	Champion
Seeding	2
Points total	436
Conundrums solved	8

Darryl Francis in the 1980s...

...and in the 30th Birthday Championship three decades later!

Darryl Francis was an octochamp in and the champion of Series 6, who débuted in Series 1. He was also a semi-finalist in Championship of Champions III, and a participant in the Supreme Championship and the 30th Birthday Championship. His Countdown appearances span an incredible 31 years.

A computer manager from Isleworth, Middlesex, Francis first appeared in the twelfth ever episode, losing his only game to Joe Guy. However, he was later invited back for Series 6, where he became an octochamp and ended up No. 2 seed for the finals. He is the first octochamp ever to unravel all eight conundrums in the heat games.

In his quarter-final, Francis eliminated No. 7 seed Neil Wilkins by a 21-point margin. In his semi-final against Adam Gilinsky he scored 72 points, the highest of the series. He then went on to beat Olivia Lloyd in the grand final, and became the first ever xicount, or series champion who was also an octochamp. He is also the first series winner to have previously appeared in an earlier series.

Interestingly, both Francis and the No. 1 seed, Helen Grayson, had previously appeared in the same series, Series 1.

Unable to play in Championship of Champions II due to a broken leg, he was invited back in 1987 for Championship of Champions III, where he defeated Stephen Balment in the quarter-finals before narrowly succumbing to David Trace 58 – 55 in the semis. He also appeared on the special episode to celebrate Countdown's 500th show on 2 February 1987, and competed in the Countdown Masters in 1989.

Francis returned to Countdown in 1996 for the Supreme Championship where, after a first round win over Mike Percik, he was defeated by Allan Saldanha, who equalled the record for the highest score ever achieved in a 9-round game of Countdown.

He returned to the show again in 2013, as one of 41 contestants taking part in the 30th Birthday Championship; of these, he was the one who originally appeared on Countdown the earliest. After some practice on Apterous, he won his first match against Series 22 semi-finalist David Webb by a score of 86 – 68, then beat Series 21 champion Barry Grossman in the first round, before losing to Series 53 semi-finalist Jon O'Neill, despite scoring a personal best of 91.

Francis is also a Scrabble expert who has contributed to some books about the game, and has appeared on Turnabout and BrainTeaser. In 2017, he appeared on Eggheads with Series 67 champion and fellow quizzer Paul James.

Preceded by Peter Evans

Series winner Series 6

Followed by Ian Bebbington

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
12	22/11/1982	P	Darryl Francis	? – ?	Joe Guy	Richard Whiteley	Dr Linda Barrett	Beverley Isherwood	Cathy Hytner	Kenneth Williams	Mary	??
245	21/01/1985	P	Darryl Francis	47 – 46	Steven Tew	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth	Yvonne Warburton	68
246	22/01/1985	P	Andrew Mason	26 – 60	Darryl Francis	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth	Yvonne Warburton	72
247	24/01/1985	P	Diana Mills	18 – 51	Darryl Francis	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth	Yvonne Warburton	68
248	25/01/1985	P	Darryl Francis	52 – 49	Alan Carvell	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth	Yvonne Warburton	73
249	27/01/1985	P	Irene Pollard	21 – 41	Darryl Francis	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth	Yvonne Warburton	70
250	28/01/1985	P	Clive Simkin	16 – 57	Darryl Francis	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth	Yvonne Warburton	71
251	29/01/1985	P	Armand Gilinsky	47 – 69	Darryl Francis	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth	Yvonne Warburton	71
252	30/01/1985	P	Tom Roberts	5 – 59	Darryl Francis	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Richard Stilgoe	Yvonne Warburton	70
283	14/03/1985	QF	Neil Wilkins	35 – 56	Darryl Francis	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Richard Stilgoe	Julia Swannell	68
287	20/03/1985	SF	Adam Gilinsky	34 – 72	Darryl Francis	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Richard Stilgoe	Julia Swannell	74
288	21/03/1985	GF	Olivia Lloyd	37 – 69	Darryl Francis	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth, Richard Stilgoe	Julia Swannell	113
495	02/02/1987	X	Bill Tidy with Mark Nyman, Brian Hudson, Peter Evans, and Darryl Francis	41 – 32	Gyles Brandreth with Clive Freedman, Michael Wylie, Joyce Cansfield, and Harvey Freeman	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	none	Della Thompson	67
596	23/06/1987	CQF	Darryl Francis	46 – 28	Stephen Balment	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Sally James	Della Thompson	73
600	29/06/1987	CSF	Darryl Francis	55 – 58	David Trace	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Sally James	Della Thompson	73
M33	13/11/1989–17/11/1989	M	Clive Freedman	90 – 73	Darryl Francis	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman					none	Freda Thornton	136
1883	18/11/1996	eQF	Darryl Francis	60 – 31	Mike Percik	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Barry Cryer	Susie Dent	75
1886	21/11/1996	eSF	Darryl Francis	24 – 83	Allan Saldanha	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Tom O'Connor	Catherine Stokes	85
5620	14/01/2013	30BP	Darryl Francis	86 – 68	David Webb	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Martin Lewis	Susie Dent	119
5638	07/02/2013	30B1	Darryl Francis	82 – 63	Barry Grossman	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Kate Adie	Susie Dent	118
5641	12/02/2013	30B2	Jon O'Neill	122 – 91	Darryl Francis	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Ken Bruce	Susie Dent	130

External Links

• Darryl Francis on Wikipedia.