Dudley Doolittle

Dudley Doolittle (real name Stephen "Steve" Pickering) was a TV warm-up artist who worked on Countdown among other shows. He used to be the lead singer of Reg James Explosion, and also sang in bands like Toby Twirl and Blinkers. He kept the audience entertained before each show was recorded with jokes and anecdotes, and often shared quips with the presenters and occasionally the contestants.

Doolittle briefly appeared on 8 July 2011 when former warm-up man, Greg Scott, was in the challenger's chair. He made a similarly brief appearance on 14 September 2012, when Nick Hewer suggested that he had sustained a leg injury on the slopes of Glenfiddich. And he was mentioned and appeared during the introduction and conclusion of 8 February 2013.

A conundrum was dedicated to him on 23 January 2012 with the scramble of LEDDUDLEY and similarly, a Teatime Teaser on 11 September 2017 with the scramble of DUDLEYLED.

Doolittle sadly retired from his role on Countdown at the end of Series 79, meaning that bosses had to find someone else to recycle the same jokes every day until the audience no longer returned to future editions after 17 April 2020 during the and post-COVID-19 pandemic.

External Links

• Dudley Doolittle on the Internet Movie Database.