Junior Championship
- For the reduced seven-letter variant of Countdown, see Countdown Junior. For the unsuccessful children's pilot, see Junior Countdown.
The Junior Championship was a special tournament that occurred, when Series 47 got disrupted by the Cheltenham Festival in mid-March 2002.
It featured Perry Fung from Series 40, Amey Deshpande and Andrew Hulme from Series 42, and Bruce Lambert from Series 43. Andrew Hulme came out as the overall winner.
Three contestants from this tournament eventually began new runs on the show as adults: Amey Deshpande became an octochamp and quarter-finalist in Series 56, Andrew Hulme became an octochamp (with the then-record octotal of 930) and the runner-up of Series 61, and Bruce Lambert returned but lost his only game in Series 63.
These games used the 9-round format, although broadcast during the 15-round era. Along with the Ladies' Championship that disrupted Series 49, they're the only 9-round games that featured Teatime Teasers.
Progress
| Perry Fung vs Bruce Lambert | Andrew Hulme vs Perry Fung |
| Andrew Hulme vs Amey Deshpande |
Episodes
| # | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3207 | 12/03/2002 | JSF | Bruce Lambert | 26 – 45 | Perry Fung | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Andi Peters | Phiona Stanley | 65 | ||
| 3208 | 13/03/2002 | JSF | Andrew Hulme | 66 – 44 | Amey Deshpande | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Andi Peters | Phiona Stanley | 82 | ||
| 3209 | 14/03/2002 | JF | Andrew Hulme | 53 – 41 | Perry Fung | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Andi Peters | Phiona Stanley | 72 | ||
