The first episode of Countdown was broadcast at 4:45pm on Tuesday 2 November 1982, and was the first ever programme shown on the brand new Channel 4. It was hosted by Richard Whiteley (pictured) alongside "hostesses" Cathy Hytner and Beverley Isherwood, who placed letter and number tiles on the board respectively. Isherwood also created three-digit targets for the numbers rounds using a random-number generator, introduced as CECIL – "Countdown's Electronic Calculator in Leeds". This name is still used today, despite production of Countdown moving to Manchester in 2009. Carol Vorderman was the programme's "vital statistician", responsible for checking contestants' calculations and solving numbers rounds where necessary. During Series 1 and Series 2, this role was alternated with Dr Linda Barrett. In what would come to be known as Dictionary Corner, farmer and television personality Ted Moult sat alongside the programme's first ever lexicographer, referred to only as Mary. Although Carol Vorderman is usually said to be the first woman to appear on Channel 4, Mary was in fact introduced to viewers earlier in the episode than Vorderman.

The first ever champion was solicitor and Scrabble player Michael Goldman, who beat accountant Jeff Andrews by 50 points to 27. The structure of the game was essentially the same 9 round format used until Series 45, broadcast in 2001. However, there were some notable differences from more recent episodes – beyond the multiple co-hosts whose roles Carol Vorderman would fulfil single-handedly from 1989 until 2008. Only the contestant whose word was longest stated it during letters rounds; their opponent just declared the length of their word. Also, the scrambled nine-letter word in the final round wasn't called a conundrum, and was manually revealed by Hytner pulling a lever in-vision. Furthermore, whereas Countdown conundrums today are usually rearranged into a short phrase (such as TINYROLES from the Series 66 final), the final round in earlier series saw the letters of a nine-letter word shuffled into a random and often nonsensical order. (more...)

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• ...that Countdown presenter Richard Whiteley (pictured) is said to have accumulated more broadcast hours than anyone else in the history in British television?
• ...that Countdown presenter Des Lynam is the only person to have hosted Countdown, appeared in Dictionary Corner and been a contestant?
• ...that Countdown presenter Des O'Connor has an autobiography entitled Bananas Don't Fly?
• ...that Countdown presenter Jeff Stelling's love of Hartlepool United was acknowledged in the Series 61 final via the conundrum ARTLEPOOL?
• ...that Countdown presenter Nick Hewer's first ever episode was won by eventual series champion Jack Worsley?

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• 2020: Leo Smith beat Joe Timmins by 102 – 61.
• 2018: Julie Gray beat John Broderick in a game that ended 72 – 60.
• 2017: Bradley Horrocks beat Leah Holroyd with final score 122 – 42.
• 2016: John Shaw beat Lee Oman, scoring 108 – 34.
• 2015: Steven Fletcher beat James Richards, by a score of 107 – 64.
• 2012: Sohail Virdi beat Terry Redfern with scores of 82 – 55.
• 2011: Phyllis Styles beat Mark Robinson with a score of 61 – 47.
• 2010: Greg Hayhurst beat Alasdair Redmond in a 88 – 64 game.
• 2009: Tom Allerton beat Graham Jones in a game that ended 84 – 66.
• 2007: James Roberts beat Ian Sapiro with final score 90 – 76.
• 2006: Chris McHenry beat Nicky Bray, scoring 62 – 54.
• 2005: Conor Travers beat Andrew Christley with scores of 124 – 69.
• 2004: Judith Armstrong beat Andrew Byrne with a score of 85 – 82.
• 2001: Paul Ryan beat Andrew Clayton, by a score of 96 – 86.
• 2000: Matthew Turner beat Margaret Sherwin in a 59 – 31 game.
• 1999: Melvin Hetherington beat Perry Poole in a game that ended 69 – 48.
• 1998: Anne Haley beat David Hart with final score 52 – 50.
• 1990: Stephen Mack beat Richard Hooke in a Countdown Masters game.
• 1989: Lawrence Pearse played John Clarke in the fourth leg of a Countdown Masters game.
• 1987: Frank Houston beat David Hoyle, scoring 57 – 35.
• 1984: John Wallace beat Margaret Johnson with scores of 32 – 23.
• 1983: Esther Byers beat George McGee with a score of 49 – 43.
• 1982: Christine Jones beat Andrew Bruno, by a score of 49 – 42.

• A brief overview of Countdown and some of its records and terminology.
• The team: Anne Robinson, Rachel Riley, and Susie Dent.
• The show's institutions: the conundrum, the pencam, and the Teatime Teaser.
• Adam Latchford, reigning series champion, and his series grand final against Luke Boynton.
• The most recent Championship of Champions Final between Zarte Siempre and Bradley Horrocks, which was won by Siempre.
• The 30th Birthday Championship final between Conor Travers and Jack Hurst.
• Carol Vorderman, Richard Whiteley, Des Lynam, Des O'Connor, Jeff Stelling, Nick Hewer and Colin Murray, the show's former presenters.
• The highest ever score, Elliott Mellor's 152.
• Series 84, the current series of Countdown.

• Learn about this wiki and how to use it.
• Episode style guide - if you want to help us edit the episode pages, this style guide gives comprehensive help.
• List of completed projects - see the progress we've made!
• Suggest a featured article which will in turn be featured on the Main Page.

• Apterous, an online game from the same people that run this site.
• The Countdown Page, Mike Brown's encyclopaedic record of Countdown scores and miscellany.
• The Countdown Database, detailed statistics and round-by-round details of over 5,700 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 Graeme Cole.
  • A mobile version of the above.
• Greem, a website listing nearly all co-event scores.