Main Page

Welcome to the Countdown Wiki

Home of 18,923 articles about Channel 4's daily game show Countdown.

Quick Links: Series 90 | Series 89 | COC16 | 30BC | Specials | All series | Episodes | Contestants | Guests | Events | Techniques | Terminology | Community | ZoomDown

Discussions: Leave suggestions for this page here | Active talk pages | Proposals | Talk pages with unresolved issues

October's featured article Julian Fell was the champion of Series 48, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest Countdown contestants of all time. A Cambridge University student at the time of recording, Fell matched or broke multiple Countdown records. He scored at least a century in all of his eight heat games, and became only the third contestant to solve all eight of his preliminary round conundrums. His final heat game against Carl McDermott marked the first time a player had even won by more than 100 points. Fell's octochamp total of 924 points went unbeaten for more than six years, before Kirk Bevins amassed 925 en route to winning Series 60. Fell's semi-final against Danny Hamilton remains the only time a contestant has found four nine-letter words in a single game. Although Fell failed to unravel the conundrum THEIRCOPY in this game, he had amassed 146 points. This score remained the highest ever achieved in a single game at that time which was later matched a decade later by Conor Travers but never exceeded until Zarte Siempre smashed it with a score of 150 in January 2019, which was then bettered by Elliott Mellor, who scored 152 in May 2019, then by Tom Stevenson with 154 in October 2022. In the series final against Grace Page, Fell immediately gained an 18-point advantage with the nine-letter word MANTICORE. He extended this lead with LEOPARDS in round 2 and ZODIAC in round 6, but Page reduced the deficit with the darrenic KNITWEAR in round 9. This ended a run of 59 consecutive rounds in which Fell's various opponents had been able to prevent him from scoring. Page reduced her arrears to 14 points in the final numbers game, which Fell failed to solve. He returned to form for the conundrum APIMOMENT and became series champion with a score of 112 points to 88. Fell returned for the Championship of Champions XI as the favourite. In his first match against Series 42 semi-finalist Terence O'Farrell, Fell gained a 14 point lead across the first two letters games and scored in all 15 rounds to win comfortably, 118 – 64. His quarter-final pitted him against Graham Nash, champion of Series 43. Both contestants had offerings disallowed – formica ☓ for Nash and gambiers ☓ for Fell – but otherwise scored point-for-point across the first 14 rounds. Trailing by one point going into the conundrum, Fell was beaten to the buzzer and Nash won the game 120 – 109. Despite losing, Julian maintained his streak of scoring a century in every game. Julian's final appearance on Countdown came in a special against Chris Wills, which he won 100 – 92 on a crucial conundrum. As such, 100 was Julian's lowest ever score on Countdown. (more...) More featured articles... [edit] Did you know... ...that the target for the last numbers game of the Championship of Champions VIII grand final was 100? ...that on 23 January 1990, Bob Holt became the first known contestant to choose four large numbers (outside of the Countdown Masters)? ...that exactly six years later, two tie-breaker conundrums were required to separate Sean Carey and Kenneth Michie? ...that on 21 July 2004, a Teatime Teaser with the answer MUTINEER was immediately followed by a letters round where MUTINEER was the longest available word? ...that the word TORTURING has been featured as a conundrum no fewer than four times, with each occasion featuring a series finalist, and on one occasion, featured two series finalists? Nominate an article [edit] Today in Countdown history 2021: Matt Watts beat Oliver Bisset, with the game finishing 86 – 51. 2019: Matt Rosenfeld beat Rob Phillips in a 104 – 87 game. 2018: Mike Daysley beat Lee Bettinson, scoring 79 – 73. 2017: Lawrie Western beat Bryony Gettins, by a score of 59 – 51. 2016: Andrew Macleod beat Jamie Smith with scores of 76 – 75. 2013: Abdirizak Hirsi beat Michael Lillie with a score of 99 – 40. 2011: Nikki Roberts beat Jackie Kennedy with final score 100 – 44. 2010: Michael Chadwick beat Alan Byers in a game that ended 88 – 49. 2007: Konstadinos Sfyris beat John Scott in a 99 – 57 game. 2006: Stu Horsey beat Luxmy Gopal, scoring 89 – 56. 2004: Andrew Dodd beat Mark Danks, by a score of 86 – 76. 2002: Mac Nulty beat Bryan Barnett with scores of 89 – 70. 2001: Diane Dootson beat Steve Sandalls with a score of 70 – 66. 2000: Gordon Cusworth beat Fuad Ahmed with final score 61 – 21. 1999: Gary Woodward beat Jonathan Mearns, scoring 65 – 47. 1996: John Clarke beat Derek Coombs, by a score of 58 – 52. 1990: Allan Simmons played Steve Williams in the fourth leg of a Countdown Masters game. 1989: Mandi Hale beat Jonathan Anstey in the first Series 18 semi-final. 1989: Marion Johnstone played Eddie Murphy in the third leg of a Countdown Masters game. 1983: Allan Simmons beat Peter Dean in a game that ended 47 – 21.

[edit] Popular articles A brief overview of Countdown and some of its records and terminology. The team – Colin Murray, Rachel Riley, and Susie Dent. The show's institutions – the conundrum, the Countdown clock and its music, Dictionary Corner, the pencam, and the Teatime Teaser. Arthur Page, the reigning series champion, and his series grand final against Michael Calder. The most recent Championship of Champions grand final between James Haughton and Ahmed Mohamed. The 30th Birthday Championship grand final between Conor Travers and Jack Hurst. Richard Whiteley, Des Lynam, Des O'Connor, Carol Vorderman, Jeff Stelling, Nick Hewer and Anne Robinson – the show's former permanent presenters. The highest ever score – 154, achieved by Tom Stevenson on 29 September 2022 and Cillian McMulkin on 31 January 2023. [edit] Editors 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: 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. Suggest a featured article which will in turn be featured on the Main Page. [edit] Other Countdown websites Apterous, an online game from the same people that run this site. The Countdown 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. A mobile version of the above. Greem, a website listing nearly all Co-event scores until early 2020. The Countdown Page, the original site of Countdown stats, by Mike Brown. [edit] Upcoming Countdown tournaments The full list of FOCAL tournaments for 2024 is here. The next scheduled event is Countdown in Glasgow on 12 October 2024. Almost all online tournaments are now held on Apterous: the list of ongoing tournaments is here.

Refresh this page.