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One Last Consonant Please, Carol
One Last Consonant Please, Carol was a special episode presented by Gyles Brandreth on 12 December 2008, immediately before the grand final of the 59th series, and paid tribute to the departing Carol Vorderman. It was broadcast on Channel 4 at 2:55pm and lasted for 30 minutes, including the advert break in the middle.
Vorderman had asked for her final episode to be produced separately to the rest of the final week of Series 59, so as not to allow the emotion of her departure (and also that of Des O'Connor, who left at the same time) to take over the entire week's worth of programmes.
Part One
Brandreth began by introducing the programme and Vorderman, and read out some statistics during her time on the show. At the time, no other person had as many appearances on Countdown as Vorderman - her record would stand for 13 years before being overtaken by Susie Dent in 2021. Vorderman's mother and children also made an appearance, before Jean Vorderman recounted the story of how she had applied for Countdown on Carol's behalf, including forging the latter's signature, and reminiscing of the "early days", including Vorderman's first ever numbers game, solving 493 on Episode 1.
Throughout the programme, Vorderman was erroneously referred to as "the first female face" on Channel 4 (which was actually several audience members, and indeed Mary was also introduced before her), before introducing Cathy Hytner, making her first appearance on the show since Episode 644, and discussing the early days.
There then followed a montage of Vorderman's favourite Dictionary Corner guests, before Rick Wakeman, Barry Norman, Paul Zenon, and Keith Barron put in an appearance in person, marking the end of part one.
Part Two
After coming out of the ad break, a montage of Vorderman's more outrageous fashion items was introduced, with Vorderman particularly remarking on her 80s looks. Another VT shortly afterwards reminisced of Vorderman's on-screen rapport with Richard Whiteley, including several bloopers from Whiteley, before Kathryn Apanowicz also made an appearance (her only appearance on any Countdown-related show since Whiteley's death), and replaying her anecdote from Episode 3108 regarding the "correct" definition of "Twice Nightly Whiteley", before another compilation of outtakes from Whiteley, ending on the famous blooper from Episode 1717 where Whiteley referred to the following series as beginning in "January of 1966".
Susie Dent, who had been one of only three lexicographers since 2003, before Vorderman made her own tribute to the audience down the camera lens. The audience were then invited onto the set as the credits began to roll.
