Series 60

From Countdown

Series 60 champion Kirk Bevins holding the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy.

Series 60 ran from 2 February to 19 June 2009, following Championship of Champions XIII in January of that year. It was the first series to feature Jeff Stelling and Rachel Riley as presenters, and the start of six series to be presented by Stelling. It was won by Kirk Bevins who, on his third heat game of his series, recorded the first perfect 15-round game in the history of Countdown. This was also the last series to be filmed at the show's original location, Yorkshire Television Studios in Leeds.

The practices of throwing conundrums open to the audience if they went unsolved by the contestants, and giving mugs as prizes to successful audience members, were notably omitted during Series 60. This is thought to have been precipitated by budget cuts.

Seed table

Rank	Name	Wins	Points
1	Kirk Bevins	8	925
2	Cate Henderson	8	782
3	Jimmy Gough	8	782
4	Shane Roberts	8	766
5	Neil Zussman	8	758
6	James Doohan	8	692
7	Hamish Williamson	4	415
8	Julie Russell	3	356

Jacqueline Baker reached number 8 position on the leaderboard with 4 wins and 331 points, but continued her run in Series 61. Since Series 60, players are sorted by number of wins, then by number of points. Points from both wins and losses count. Points from sudden death conundrums are not counted, and players with the same number of wins and points are sorted by the number of conundrums correctly guessed, then highest individual score.

Series finals

Quarter-finals

The first quarter final between Bevins and three-time winner Julie Russell was a surprisingly close affair granted the two players' distance from one another in the seedings. The evenly matched players were separated by only twenty-five points; Bevins beat Russell in two letters games with PARERGON and MEDIANT, and unravelled the conundrum GONNALOAN in one second. The second quarter-final between number 2 seed Cate Henderson and number 7 seed Hamish Williamson went the way of the underdog. Finding a nine-letter word in FRACTIOUS and unscrambling the conundrum BADLYBEAT in five seconds helped Williamson turn a two-point deficit at the end of part two into a victory with 100 points to 74.

The third quarter-final between James Doohan and Jimmy Gough came down to the crucial conundrum NINECARAT. Doohan looked like stealing the match when he buzzed on 29 seconds. However, he failed to declare anything and so the match went the way of Gough by nine points. The final quarter-final between the fourth and fifth seeds should supposedly have been the closest matched of them all. However this was not to be, with Neil Zussman romping home by 82 points to Shane Roberts' 35.

Semi-finals

Zussman returned the very next day, taking on Kirk Bevins for a place in the grand final. Bevins took an early lead, surpassing Zussman's SCABIES with his own SUBSPACE for an eight-point advantage after round 3. However, Zussman pounced in round 8 when Bevins missed the eight-letter POLITEST, bringing the scores to 50 apiece. Thereafter both players scored equally in every round, reaching the conundrum with the scores at 88 – 88. However, it was a visibly relieved Bevins who solved AMSPECIAL in half a second, securing his place in the grand final.

The second semi-final between Jimmy Gough and Hamish Williamson saw Gough establish an early advantage through the eight-letter CORTINAS. Williamson then missed the first numbers game, and when Gough spotted the nine-letter REEDLINGS his lead had climbed to 62 – 33. Williamson stayed in touch, beating Gough with GAVOTTES in round 11 and JOINERY in round 13 when Gough declared the non-existent monetry ☓. This left it all to play for, with the scores at 58 – 78 with just the final numbers and conundrum to play. However, Williamson was unable to come close to the 866 target whereas Gough got it on the nose, and the unsolved conundrum NICEGROOM rounded off the game which went to Gough 88 – 58.

Grand final

The grand final between Kirk Bevins and Jimmy Gough was not a particularly close affair, as Bevins demonstrated his supreme game by scoring the maximum in each of the first thirteen rounds with words including NEPETAS and WAPITI. With the scores at 59 – 95 with just two rounds remaining the game was over for Gough, though Bevins went on to drop thirteen points from the maximum possible score by getting one away from the final numbers target and failing to unscramble the conundrum GRANIVORE. Nevertheless, Bevins had done more than enough to win the series, accumulating his ninth century in the process.

Easter egg

Humourously, series producer Damian Eadie concealed an Easter egg in the final nine games of this series, from the penultimate preliminary game up to the grand final. Following the recording of these episodes it was revealed that taking the initial letters of the conundrums from these games in order - GESTATING, ANTIVENOM, NONAGONAL, DEBATABLY, INCARNATE, SPEAKEASY, ECLAMPSIA, ERGONOMIC and GRANIVORE - spelt out the faux word GANDISEEG.

Finals progress

Kirk Bevins (1) vs Julie Russell (8)	Kirk Bevins (1) vs Neil Zussman (5)	Kirk Bevins (1) vs Jimmy Gough (3)
Neil Zussman (5) vs Shane Roberts (4)
Jimmy Gough (3) vs James Doohan (6)	Jimmy Gough (3) vs Hamish Williamson (7)
Hamish Williamson (7) vs Cate Henderson (2)

The winner of each game is displayed in bold.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Host	Arithmetician	Guest	Lex	Max
12–30 January 2009: Championship of Champions XIII
4748	2/02/2009	P	Zoe Bowman	83 – 73	Andrew Hodges	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Inverdale	Susie Dent	130
4749	3/02/2009	P	Zoe Bowman	57 – 98	Lisa Thomson	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Inverdale	Susie Dent	119
4750	4/02/2009	P	Lisa Thomson	77 – 62	Roy Catley	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Inverdale	Susie Dent	117
4751	5/02/2009	P	Lisa Thomson	67 – 62	Anna Sarre	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Inverdale	Susie Dent	129
4752	6/02/2009	P	Lisa Thomson	80 – 82	Mike Spellar	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Inverdale	Susie Dent	118
4753	9/02/2009	P	Mike Spellar	72 – 86	Janet Scowcroft	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Sergeant	Susie Dent	121
4754	10/02/2009	P	Janet Scowcroft	85 – 54	Roy Daniels	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Sergeant	Susie Dent	125
4755	11/02/2009	P	Janet Scowcroft	50 – 91	Kate Richardson	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Sergeant	Susie Dent	129
4756	12/02/2009	P	Kate Richardson	79 – 53	Phil Baker	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Sergeant	Susie Dent	120
4757	13/02/2009	P	Kate Richardson	84 – 83	Audrey Lazenby	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Sergeant	Susie Dent	119
4758	16/02/2009	P	Kate Richardson	54 – 92	Neil Zussman	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Kate Humble	Susie Dent	117
4759	17/02/2009	P	Neil Zussman	92 – 37	Kevin Pidduck	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Kate Humble	Susie Dent	119
4760	18/02/2009	P	Neil Zussman	111 – 94	Anita Fairhurst	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Kate Humble	Susie Dent	118
4761	19/02/2009	P	Neil Zussman	86* – 76	Simon Greening	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Kate Humble	Susie Dent	127
4762	20/02/2009	P	Neil Zussman	101 – 55	Matthew Meads	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Kate Humble	Susie Dent	115
4763	23/02/2009	P	Neil Zussman	108 – 87	Heather Chidgey	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Graham Cole	Susie Dent	141
4764	24/02/2009	P	Neil Zussman	81 – 77	Rick Warburton	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Graham Cole	Susie Dent	119
4765	25/02/2009	P	Neil Zussman	97 – 48	Sheila Box	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Graham Cole	Susie Dent	118
4766	26/02/2009	P	Ann Abel	82 – 80	Brian Goulding	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Graham Cole	Susie Dent	119
4767	27/02/2009	P	Ann Abel	86 – 56	Catherine Gillespie	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Graham Cole	Susie Dent	129
4768	2/03/2009	P	Ann Abel	54 – 127	Kirk Bevins	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	130
4769	3/03/2009	P	Kirk Bevins	97 – 67	Fiona Shaw	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	116
4770	4/03/2009	P	Kirk Bevins	126 – 47	Ben Nicholas	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	126
4771	5/03/2009	P	Kirk Bevins	130 – 55	Peter Bennett	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	150
4772	6/03/2009	P	Kirk Bevins	111 – 39	Barrie Robinson	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	120
4773	9/03/2009	P	Kirk Bevins	114 – 53	Anne Adams	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Colin Murray	Susie Dent	129
4774	16/03/2009	P	Kirk Bevins	106 – 71	Ian Payn	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Colin Murray	Susie Dent	131
4775	17/03/2009	P	Kirk Bevins	114 – 31	Rosie Owen	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Colin Murray	Susie Dent	129
4776	18/03/2009	P	Kezra Shakir	33 – 93	Stephen Porritt	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Colin Murray	Susie Dent	118
4777	19/03/2009	P	Stephen Porritt	80 – 67	Jennie Foster	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Colin Murray	Susie Dent	128
4778	20/03/2009	P	Stephen Porritt	76* – 66	Tony Robinson	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Brian Capron	Susie Dent	122
4779	23/03/2009	P	Stephen Porritt	86 – 88	Cate Henderson	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Brian Capron	Susie Dent	118
4780	24/03/2009	P	Cate Henderson	93 – 52	Sadhana Mehendale	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Brian Capron	Susie Dent	135
4781	25/03/2009	P	Cate Henderson	95 – 35	Richard Gray	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Brian Capron	Susie Dent	129
4782	26/03/2009	P	Cate Henderson	103 – 55	Gerald Conley	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Jon Gaunt	Susie Dent	131
4783	27/03/2009	P	Cate Henderson	99 – 63	Helen Kerr	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Jon Gaunt	Susie Dent	132
4784	30/03/2009	P	Cate Henderson	90 – 58	Aaron Higgs	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Jon Gaunt	Susie Dent	119
4785	31/03/2009	P	Cate Henderson	113 – 51	Michael Bryant	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Jon Gaunt	Susie Dent	141
4786	1/04/2009	P	Cate Henderson	101 – 45	Chantalle Edgley	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Jerry Springer	Susie Dent	115
4787	2/04/2009	P	Sandy Kell	63 – 68	Joe Caruana	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Jerry Springer	Susie Dent	120
4788	3/04/2009	P	Joe Caruana	81 – 37	Sue Keable	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Jerry Springer	Susie Dent	119
4789	6/04/2009	P	Joe Caruana	73 – 75	Fiona Chambers	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Jerry Springer	Susie Dent	133
4790	7/04/2009	P	Fiona Chambers	83 – 56	Andrew Mitchell	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Jonathan Ansell	Susie Dent	119
4791	8/04/2009	P	Fiona Chambers	68 – 89	Andrew Pearson	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Jonathan Ansell	Susie Dent	133
4792	9/04/2009	P	Andrew Pearson	83 – 87	Shane Roberts	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Jonathan Ansell	Susie Dent	139
4793	10/04/2009	P	Shane Roberts	92 – 57	Keith Butcher	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Jonathan Ansell	Susie Dent	123
4794	13/04/2009	P	Shane Roberts	105 – 56	Clare Sudbery	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	David Lloyd	Susie Dent	122
4795	14/04/2009	P	Shane Roberts	86 – 85	Bob Savage	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	David Lloyd	Susie Dent	119
4796	15/04/2009	P	Shane Roberts	102 – 39	Beth Elkins	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	David Lloyd	Susie Dent	123
4797	16/04/2009	P	Shane Roberts	101 – 47	Stephen Parkes	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	David Lloyd	Susie Dent	132
4798	17/04/2009	P	Shane Roberts	90 – 80	George Robertson	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	David Lloyd	Susie Dent	128
4799	20/04/2009	P	Shane Roberts	103 – 59	Ramsay Nashef	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	118
4800	21/04/2009	P	Karyn Cooke	71 – 105	James Robinson	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	129
4801	22/04/2009	P	James Robinson	91 – 74	Louise Bambury	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	133
4802	23/04/2009	P	James Robinson	86 – 87	Patrick McCurdie	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	121
4803	24/04/2009	P	Patrick McCurdie	65 – 74	Julie Russell	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	114
4804	27/04/2009	P	Julie Russell	104 – 67	Dominic Colley	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Gyles Brandreth	Susie Dent	131
4805	28/04/2009	P	Julie Russell	94 – 31	David Affleck	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Gyles Brandreth	Susie Dent	118
4806	29/04/2009	P	Julie Russell	84 – 134	Hamish Williamson	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Gyles Brandreth	Susie Dent	152
4807	30/04/2009	P	Hamish Williamson	74 – 68	Heather Bolam	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Gyles Brandreth	Susie Dent	119
4808	1/05/2009	P	Hamish Williamson	65 – 60	John Marsom	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Gyles Brandreth	Susie Dent	119
4809	4/05/2009	P	Hamish Williamson	88 – 55	Linda Lofthouse	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Martin Lewis	Susie Dent	128
4810	5/05/2009	P	Hamish Williamson	54 – 58	Bob Stevenson	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Martin Lewis	Susie Dent	116
4811	6/05/2009	P	Bob Stevenson	76 – 79	Chrissie Buckley	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Martin Lewis	Susie Dent	140
4812	7/05/2009	P	Chrissie Buckley	69 – 81	Paul Casimir	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Martin Lewis	Susie Dent	120
4813	8/05/2009	P	Paul Casimir	86 – 70	Leslie Smith	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Martin Lewis	Susie Dent	113
4814	11/05/2009	P	Paul Casimir	84 – 115	Jimmy Gough	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Steve Davis	Susie Dent	118
4815	12/05/2009	P	Jimmy Gough	106 – 78	Dave Sorensen	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Steve Davis	Susie Dent	138
4816	13/05/2009	P	Jimmy Gough	96 – 84	Tony Hurst	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Steve Davis	Susie Dent	121
4817	14/05/2009	P	Jimmy Gough	113 – 53	Sue Morgan	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Steve Davis	Susie Dent	120
4818	15/05/2009	P	Jimmy Gough	116 – 53	Peter Tarrant	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Steve Davis	Susie Dent	137
4819	18/05/2009	P	Jimmy Gough	86 – 58	Gerry Buckley	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Rory McGrath	Susie Dent	143
4820	19/05/2009	P	Jimmy Gough	72 – 62	Kerr Nairn	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Rory McGrath	Susie Dent	120
4821	20/05/2009	P	Jimmy Gough	78 – 38	Tony Larlham	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Rory McGrath	Susie Dent	117
4822	21/05/2009	P	Mabel Weston	51 – 47	Gary Beaty	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Rory McGrath	Susie Dent	131
4823	22/05/2009	P	Mabel Weston	46 – 88	James Doohan	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Rory McGrath	Susie Dent	150
4824	25/05/2009	P	James Doohan	88 – 50	Anne Loveday	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Barry Cryer	Susie Dent	121
4825	26/05/2009	P	James Doohan	89* – 79	Jack Morgan	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Barry Cryer	Susie Dent	115
4826	27/05/2009	P	James Doohan	70 – 51	Nick Patrick	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Barry Cryer	Susie Dent	130
4827	28/05/2009	P	James Doohan	91 – 48	Michael Calder	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Barry Cryer	Susie Dent	123
4828	29/05/2009	P	James Doohan	101 – 60	Margaret Oliver	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Barry Cryer	Susie Dent	121
4829	1/06/2009	P	James Doohan	91 – 70	Rob Thomas	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Richard Digance	Susie Dent	117
4830	2/06/2009	P	James Doohan	84 – 77	Angela Nayar	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Richard Digance	Susie Dent	121
4831	3/06/2009	P	Ian Sinclair	28 – 103	Chris Kirby	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Richard Digance	Susie Dent	142
4832	4/06/2009	P	Chris Kirby	99 – 47	Hans Farley	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Richard Digance	Susie Dent	120
4833	5/06/2009	P	Chris Kirby	69 – 82	Jacqueline Baker	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Richard Digance	Susie Dent	116
4834	8/06/2009	P	Jacqueline Baker	91 – 60	Sean Toland	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Stapleton	Susie Dent	119
4835	9/06/2009	P	Jacqueline Baker	74 – 59	Jasvir Singh	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Stapleton	Susie Dent	118
4836	10/06/2009	P	Jacqueline Baker	84 – 56	Desi Corcoran	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Stapleton	Susie Dent	126
4837	11/06/2009	QF	Kirk Bevins	115 – 90	Julie Russell	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Stapleton	Susie Dent	117
4838	12/06/2009	QF	Cate Henderson	74 – 100	Hamish Williamson	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	John Stapleton	Susie Dent	137
4839	15/06/2009	QF	James Doohan	74 – 83	Jimmy Gough	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	127
4840	16/06/2009	QF	Shane Roberts	35 – 82	Neil Zussman	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	115
4841	17/06/2009	SF	Kirk Bevins	98 – 88	Neil Zussman	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	128
4842	18/06/2009	SF	Hamish Williamson	58 – 88	Jimmy Gough	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	164
4843	19/06/2009	GF	Jimmy Gough	59 – 102	Kirk Bevins	{{{10}}}	{{{11}}}	Dr Phil Hammond	Susie Dent	115

* includes 10 points from a tie-break conundrum

External Links

Series 60 on The Countdown Database.
Series 60 on The Countdown Page.

Series 60

From Countdown

Contents

Seed table

Series finals

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Grand final

Easter egg

Finals progress

Episodes

External Links

Views

Personal tools

Navigation

Search

Toolbox