Main Page

Welcome to The Countdown Wiki Home of 19,537 articles about Channel 4's daily game show Countdown.

September's Featured Article FOCAL is the voluntary organisation responsible for organising the vast majority of unofficial Countdown tournaments since 2016. The organisation's name is an acronym for Finals Of the Co-event Annual League. Perhaps coincidentally, "focal" also means "word" in the Irish language. Players play in events across the British Isles throughout the year, with the top 8 highest ranked players at the end of the year receiving free entry into the finals event in Birmingham, held alongside a normal tournament that is open to everyone. 2016's FOCAL Champion was Series 66 champion Jack Worsley, 2017's champion was Rob Foster, 2018 Jonathan Wynn and 2019 Callum Todd. All events are hosted on a Saturday, with the exception of the 'hangover' event, held on the Sunday in Lincoln as secondary events. The organisation was the brainchild of Series 78 champion and former .co.mk organiser Zarte Siempre in mid-2015. The incumbent FOCAL chairman is Series 69 champion Callum Todd. The previous chairmen were Siempre in early 2016 and 2017, Mark Murray in late 2016 and Jeff Clayton from 2016 to 2021. Current standings for the year and many other details can be found at the FOCAL website, as well as the 2020–22 FOCAL season page on this wiki. (more...) More Featured Articles... Did you know... ...that en route to posting the then lowest ever 15 round score on 16 May 2011, Christine Buffrey had areolaes ☓ disallowed for being invalid, using phantom letters, and being misdeclared as a six-letter word? ...that three Countdown contestants – Charlie Reams, Dave Dyer and Mark Murphy – have been bleeped for scoring with the word WANKER or WANKERS? ...that on 2 November 2011, Dictionary Corner guest Mark Durden-Smith was bleeped after stating that the longest word in round 3 was SHITFACE? ...that the target in round 5 on 05/05/05 was 505? ...that Countdown was almost hosted by Michael Jackson? Nominate an article Today in Countdown History edit  2024: Alex Call beat Chris Butterly with scores of 104 – 85. 2021: Jodine Lawrence beat Samuel Williams in a special "Black to Front" edition. 2020: Archana Desurkar beat Mike Sutton with a score of 91 – 89. 2019: Sarah Delap beat Joanna Colley with a score of 63 – 51. 2018: Dave Ashton beat Dan Martin with final score 84 – 49. 2014: Farhan Ahmed beat Aly Spencer in a 99 – 59 game. 2013: Jen Steadman beat Ross Lander, by a score of 119 – 82. 2010: Daniel Pati beat Stephen Crawford, scoring 97 – 60. 2009: Bob De Caux beat Christopher Harris in a game that ended 84 – 61. 2008: Mike Lambert beat Debbi Flack with scores of 107 – 75. 2007: Gay Black beat Peter Smith with a score of 83 – 78. 2004: Barbara Matthewman beat Christina Wood with final score 79 – 69. 2003: Debbie Haycock beat Peter Brinkley in a special episode. 2002: Priscilla Munday beat Michael Clarke, by a score of 89 – 86. 2001: Geraldine Hylands beat Mac McDonald, scoring 55 – 46. 1999: Angela Sheffield beat Bill Leslie in a 39 – 27 game. 1998: Neil Doherty beat Sandy Fergusson with scores of 47 – 37. 1997: Bhavin Manek beat Ann Mead with final score 59 – 17. 1996: Mark Tripp beat John Britten with a score of 60 – 24. 1993: Eugene McGoldrick beat Jane Atkins in a game that ended 61 – 21. 1992: Alan Payne beat Sandi Harja, by a score of 69 – 38. 1991: Tamsin Rawlins beat Jack Keane, scoring 37 – 30. 1990: Billy Ward beat Martin Jakes in a 43 – 35 game. 1990: Tony Vick played Stephen Deakin in the first leg of a Countdown Masters game.

Popular Articles edit  Template:Quicklinks Editors edit  Template:Editlinks Other Countdown websites edit  Template:Links Upcoming Countdown tournaments edit  The full list of FOCAL tournaments for 2025 is here. The next scheduled event is Countdown in Reading on 30 August. Almost all online tournaments are now held on Apterous: the list of ongoing tournaments is here.

Leave suggestions for this page here.

Refresh this page.