Darren Shacklady

Darren Shacklady first appeared in series 29, beating Tony David 69-38 on his debut on 18 February 1995. Darren went on to win four more games before losing to Tim Dickinson 63-52, but his scores- he averaged almost 65 points a game, which if he had completed his octochamp run, would've have put him on a par with Harvey Freeman- saw him return for the finals as #3 seed. Darren beat Barry Hughes and Andy Cusworth on his way to the final against Chris Rogers. Darren dominated the final, winning 105-63 to become the 29th champion of Countdown. darren returned in 1996 for Championship of Champions VIII, beating Satbir Gupta before losing to Kenneth Michie in the semi-finals.

Preceded by Damian Eadie

Series winner Series 29

Followed by Verity Joubert

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
1621	16/02/1995	P	Tony David	38 – 69	Darren Shacklady	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Ruth Killick
1622	17/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	72 – 23	Liz Rickets	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Ruth Killick
1623	20/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	68 – 41	Peter Andrews	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Ruth Killick
1624	21/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	55 – 26	Brenda Thomson	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Ruth Killick
1625	22/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	73 – 41	Conor Martin	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Ruth Killick
1626	23/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	52 – 63	Tim Dickinson	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Ruth Killick
1648	27/03/1995	QF	Darren Shacklady	66 – 43	Barry Hughes	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Pete Murray	Richard Samson
1651	30/03/1995	SF	Andy Cusworth	46 – 51	Darren Shacklady	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	David Jacobs	Richard Samson
1652	31/03/1995	GF	Chris Rogers	63 – 105	Darren Shacklady	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	David Jacobs, Pete Murray	Richard Samson
1851	3/10/1996	CQF	Darren Shacklady	45 – 34	Satbir Gupta	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Susie Dent
1853	7/10/1996	CSF	Kenneth Michie	46 – 40	Darren Shacklady	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Susie Dent