Darren Shacklady

Darren Shacklady

Darren Shacklady was the champion of Series 29 and a semi-finalist in Championship of Champions VIII.

He was from Bickerstaff, Lancashire, and first appeared on 18 February 1995 beating Tony David 69 – 38 on his début, which also happened to be the second ever max game in the show's history. Shacklady 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 have put him on a par with Harvey Freeman — saw him return for the finals as #3 seed. Shacklady beat Barry Hughes and Andy Cusworth on his way to the final against Chris Rogers. Shacklady dominated the final, winning 105 – 63 to become the 29th champion of Countdown.

Shacklady was a favourite for Championship of Champions VIII in 1996, where he beat Satbir Gupta in the first round before losing narrowly to Kenneth Michie in the semi-finals after neither player solved the crucial conundrum.

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	Darren Shacklady	69 – 38	Tony David	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Ruth Killick	69
1622	17/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	72 – 23	Liz Rickets	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Ruth Killick	75
1623	20/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	68 – 41	Peter Andrews	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Ruth Killick	74
1624	21/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	55 – 26	Brenda Thomson	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Ruth Killick	75
1625	22/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	73 – 41	Conor Martin	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Ruth Killick	75
1626	23/02/1995	P	Darren Shacklady	52 – 63	Tim Dickinson	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Ruth Killick	73
1648	27/03/1995	QF	Darren Shacklady	66 – 43	Barry Hughes	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Pete Murray	Richard Samson	71
1651	30/03/1995	SF	Andy Cusworth	46 – 51	Darren Shacklady	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	David Jacobs	Richard Samson	68
1652	31/03/1995	GF	Chris Rogers	63 – 105	Darren Shacklady	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	David Jacobs, Pete Murray	Richard Samson	117
1851	3/10/1996	CQF	Darren Shacklady	45 – 34	Satbir Gupta	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Susie Dent	69
1853	7/10/1996	CSF	Kenneth Michie	46 – 40	Darren Shacklady	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jan Harvey	Susie Dent	66