Hilary Hopper

Hilary Hopper.

Hilary Hopper, a drama teacher from St. John's near Woking, first appeared as a contestant in Series 13, defeating Cath Powell in the third heat game of the series on 3 July 1987. Hilary won three more games and drew one before falling at the hands of Robert Randall. She returned for the finals as #4 seed, defeating John Clark in the quarter-finals and Nita Marr in the semis. In the grand final, despite making a mistake in the first round, declaring RATION when there was no 'A' in the selection, she put in a commanding performance against Kevin Nelson. She led 84 – 79 going into the final conundrum which read BLINDBRIG, and Kevin buzzed in first but said he had got it wrong, after which Hilary correctly buzzed in with DRIBBLING to become only the second ever female series champion with a 94-79 scoreline.

Hilary returned for Championship of Champions IV in 1989, but was beaten in the first round by Steve Williams. She also appeared in the Supreme Championship, defeating Anthony Butcher, Wayne Summers and Damian Eadie in an impressive run of games, but ultimately fell to Tim Morrissey 56 – 49 in the series quarter-finals.

Hilary would return to the studio one final time in 2003 to record a 3-day 'ladies' championship' series against fellow female series champions. She beat Liz Barber in the first game, before losing to Kate Ogilvie in the final. With a Countdown career spanning over a decade and a half, Hilary can be considered one of the all-time greats of the show. Her numbers solutions were particularly impressive.

Preceded by Steve Balment

Series winner Series 13

Followed by Nic Brown

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
604	3/07/1987	P	Hilary Hopper	60 – 23	Cath Powell	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth	Catherine Clarke
605	6/07/1987	P	Hilary Hopper	43 – 22	Dennis Davies	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth	Catherine Clarke
606	7/07/1987	P	Hilary Hopper	54 – 41	Hilary Jones	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Russell Harty	Catherine Clarke
607	8/07/1987	P	Hilary Hopper	44 – 44	Boz Osberg	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Russell Harty	Catherine Clarke
608	9/07/1987	P	Hilary Hopper	53 – 43	Boz Osberg	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Russell Harty	Catherine Clarke
609	10/07/1987	P	Hilary Hopper	50 – 60	Robert Randall	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Russell Harty	Catherine Clarke
641	25/08/1987	QF	Hilary Hopper	58 – 54	John Clark	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Derek Nimmo	Catherine Clarke
642	26/08/1987	SF	Nita Marr	34 – 54	Hilary Hopper	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Derek Nimmo	Catherine Clarke
644	28/08/1987	GF	Hilary Hopper	94 – 79	Kevin Nelson	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth, Derek Nimmo	Catherine Clarke
816	5/01/1989	CQF	Hilary Hopper	41 – 56	Steve Williams	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Lucy Summers	Tim Rice	Catherine Clarke
M44	29/1/90-2/2/90	Masters 1	Hilary Hopper	77 – 110	Mike Percik	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman					N/A	Catherine Clarke
1888	25/11/1996	fQF	Hilary Hopper	56 – 23	Anthony Butcher	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Tom O'Connor	Catherine Stokes
1891	28/11/1996	fSF	Hilary Hopper	59 – 39	Wayne Summers	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Richard Digance	David Swarbrick
1893	2/12/1996	fF	Hilary Hopper	59 – 40	Damian Eadie	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Richard Digance	David Swarbrick
1904	17/12/1996	SQF	Hilary Hopper	49 – 56	Tim Morrissey	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Catherine Clarke
3436	11/03/2003	LSF	Hilary Hopper	45 – 35	Liz Barber	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Rick Wakeman	Alison Heard
3438	13/03/2003	LF	Hilary Hopper	32 – 54	Kate Ogilvie	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Rick Wakeman	Alison Heard