Countdown

Countdown is the greatest gameshow ever, and here's why. 1/richard Whiteley is a diamond in the world of TV. he is not airbrushed or botoxed, or the product of a competition and text-in voting.He was a bright and compassionate person. The quote most widely attributed to him is "I never do impressions, unless I'm asked to." It is that kind of humble and self-effacing humour which made him a diamond in the mud that is modern telly. And he had over 500 ties - all of them atrocious. The only person on TV with the character to wear clothes that bad is Richie Benaud (the cricket commentator). If you are American or Martian and have never caught a period of Richie's commentary you are missing out on a beautiful thing, but i digress... The thing about Whiteley is that you knew what he was.....he didn't pretend to be cool and as a result people grew to love him. compare this to modern stars who start out attractive but get uglier the more you know about them..... 2/ Carol Vorderman is perfectly cast as Whiteley's sidekick. There is no substitute for good casting. 3/ The show cost less than 15000pounds per episode to shoot, and still did huge numbers. You can't beat that. 4/ In an era where game shows are built around greed or cruelty, Countdown offered no great prizes and actually made you think. If you have never seen it you are missing out, and for those of you who have seen it remember it with fondness because gameshows as pure as that may well be a thing of the past. Bon Voyage Richard.

Countdown, Channel 4's longest running and first programme to air on the network. The concept is simple: 9 random letters, make the longest word you can. Repeat four times. Now get six numbers of any combination from 1-10 twice over and/or 25, 50, 75 or 100 all once-over. Have a huge sum total and try to get to it using only addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Now repeat all of that three times over, chuck in a 9 letter word scrambled up, descramble it, thank you, goodnight.

Okay, so its a popular programme. It turned purple in 2003 for its new set (although it looked like somebody had started hanging wallpaper and left the job half finished) and the show later changed timeslot as well which caused a major upset in the political world of the House of Commons with an early day motion tabled to get Channel 4 to shift it back again! I kid you not.

One thing that strikes you when you first see this show is Richard Whiteley, or rather what he's wearing. This man must go out of his way to pick some awful blazer in some shocking colour and/or pattern and then choose a tie that doesn't complement it or the background in any way whatsoever. I thought there was something wrong with my set when I turned Countdown on one day and there was Mr Whiteley in some god-awful blazer that looks like the sort of interference you get when you use a mobile phone next to the TV set.

Fortunately the shocking blazers don't happen *that* often I'm pleased to say and you can see this man in "normal" attire most of the time.

Carol Vorderman launched her TV career on the back of this. Initially wandering on to do the numbers game, now she does everything. She works well with Richard. It's incredible to think that we are now on series 52 and these two presenters have featured in every single episode to date, which is well over 3000 episodes by now.

The show "expanded" to a 45min format in 2002 from its previous 30min format which tided it over for 20yrs. While the 30min format indeed felt "cramped" at times, You now get the impression that there's too much time to fill under the 45min format which might explain why there's more yakking overall.

Still, beggars can't be choosers I suppose.

Worth watching though but will eventually grate as the format doesn't change. When it does, watch something else for a few months.

After nearly being axed, Channel 4 chose Des Lynam as the new host of Countdown to replace the much missed Richard Whiteley after his most unexpected death. Though not the same as Richard, Des isn't too bad.

Richard hosted from episode 1 which was screened way back in 1982 and was at first only intended to run for a few weeks. He hadn't missed an episode until he went down with pneumonia in May 2005 and there were to be guest presenters until his return, but that never did happen.

Richard was of course noted for his bad jokes and bright coloured ties. I often used to watch Countdown when I got home from school back in the 1980's/1990's and only occasionally watch it now.

Richard Whiteley's jokes are terrible and overused. The music is terrible. The whole thing looks years out of date. The sets are awful. Just don't get me started on that irritating "diddle diddle diddly ding... BOOM!"

For some reason, however I still love this show. Richard's jokes, although terrible just seem to fit. The show just wouldn't be the same without that horrible music (with the "diddle diddle diddly ding... BOOM!"), the ugly sets and Carol's tailored suits. This show has been running every teatime for over 20 years and Channel 4 would be lost without it.

Why it is a cult hit watched and loved by teenagers, middle aged people and pensioners alike (it regularly sits in the Top 10 ratings) I can never explain. It is, just accept it. Just watched it a couple of times and I guarantee you'll be hooked, but you won't know why.

Such a wonderfully simple concept, turned into a bona fide British institution thanks largely to the brilliance of Richard Whiteley, Carol Vorderman, Susie Dent and underappreciated producer Damian Eadie