c4countdown

I could really see Clive Anderson in DC! I'd imagine he might try and take control of the points system and end up giving several thousand points for short or even rude words But seriously, he could probably tell a few stories- he had that talk show, the one where the Bee Gees poured water on his head and walked out! I'd listen to that story.

Adam Dexter wrote:Hmm I was just wondering if John Inverdale had nothing better to talk about than dangerous animals. I must say, it was so hard having to wait until tomorrow for the next enthralling tale. He's a Sports Commentator, why not give some sports anecdotes? It just smacked of laziness really (yeh, I'll just look up these animals, and tell you about them). I thought I had tuned into the Discovery Channel by mistake at some points!

The previous time John Inverdale was in DC he gave some really good sports stories, I assumed with the new host being a sports commentator himself it was thought a bit over the top for JI to carry on in his natural area. I was disappointed as I really enjoyed his previous stories. I do get a bit fed up when guests come along and basically read out something that's been taken from the Internet.

I think David Mitchell would be a really good guest, he's brilliantly funny and it would fit in perfectly with his public persona of being a bit geeky. There are plenty of comedians out there that I love, but Mitchell is probably the only one inoffensive enough that I'd feel happy to watch him with my nan.

How about Michael McIntyre? He seems quite bright and speaks well.
http://www.michaelmcintyre.co.uk/

Roxanne wrote:I'd feel happy to watch him with my nan.

That's just... like, gross.

Jon Corby wrote:

Roxanne wrote:I'd feel happy to watch him with my nan.

That's just... like, gross.

Please, please, please... we need some kind of kudos function. I'm getting bored of having to leave messages every time I just want to tick a box to say "that was an excellent post".

Roxanne wrote:I think David Mitchell would be a really good guest, he's brilliantly funny and it would fit in perfectly with his public persona of being a bit geeky. There are plenty of comedians out there that I love, but Mitchell is probably the only one inoffensive enough that I'd feel happy to watch him with my nan.

They've wanted him for ages but unfortunately Lara didn't try hard enough. Maybe next series.

Charlie Reams wrote:

Roxanne wrote:I think David Mitchell would be a really good guest, he's brilliantly funny and it would fit in perfectly with his public persona of being a bit geeky. There are plenty of comedians out there that I love, but Mitchell is probably the only one inoffensive enough that I'd feel happy to watch him with my nan.

They've wanted him for ages but unfortunately Lara didn't try hard enough. Maybe next series.

LMAO

Oh dear, oh dear! I could see Mitchell being on Countdown, but firstly I don't think he'd quite fit the DC role- I can't imagine him behaving for too long! Secondly, when he sees the number board it'll be too late- he'll already be throwing '75' tiles at poor Rachel and shouting, "THAT'S NUMBERWANG! Though I would love to see him taking over the set and forcing hapless presenters to play Numberwang...

I'm not too bothered who is in the Corner, provided they do something entertaining- tell a funny story, or perform a magic trick. So far this series, there have been too many guests imho who are just there to cash in on the current fleeting wave of hysteria surrounding them. I'm sure Andrew Sachs and John Sergeant are nice people, but they have been interviewed on many other shows and didn't really need 5 more days of Countdown to put their side of the story across.
Every day this week it's been
Jeff: 'Tell us another interesting tale about your time on Strictly.'
John: 'Well, [insert overused possibly-mildly-amusing tale here].'
[/rant]
Apologies. I just want to be made to laugh!
Next week's guest will be better, I'm sure. And I'm looking forward to seeing Colin Murray's debut soon as well.

Roxanne wrote:I think David Mitchell would be a really good guest, he's brilliantly funny and it would fit in perfectly with his public persona of being a bit geeky. There are plenty of comedians out there that I love, but Mitchell is probably the only one inoffensive enough that I'd feel happy to watch him with my nan.

He'd have to cut out the "fucking"s.

Kate Horton wrote:To everyone: am always open to suggestions for guests - but remember I am the booker and not the decision-maker. x

Ross Kemp!
Louis Theroux would be a personality with interesting anicdotes going into the ads. I dont know if he would be as lethal as Jo Brand with a pen and notepad though.

Jon Duncan wrote:I'm still waiting for Amy Winehouse to appear.
link

If she's not already a guest on apterous, i think this is a prompt for her to become one.

Neil Zussman wrote:I'm not too bothered who is in the Corner, provided they do something entertaining- tell a funny story, or perform a magic trick. So far this series, there have been too many guests imho who are just there to cash in on the current fleeting wave of hysteria surrounding them. I'm sure Andrew Sachs and John Sergeant are nice people, but they have been interviewed on many other shows and didn't really need 5 more days of Countdown to put their side of the story across.
Every day this week it's been
Jeff: 'Tell us another interesting tale about your time on Strictly.'
John: 'Well, [insert overused possibly-mildly-amusing tale here].'
[/rant]
Apologies. I just want to be made to laugh!
Next week's guest will be better, I'm sure. And I'm looking forward to seeing Colin Murray's debut soon as well.

Did John Sargeant manage to mention how brilliant he was on Strictly Come Dancing? I do hope so. We need to be constantly reminded.

david dawson wrote:Did John Sargeant manage to mention how brilliant he was on Strictly Come Dancing? I do hope so. We need to be constantly reminded.

I agree that it would have been nice to have had some different anecdotes from him, but at least he can speak fluently off the cuff and be amusing. John Inverdale just worked slowly through one item culled from the Internet. And I really would have expected that Kate Humble could do better than read from a rather tedious book.
Kate, do you get to OK what they are going to do? Could you not bring a bit of pressure to bear?

Rosemary Roberts wrote:John Inverdale just worked slowly through one item culled from the Internet. And I really would have expected that Kate Humble could do better than read from a rather tedious book. ?

I quite like Inverdale and am a fan of Kate Humble but feel most let down by them both reading out of bloody boring books. Kate has so much interesting stuff she has done to give a proper chat about things.

JackHurst wrote:

Kate Horton wrote:To everyone: am always open to suggestions for guests - but remember I am the booker and not the decision-maker. x

Ross Kemp!
Louis Theroux would be a personality with interesting anicdotes going into the ads. I dont know if he would be as lethal as Jo Brand with a pen and notepad though.


Hi Jack,
Thanks for the suggestions. However, I do know Louis has a tie-in with the BBC and cannot appear on a C4 show.

Ian Fitzpatrick wrote:How about Michael McIntyre? He seems quite bright and speaks well.
http://www.michaelmcintyre.co.uk/

His agent said he's "up to his neck and too busy to take part"

Kate Horton wrote:

Ian Fitzpatrick wrote:How about Michael McIntyre? He seems quite bright and speaks well.
http://www.michaelmcintyre.co.uk/

His agent said he's "up to his neck and too busy to take part"

Oh what a relief.

Ian Fitzpatrick wrote:How about Michael McIntyre? He seems quite bright and speaks well.
http://www.michaelmcintyre.co.uk/

Sorry Ian. It's his speaking that irritates me so much.
That over-excited mannered crack in his voice/throat as if he is about to yodel is what annoys me.
He didn't used to do it, so I guess it may be an affectation.

Erm..Just who are David Mitchell and Michael MacIntyre??
Never heard of them.

Jennifer McElroy wrote:Erm..Just who are David Mitchell and Michael MacIntyre??
Never heard of them.

Wikipedia is your friend, Jennifer. They're both comics. Of the two, I prefer Mitchell, whose persona is very diffident and geeky but there's a razor-sharp wit behind it.

I suppose there's no chance of getting Ian Hislop? Or somebody from the Oldie - they ought to fit right in!

Get Frank Sidebottom in. Comedian, musician and raconteur, and probably not too expensive.

When's the lovely Dr Phil Hammond coming back? (Beg, beg)

AnnieHall wrote:When's the lovely Dr Phil Hammond coming back? (Beg, beg)

He is back on Monday 2nd March along with some ugly young man as a contestant.

Kirk Bevins wrote:

AnnieHall wrote:When's the lovely Dr Phil Hammond coming back? (Beg, beg)

He is back on Monday 2nd March along with some ugly young man as a contestant.

Spoiler, for information on your opponent.

Matt Morrison wrote:

Kirk Bevins wrote:

AnnieHall wrote:When's the lovely Dr Phil Hammond coming back? (Beg, beg)

He is back on Monday 2nd March along with some ugly young man as a contestant.

Spoiler, for information on your opponent.

Awww that's very kind of you

Kirk Bevins wrote:Awww that's very kind of you

Unlike everyone else, I'm thinking ahead and just doing my 'Kirk is OK' balance a favour before I have any beef with you

David Mitchell..just looked him up. Should have heard of him since he was born up the road from me in Southport. Read his book "Cloud Atlas" which was good but complicated.
Phil Hammond..great I like him, he always cheers me up..very dry wit, and a naturally gifted storyteller. Has he got another book to promote.
Well done Neil..you are coming 9over as a nice clean living personable boy. The Liverpool Radio City guy nearly had you though didn't he!!

Jennifer McElroy wrote:Well done Neil..you are coming 9over as a nice clean living personable boy. The Liverpool Radio City guy nearly had you though didn't he!!

Spoiler!

Jennifer McElroy wrote:David Mitchell..just looked him up. Should have heard of him since he was born up the road from me in Southport. Read his book "Cloud Atlas" which was good but complicated.

Er... no. That's David Mitchell the novelist. David Mitchell the comedian and actor was born in Salisbury.

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Jennifer McElroy wrote:David Mitchell..just looked him up. Should have heard of him since he was born up the road from me in Southport. Read his book "Cloud Atlas" which was good but complicated.

Er... no. That's David Mitchell the novelist. David Mitchell the comedian and actor was born in Salisbury.

Just up the road from me then. Glad you cleared that up Phil, I was reading Jennifer's message and thinking "well surely you should remember him more for the book he wrote that you've read than for his birthplace?"

I am a fan of Angela Lansbury and I know she's been a guest on The Paul O'Grady Show before, so would she not do Countdown as well?

Correct me if I'm totally wrong, but is that Angela Lansbury of 'Murder She Wrote' game? As well as many other things...

Hannah O wrote:Correct me if I'm totally wrong, but is that Angela Lansbury of 'Murder She Wrote' game? As well as many other things...

You are not wrong at all , it is the same Angela Lansbury

Ah! Super! I think she'd be a good guest. I wonder what her stories would be about...

Hannah O wrote:Ah! Super! I think she'd be a good guest. I wonder what her stories would be about...

Going by that Wikipedia link, I think Angela would go on about Film and Television, Theatre, Honors and possibly stories from her childhood. She should definitely have some interesting stories. I really hope they can get her on.

Incidentally Murder She Wrote is still shown on BBC2, but its on at 3:00pm - 3:45pm, so if you turn over to watch Countdown, you miss who the murderer was .

Remember Roger McGough (The Scaffold) he's also a poet & a wit, and would be very good on DC. (Talking of poets- NO MORE PAM AYRES - Pleeeeasseeee!!

AnnieHall wrote:(Talking of poets- NO MORE PAM AYRES - Pleeeeasseeee!!

I love Pam Ayres, but I could do without Richard Digance. Or could we perhaps agree on Wendy Cope?

Sorry..about the David Mitchell error on my part..I just looked him up on Wiki and that was where I got to.
"Spoiler" Why? we had already seen that programme.
Brian Capron next week..good I like him..something about his twinkly eyes.

Jennifer McElroy wrote:"Spoiler" Why? we had already seen that programme.

YOU had already seen the programme! I imagine the person who said spoiler was mucking around as it's become a bit of a joke word here.
However, just for the info - anything outside of the spoilers thread shouldn't refer to an episode's details within about a week of it being shown, as not everyone gets the chance to see it when you or I do.

Matt Morrison wrote:

Jennifer McElroy wrote:"Spoiler" Why? we had already seen that programme.

YOU had already seen the programme! I imagine the person who said spoiler was mucking around as it's become a bit of a joke word here.
However, just for the info - anything outside of the spoilers thread shouldn't refer to an episode's details within about a week of it being shown, as not everyone gets the chance to see it when you or I do.

Well they shouldn,t read threads that are in the spoiler section which this one is.
It does what it says on the tin.

jeff wharton wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:

Jennifer McElroy wrote:"Spoiler" Why? we had already seen that programme.

YOU had already seen the programme! I imagine the person who said spoiler was mucking around as it's become a bit of a joke word here.
However, just for the info - anything outside of the spoilers thread shouldn't refer to an episode's details within about a week of it being shown, as not everyone gets the chance to see it when you or I do.

Well they shouldn,t read threads that are in the spoiler section which this one is.
It does what it says on the tin.

True. I'm a fucking dick for not noticing this was in the spoilers forum - I blame the "Spoilers for"-less title. Apologies for time wasting.

Re poets... Benjamin Zephaniah would be good.
Oh, I'm now thinking kids books... Judith Kerr (I LOVE Mog stories), Julia Donaldson (The Gruffalo etc), Anne Fine (she even has a book called Countdown - how appropriate is that?! lol), and what about Sophie Dahl? She has wonderful tales of her grandfather.

After Frank Sidebottom, how about Richard Madeley? He could entertain us with stories of what supermarkets have special deals on cheap wine.

Charlie Reams wrote:

Roxanne wrote:I think David Mitchell would be a really good guest, he's brilliantly funny and it would fit in perfectly with his public persona of being a bit geeky. There are plenty of comedians out there that I love, but Mitchell is probably the only one inoffensive enough that I'd feel happy to watch him with my nan.

They've wanted him for ages but unfortunately Lara didn't try hard enough. Maybe next series.

After Saturday night's Red Nose Day dance competition perhaps we should also have Robert Webb in his LEOTARD!

Excellent idea Allan! He was AMAZING! Totally gave it 100%!

Allan Harmer wrote:After Saturday night's Red Nose Day dance competition perhaps we should also have Robert Webb in his LEOTARD!

It would still be considerably more than he wore for most of the film Confetti.

Kate Richardson

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:Phil Hammond appears w/c 2 March. Although calling him a GP is a bit generous, he hasn't undertaken any serious practice for about ten years and mainly works as a humourist.

According to the biography on his agent's website, he "currently works as a part time GP in the Bristol area", although of course what constitutes "part time" may be a moot point.

My ex-GF told me he practised in her home town, which is midway between Bath and Bristol, has 8 letters, and was also the title of an album by the Bonzo Dog Band. Here's your 30 seconds: ding-diggle-iggle-iggle-ing diggle-iggle-iggle-ing...

Rosemary Roberts wrote:

AnnieHall wrote:(Talking of poets- NO MORE PAM AYRES - Pleeeeasseeee!!

I love Pam Ayres, but I could do without Richard Digance. Or could we perhaps agree on Wendy Cope?

I'm with Rosemary on this one. I like Pam Ayres, but Richard Digance has me reaching for the fast-forward button, especially when he reads out his 'poetry' (I use the term loosely). I had to sit through 45 minutes of him at Fairport Convention's Cropredy Festival a few years ago too, and that was quite enough for me (and much of the audience by the look of things).

I like Jo Brand and her nonsense words though. I often find myself doing the same even when she's not on. Sorry; I know I'm supposed to take this stuff seriously

Andy Clews wrote:My ex-GF told me he practised in her home town, which is midway between Bath and Bristol, has 8 letters, and was also the title of an album by the Bonzo Dog Band. Here's your 30 seconds: ding-diggle-iggle-iggle-ing diggle-iggle-iggle-ing...

Keynsham. Got it in 2 seconds. Google even gets you the address of the surgery & his email address.

Brian Moore wrote:

Andy Clews wrote:My ex-GF told me he practised in her home town, which is midway between Bath and Bristol, has 8 letters, and was also the title of an album by the Bonzo Dog Band. Here's your 30 seconds: ding-diggle-iggle-iggle-ing diggle-iggle-iggle-ing...

Keynsham. Got it in 2 seconds. Google even gets you the address of the surgery & his email address.

Excellent; your 2 seconds pretty well matched the amount of time elapsed by my 'ding-diggle-iggle-iggle-ing etc', then.
Pity it wasn't a conundrum

Andy Clews wrote:

Brian Moore wrote:

Andy Clews wrote:My ex-GF told me he practised in her home town, which is midway between Bath and Bristol, has 8 letters, and was also the title of an album by the Bonzo Dog Band. Here's your 30 seconds: ding-diggle-iggle-iggle-ing diggle-iggle-iggle-ing...

Keynsham. Got it in 2 seconds. Google even gets you the address of the surgery & his email address.

Excellent; your 2 seconds pretty well matched the amount of time elapsed by my 'ding-diggle-iggle-iggle-ing etc', then.
Pity it wasn't a conundrum

It would have been quicker than that if I hadn't had trouble adding up the number of letters in Keynsham. Shame I'm not as good at the real conundrums.

I think Peter Sallis would be a good guest choice.

Joseph Bolas wrote:I think Peter Sallis would be a good guest choice.

I agree, but unfortunately he now has extremely poor sight, as does Denis Norden.

Rosemary Roberts wrote:

Joseph Bolas wrote:I think Peter Sallis would be a good guest choice.

I agree, but unfortunately he now has extremely poor sight, as does Denis Norden.

Surely his sight wouldn't stop him from appearing in DC, would it?

Joseph Bolas wrote:

Rosemary Roberts wrote:

Joseph Bolas wrote:I think Peter Sallis would be a good guest choice.

I agree, but unfortunately he now has extremely poor sight, as does Denis Norden.

Surely his sight wouldn't stop him from appearing in DC, would it?

Well - he would need to be able to see the letters, write down his solutions and read them back: not everybody can play the game in their head. And advanced age coupled with poor sight are common reasons for not doing things one might previously have enjoyed.
I would be glad to see both of them in DC, particularly as it would be an indication that they are coping well with a horrid disability, but there is always the chance that they are not, in which case it boils down to "what's in it for them?".

Does anyone remember what Nicholas Parsons was like in Dictionary Corner? Apparently he was there in 1997 for 5 episodes. I have just seen him on This Week, and although he usually likes to play the fool, he was amazingly intelligent and articulate on there (and a VERY youthful 85), and I was actually going to suggest him until I saw he had been on before.

Nicholas Parsons

It does sound vaguely familiar him being on, but I don't really remember it at all.

Hope this helps.