c4countdown

Posted: **Thu Apr 09, 2020 6:17 am**

I just looked on on the wiki to see if there was any information on how many pre-recorded episodes of Countdown are left to broadcast, and learned that

wiki wrote:As a result of the filming disruption caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, this series is expected to take a break after episodes run out on 1 May. While transmission of new episodes is on hold, reruns of the 30th Birthday Championship, will replace them from Monday 4th May.

The 30th BC thing is cool; I didn't know that. When/where was that announced? (side note: maybe the wiki should have a citation index like wikipedia)

Anyway, that's something to look forward to as I never saw 30BC at the time so it'll be good to have an opportunity to watch it. No spoilers please.

Posted: **Thu Apr 09, 2020 7:33 am**

damo said it in aptochat at some point i'll find the link when i'm more awake

spoilers callum tood beats tim down in final (with steel chair). bradley horrocks narrowly misses out

Posted: **Thu Apr 09, 2020 7:34 am**

Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 7:33 am damo said it in aptochat at some point i'll find the link when i'm more awake

spoilers callum tood beats tim down in final (with steel chair). bradley horrocks narrowly misses out

haha tood

Posted: **Thu Apr 09, 2020 8:18 am**

Supreme would be better. 30th BC isn't old enough!

Posted: **Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:20 am**

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 8:18 am Supreme would be better. 30th BC isn't old enough!

Maybe they're saving some for later, I wouldn't mind seeing a CofC with Charlie etc

Posted: **Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:01 am**

Presumably they're choosing the 30BC over the supreme championship as they still have a 45 minute timeslot to fill?

Posted: **Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:08 am**

I would personally like them to show all the special episodes that still haven’t been shown, they haven’t got an excuse not to show them now!!

Posted: **Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:45 pm**

James Robinson wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:08 am I would personally like them to show all the special episodes that still haven’t been shown, they haven’t got an excuse not to show them now!!

I suspect there are complications with Richard Whiteley's estate, and with those episodes not being in HD - ditto the Supreme Championship.

Posted: **Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:51 pm**

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:45 pm
James Robinson wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:08 am I would personally like them to show all the special episodes that still haven’t been shown, they haven’t got an excuse not to show them now!!
I suspect there are complications with Richard Whiteley's estate, and with those episodes not being in HD - ditto the Supreme Championship.

I'm talking about the other ones that have been done since then, there are at least a couple done in Nick's time (and I think possibly in Jeff's time too).

Posted: **Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:47 pm**

Weren't they all sex offenders?

Posted: **Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:53 pm**

Matt Morrison wrote: ↑Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:47 pm Weren't they all sex offenders?

The ones that got replaced with specials, or just removed were sex offenders, but I have a feeling the people invited back for the specials certainly weren't....

Posted: **Sat Apr 11, 2020 12:21 am**

I like this.

Posted: **Sat Apr 11, 2020 6:29 am**

Why would there be complications with Richard Whiteley's estate?

Posted: **Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:26 pm**

The Countdown back catalogue is as such:

- 3 regular episodes
- 4 specials
- 6.4 Masters games (32x5min of each)

One of these regular episodes had to be pulled because Covid references. The other two feature sex offenders so can't be shown (or would have to have the contestant severely pixelated, voiced by an actor, and their name bleeped from all dialogue...), one of which is from 1997 so is a) 30 mins and b) a RW episode (see below).

Everything else, other than two Stelling specials, was all presented by Richard Whiteley. There's still 2 Whiteley specials (x45mins) that we haven't seen and things may well have changed by then, because C4/Countdown has had plenty of opportunities to air them since then: it only takes one of Whiteley's family, Kathryn Apanowicz, Channel 4, Carol Vorderman, Susie Dent, or whoever, to veto them being showed, I would have thought.

On top of this, the Masters games would be horrid to slide into the schedule given they're effectively 32 5-minute episodes which wouldn't be able to be spliced together easily I would have thought, and even so would be 25 minutes in length anyway.

And of course, none of the above is in HD. Given that quite a fuss was made when I was on set about specks of dust showing up on a black shirt in HD, I imagine C4 would not like to broadcast SD programmes if they can't be upscaled (which is apparently much harder on studio videotape than it is on film).

Posted: **Sun Apr 12, 2020 7:49 am**

So why did they bother doing a couple of sex offender specials if they knew they wouldn't be able to show them?

Posted: **Sun Apr 12, 2020 1:55 pm**

Because the vetting process obviously didn’t see it.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is having a similar problem with one of their contestants on the current series. Whilst they’ve not been convicted, they’ve admitted to the allegations, and is therefore being hastily edited out as much as possible.

Posted: **Wed Apr 15, 2020 6:54 pm**

Well, someone claiming to be Damian (it seems to be him) has put on the Wiki that the following schedule is this:

4-8th May: Special Episodes (with the pulled episode from March being shown on the 5th).
11th May-3rd July: 30th Birthday Championship
6th July onwards....: Who knows

Posted: **Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:53 pm**

Why don’t you broadcast Series 1?

Posted: **Wed Apr 15, 2020 11:11 pm**

Johnny Canuck wrote: ↑Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:53 pm Why don’t you broadcast Series 1?

Whilst I don't profess to be an expert...

Rhys Benjamin wrote:it only takes one of Whiteley's family, Kathryn Apanowicz, Channel 4, Carol Vorderman, Susie Dent, or whoever, to veto them being showed, I would have thought [...] none of the above (bar that one episode being shown on 5 May) is in HD. Given that quite a fuss was made when I was on set about specks of dust showing up on a black shirt in HD, I imagine C4 would not like to broadcast SD programmes if they can't be upscaled (which is apparently much harder on studio videotape than it is on film).

Posted: **Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:46 am**

They had those episodes on Challenge long after Richard's death. No-one veteoed them then. Why would they veto them? Why do we even think they could? Would they have had it written into their contracts that they or their families could stop repeats being shown? Why would it even be a thing? Why don't all old films never get shown for the above reasons?

HD doesn't matter when you know you're watching old footage.

I think the 45-minute timeslot is the best reason that's been given. Plus also they probably don't think that that many people (apart from hardcore fans) would particularly appreciate ancient episodes being shown.

Posted: **Fri Apr 17, 2020 4:40 pm**

James Robinson wrote: ↑Wed Apr 15, 2020 6:54 pm Well, someone claiming to be Damian (it seems to be him) has put on the Wiki that the following schedule is this:

4-8th May: Special Episodes (with the pulled episode from March being shown on the 5th).
11th May-3rd July: 30th Birthday Championship
6th July onwards....: Who knows

Just been informed that this account is not Damian..., so back to Square 1...

Posted: **Fri Apr 17, 2020 6:11 pm**

I can't believe you got Hancocked that easily.

I should probably rephrase that.

Posted: **Fri Apr 17, 2020 6:30 pm**

Fred Mumford wrote: ↑Fri Apr 17, 2020 6:11 pm I can't believe you got Hancocked that easily.

I should probably rephrase that.

I‘ll have you know, I’ve had no involvement in that scandal so don’t blame it on me.

Posted: **Sat May 02, 2020 6:14 pm**

Just looked on the episode guide for Countdown on All 4 (https://www.channel4.com/programmes/cou ... sode-guide), and noticed that for the episodes you can't play, they've got the first week of the 30th BC (presumably because they're going to show it), but also 3 other random episodes from 2013. Thursday 18th April, Friday 18th October and Thursday 19th December. I expect this means they'll show these episodes too, but I wonder why these ones specifically...

Posted: **Sat May 02, 2020 9:45 pm**

Thursday 18 April is Dan Tibbles vs John Gardner, a rather unremarkable game.
Friday 18 October is Mark Hartnett vs Bradley Cates, which is much more exciting.
Thursday 19 December is the Callum Todd vs Glen Webb semi-final, an odd one given that it will doubtless be full of references to "tomorrow's" final.

Posted: **Sun May 03, 2020 9:56 am**

Toby McDonald wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 6:14 pm Just looked on the episode guide for Countdown on All 4 (https://www.channel4.com/programmes/cou ... sode-guide), and noticed that for the episodes you can't play, they've got the first week of the 30th BC (presumably because they're going to show it), but also 3 other random episodes from 2013. Thursday 18th April, Friday 18th October and Thursday 19th December. I expect this means they'll show these episodes too, but I wonder why these ones specifically...

Great spot! I reckon someone has made an error and dragged them over accidentally while copying and pasting the 30BC episodes over, or something like that.

Posted: **Mon May 04, 2020 2:06 pm**

I thought that whoever managed to upscale today’s episode into HD did a remarkable job, given (or at least I thought this was the case) it was filmed in SD.

I think there’s a difference between repeating Whiteley episodes and showing the two unseen Whiteley specials. Channel 4 had cricket in 2005 after Richard’s death and there were gaps in that summer’s Ashes series for an opportunity to show them, but they didn’t do so.

Posted: **Mon May 04, 2020 2:17 pm**

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 2:06 pm I thought that whoever managed to upscale today’s episode into HD did a remarkable job, given (or at least I thought this was the case) it was filmed in SD.

I believe the 30th Birthday Championship episodes were the first Countdown episodes to be filmed in HD, although perhaps some of the series 67 finals were HD as well. It was around the time they were moving from Granada to MediaCity - they hadn't moved from Granada yet, but they wanted to film it in HD, so they had one of those modern broadcast trucks in the car park doing the job of the older equipment in the studios.

Posted: **Mon May 04, 2020 3:06 pm**

Hmmm, OK. My understanding was the two things were contemporaneous, but evidently not. The lighting on "today"'s show was significantly darker, I noticed, compared to how it looks in Salford. Which was nice, because it showed off the gloss a little more.

According to the DVD features on the Doctor Who story Dragonfire, the "correct" way to light for television back then was to set up a pole and floodlight it until you can't see any shadows. Judging by some of the lightning at MediaCity's editions of Countdown I don't think anything has changed...

Posted: **Tue May 05, 2020 7:46 pm**

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:45 pm
James Robinson wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:08 am I would personally like them to show all the special episodes that still haven’t been shown, they haven’t got an excuse not to show them now!!
I suspect there are complications with Richard Whiteley's estate, and with those episodes not being in HD - ditto the Supreme Championship.

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:26 pm And of course, none of the above is in HD. Given that quite a fuss was made when I was on set about specks of dust showing up on a black shirt in HD, I imagine C4 would not like to broadcast SD programmes if they can't be upscaled (which is apparently much harder on studio videotape than it is on film).

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 2:06 pm I thought that whoever managed to upscale today’s episode into HD did a remarkable job, given (or at least I thought this was the case) it was filmed in SD.

Rhys, why are you obsessed with HD?

Posted: **Tue May 05, 2020 11:37 pm**

Toby McDonald wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 6:14 pm Just looked on the episode guide for Countdown on All 4 (https://www.channel4.com/programmes/cou ... sode-guide), and noticed that for the episodes you can't play, they've got the first week of the 30th BC (presumably because they're going to show it), but also 3 other random episodes from 2013. Thursday 18th April, Friday 18th October and Thursday 19th December. I expect this means they'll show these episodes too, but I wonder why these ones specifically...

Just checked again. They've been taken off now, so must've been an error.

Posted: **Tue May 05, 2020 11:44 pm**

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2020 7:46 pm
Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:45 pm
James Robinson wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:08 am I would personally like them to show all the special episodes that still haven’t been shown, they haven’t got an excuse not to show them now!!
I suspect there are complications with Richard Whiteley's estate, and with those episodes not being in HD - ditto the Supreme Championship.

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:26 pm And of course, none of the above is in HD. Given that quite a fuss was made when I was on set about specks of dust showing up on a black shirt in HD, I imagine C4 would not like to broadcast SD programmes if they can't be upscaled (which is apparently much harder on studio videotape than it is on film).

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 2:06 pm I thought that whoever managed to upscale today’s episode into HD did a remarkable job, given (or at least I thought this was the case) it was filmed in SD.
Rhys, why are you obsessed with HD?

Probably because I've only just got an HD TV in the last few months.

Posted: **Wed May 06, 2020 2:21 pm**

CoC XIV due to follow the 30th Birthday Championship (starting 25th June based on email I just received).

Posted: **Wed May 06, 2020 2:24 pm**

Thomas Cappleman wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2020 2:21 pm CoC XIV due to follow the 30th Birthday Championship (starting 25th June based on email I just received).

Before we write this in our diaries, does Ashton Hancock have your e-mail address?

Posted: **Wed May 06, 2020 2:48 pm**

Thomas Cappleman wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2020 2:21 pm CoC XIV due to follow the 30th Birthday Championship (starting 25th June based on email I just received).

Are you sure? 25th June is a Thursday and the day before the 30BC final is due to be repeated. Surely Monday 29th would be the most logical date.

Posted: **Wed May 06, 2020 3:08 pm**

countdown channel4.com <countdown@channel4.com>
2:51 PM (1 hour ago)
to Thomas

Dear Thomas,

I hope you are well.

Due to the current Coronavirus situation and filming restrictions, Channel 4 will be repeating past episodes of Countdown. We wanted to let you know that the episodes you appeared in, originally broadcast in 2016, are due to be shown again on
25th June and 7th July 2020. Dates may change due to scheduling. We hope you enjoy watching it again.

If you have any questions, do let us know.

Many thanks,

--
The Countdown Team

Posted: **Wed May 06, 2020 3:18 pm**

I think that may well be a typo. In another thread, it's quite clearly stated that the 30BC final is on 26 June (spoiler alert there) so unless one of the 30BC shows has had to be cut for some reason I suspect someone's just got the calendar wrong.

Posted: **Thu May 07, 2020 11:50 am**

CoC XV due in late July I presume, again, from an email I've just received.

Posted: **Tue May 12, 2020 8:01 am**

Just to confirm, I’m not sending any emails out regarding mix ups. Check the email adresses if you don’t believe me. I’m legit now

Posted: **Wed May 13, 2020 4:35 pm**

Maybe we'll be back soon(-ish).... https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a32460320 ... n-filming/

Posted: **Wed May 13, 2020 9:16 pm**

If Nick can't leave the house I suggest the DC guest does the presenting larks.

Posted: **Fri May 15, 2020 2:54 am**

I've had a look at my TV guide for the next couple of weeks. It appears that Tuesday 19th May's episode, which I expected to be the repeat of Chris Hawkins v Jill Bright, http://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_5626 has been replaced by http://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_6613, the 25th anniversary of Susie's first appearance. The rest of the 30BC episodes, up to and including my game against Graeme, 28th May, (that's as far as it goes for now) appear to be still on, though. If CoCXIV starts on 25th June as stated, there must be at least two more 30BC episodes to be axed.

Posted: **Fri May 15, 2020 2:37 pm**

I'm under 70, let's do this.

Posted: **Fri May 15, 2020 3:57 pm**

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 2:37 pm I'm under 70, let's do this.

In all seriousness it's genuinely not a bad idea to have former contestants doing the presenting. They know the program better than any stand-in celeb might do and thus would have a shorter acclimatisation period, those of us who gratuitously chalk up media appearances know how television works more or less... yeah, there are worse ideas, actually.

Posted: **Fri May 15, 2020 4:40 pm**

Are you hyping me up, or announcing yourself as competition for this opportunity that isn't available?

Posted: **Fri May 15, 2020 5:06 pm**

Rhys Benjamin wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 3:57 pm
Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 2:37 pm I'm under 70, let's do this.
In all seriousness it's genuinely not a bad idea to have former contestants doing the presenting. They know the program better than any stand-in celeb might do and thus would have a shorter acclimatisation period, those of us who gratuitously chalk up media appearances know how television works more or less... yeah, there are worse ideas, actually.

I'm not a TV industry expert, but for that very reason I would expect that fronting a TV show - and doing it well - is harder than you or I would imagine it to be. It's not like hosting a game at COLIN - being a competent TV game show presenter is more than just knowing the rules.

(Mark Deeks, however, should still host Countdown.)

Posted: **Fri May 15, 2020 5:16 pm**

It is probably quite hard, but Mark Deeks is well up to the task. No question.

Posted: **Fri May 15, 2020 5:27 pm**

Aw, you guys. (But yeah I'd do it, initial backlash be damned.)

Posted: **Fri May 15, 2020 5:28 pm**

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 4:40 pm Are you hyping me up, or announcing yourself as competition for this opportunity that isn't available?

Hyping you up. Obviously.

Posted: **Fri May 15, 2020 11:08 pm**

Atta boy. I'mma get you a massive clock neckless and a loudhaler; head up my bandwagon. Drive the Deeks Train to Host Town. Choo - and I cannot stress this enough - choo.

Posted: **Sat May 16, 2020 2:26 am**

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 11:08 pm Atta boy. I'mma get you a massive clock neckless and a loudhaler; head up my bandwagon. Drive the Deeks Train to Host Town. Choo - and I cannot stress this enough - choo.

This is dangerously close to a The Thick of It scene.

Posted: **Sun May 17, 2020 8:35 pm**

It seems that Susie's 25th anniversary show from 3 years ago is being repeated on Tuesday, instead of Chris Hawkins v Jill Bright.

So, we get the Series 76 semi-final between Jeff Clayton and Moose Rosser instead.

Posted: **Mon May 18, 2020 4:52 pm**

Jack Worsley wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 2:54 am I've had a look at my TV guide for the next couple of weeks. It appears that Tuesday 19th May's episode, which I expected to be the repeat of Chris Hawkins v Jill Bright, http://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_5626 has been replaced by http://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_6613, the 25th anniversary of Susie's first appearance. The rest of the 30BC episodes, up to and including my game against Graeme, 28th May, (that's as far as it goes for now) appear to be still on, though. If CoCXIV starts on 25th June as stated, there must be at least two more 30BC episodes to be axed.

They've sent out updated emails, with CoC XIV now starting on the 29th.

Posted: **Mon May 18, 2020 6:16 pm**

29th May or June? This all seems very strange.

Posted: **Mon May 18, 2020 7:52 pm**

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 6:16 pm 29th May or June? This all seems very strange.

June would seem most likely.

As alluded to above, two 30BC episodes seem to have been pulled, and presumably the original dates given for the CoC assumed they wouldn't be replaced with other episodes, which we now know they will be.

The first replaced episode, Chris Hawkins v Jill Bright, would have been shown tomorrow. I don't know definitively why it's been replaced, but if we look at Robbo's recap from the time we can see that Susie's OOW bit was about the Black Hole of Calcutta. While they could probably get away with the odd disease-related word cropping up having made clear it's an old episode, you can imagine why a story about cramming a large number of people together in a confined space to die might be viewed a bit less sympathetically.

Posted: **Mon May 18, 2020 8:03 pm**

Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 7:52 pm
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 6:16 pm 29th May or June? This all seems very strange.
June would seem most likely.

As alluded to above, two 30BC episodes seem to have been pulled, and presumably the original dates given for the CoC assumed they wouldn't be replaced with other episodes, which we now know they will be.

The first replaced episode, Chris Hawkins v Jill Bright, would have been shown tomorrow. I don't know definitively why it's been replaced, but if we look at Robbo's recap from the time we can see that Susie's OOW bit was about the Black Hole of Calcutta. While they could probably get away with the odd disease-related word cropping up having made clear it's an old episode, you can imagine why a story about cramming a large number of people together in a confined space to die might be viewed a bit less sympathetically.

Of course, no-one actually watching the show would be offended by it or anything. Obviously one risks coming across as the "political correctness gone mad Nigel Farage" type, but cancelling the show because of this is pretty mental - if that is indeed the reason, as opposed to them spilling hot coffee over the master tape of it and ruining it.

Posted: **Tue May 19, 2020 3:50 am**

Maybe Jill Bright has killed like eight people before and it has only come to light over the last few years.

Posted: **Tue May 19, 2020 10:08 am**

Yes, I don't know why OOW couldn't have been expunged given some of the not-particularly-well-disguised edits to some of these episodes.

Posted: **Tue May 19, 2020 12:38 pm**

Hi all,

I think I can resolve the mystery of today’s episode for you, in a slightly disappointing manner.

Basically, although he’s ok, Chris put in a request that his two games not be reshown for personal reasons. Obviously it was a big ask, so he’s grateful to the producers for their understanding and being able to accommodate.

I haven't really got anything more than that, but that's the reason for the substitution.

Posted: **Tue May 19, 2020 1:14 pm**

Which presumably means Tom Rowell's declaration of CORONAS will air in 3 weeks' time. Yikes. http://wiki.apterous.org/Episode_5640

c4countdown

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