Yorkshire Television purchased this French gameshow format and commissioned a series of eight shows under the title Calendar Countdown, which were to be a spin-off of the regional news programme Calendar.
As the presenter of Calendar, Richard Whiteley was the natural choice to present Calendar Countdown. His daily appearances on both shows earned him the nickname “Twice Nightly” Whiteley. These shows were only broadcast in the Yorkshire area.
With the name shortened to just Countdown, the national version of the show was the first programme to air on Channel 4 when it launched on 2 November 1982.
Countdown outlasted every one of the station’s programmes, bar the news, and host Richard Whiteley – master of the excruciating pun – endeared himself to millions of television viewers.
Contestants have to construct, in 30 seconds, the longest word they can from nine letters chosen at random. Whoever uses the most letters in forming their word earns the same number of points as letters used.
Number games were introduced between word rounds, in which contestants must add, subtract, multiply and divide randomly selected numbers to arrive at a given total (or as close to it as possible).
The final round is the Countdown Conundrum, an anagram worth ten points for the first correct solution.
The highest-scoring contestant meets a new challenger the following day.
Carol Vorderman was the letters and numbers girl from day one until 2008, when she resigned. Beverley Isherwood and Kathy Hytner acted as hostesses in the early programmes.
Richard Whiteley died on 26 June 2005 at Leeds Infirmary. He was 61.
