8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
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''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' is a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
comedy panel show on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
. The show follows the game of ''
Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
'', but presented in a comedic panel show format seen on ''
8 Out of 10 Cats ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' is a British comedy panel show broadcast on Channel 4 and its sister networks, airing since 3 June 2005. The show is hosted by Jimmy Carr; the current team captains are Rob Beckett and Katherine Ryan. The show is based on ...
'', with the show being a crossover of the two. The show is hosted by
Jimmy Carr James Anthony Patrick Carr (born 15 September 1972) is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor. He is known for his deadpan delivery of controversial one-liners and distinctive laugh, for which he has been both praised and criti ...
, with
Rachel Riley Rachel Annabelle Riley (born 11 January 1986) is a British television presenter. She co-presents the Channel 4 daytime puzzle show ''Countdown'' and its comedy spin-off '' 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown''. She is a mathematics graduate. Her t ...
and
Susie Dent Susie Dent (born 1964) is an English lexicographer, etymologist, and media personality. She has appeared in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 game show ''Countdown'' since 1992. She also appears on ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'', a post ...
assuming their ''Countdown'' roles. During most of the run, the two teams had regular captains
Jon Richardson Jon Joel Richardson (born 26 September 1982) is an English comedian. He is known for his appearances on ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' and ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' and his work as co-host with Russell Howard on BBC 6 Music. He is the presente ...
and
Sean Lock Sean Lock (22 April 1963 – 16 August 2021) was an English comedian and actor. He began his comedy career as a stand-up comedian and in 2000 he won the British Comedy Award, in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated for the Perri ...
; after Lock's death in 2021 his team has been led by a rotating series of guest captains while Richardson continues to be a regular captain (excepting when scheduling conflicts prevent him from appearing).


History

The formation of the crossover began as a series of specials, the first of which was broadcast on 2 January 2012, when Channel 4 orchestrated a special "mash-up night", merging two shows to form a special edition of the pair, as part of its 30th-anniversary celebrations. Amongst the programmes that were chosen to be merged for the evening of specials, production teams on ''
Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
'' and ''
8 Out of 10 Cats ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' is a British comedy panel show broadcast on Channel 4 and its sister networks, airing since 3 June 2005. The show is hosted by Jimmy Carr; the current team captains are Rob Beckett and Katherine Ryan. The show is based on ...
'' agreed to combine the two formats of their respective programmes – the crossover between the two formats meant that ''Countdown''s arrangement of games would be interspersed with ''8 Out of 10 Cats''-style banter. As part of the merger, both
Rachel Riley Rachel Annabelle Riley (born 11 January 1986) is a British television presenter. She co-presents the Channel 4 daytime puzzle show ''Countdown'' and its comedy spin-off '' 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown''. She is a mathematics graduate. Her t ...
and
Susie Dent Susie Dent (born 1964) is an English lexicographer, etymologist, and media personality. She has appeared in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 game show ''Countdown'' since 1992. She also appears on ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'', a post ...
assumed their roles from the programme, while
Jimmy Carr James Anthony Patrick Carr (born 15 September 1972) is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor. He is known for his deadpan delivery of controversial one-liners and distinctive laugh, for which he has been both praised and criti ...
took on the mantle of host, with both
Sean Lock Sean Lock (22 April 1963 – 16 August 2021) was an English comedian and actor. He began his comedy career as a stand-up comedian and in 2000 he won the British Comedy Award, in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated for the Perri ...
and
Jon Richardson Jon Joel Richardson (born 26 September 1982) is an English comedian. He is known for his appearances on ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' and ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' and his work as co-host with Russell Howard on BBC 6 Music. He is the presente ...
competing as contestants, and
Joe Wilkinson Joseph Roland Wilkinson (born 2 May 1975) is an English comedian, actor and screenwriter. He began his comedy career in 2004 and has supported Alan Carr and Russell Howard on tour. He has also made numerous appearances on television programme ...
joining Dent during the crossover's recording. Following the first special, Channel 4 ordered another crossover special for 24 August 2012 as part of Channel 4's "Funny Fortnight", featuring the same cast as before, along with the appearances of
David O'Doherty David Nicholas O'Doherty (; born 18 December 1975) is an Irish comedian, author, musician, actor and playwright and son of renowned jazz pianist Jim Doherty. His stand-up has won many international awards including the if.comedy award in 2008 ...
and former ''Countdown'' contestant
Clarke Carlisle Clarke James Carlisle (born 14 October 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender and was chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association. Born in Preston, he began playing football at a young age, takin ...
. In April 2013, a further two specials were ordered by the network, expanding on the merged formats but featuring the same cast, albeit with Lock unable to attend due to ill health and leading to
Lee Mack Lee Gordon McKillop (born 4 August 1968), known by his stage name Lee Mack, is an English comedian, actor, podcaster and presenter. He is known for his quick wit, writing and starring in the sitcom '' Not Going Out'', being a team captain on th ...
standing in for him. As part of the expanded format, both Mack and Richardson were joined by an additional contestant each, for each special –
Rhod Gilbert Rhodri Paul Gilbert (born 18 October 1968) is a Welsh comedian and television & radio presenter who was nominated in 2005 for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award. In 2008 he was nominated for the main comedy award (as the Edinburgh Comedy Awards w ...
,
Rob Beckett Robert Anthony Beckett (born 2 January 1986) is an English comedian, narrator, and presenter. He was a co-host on the ITV2 spin-off show '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! NOW!'' from 2012 to 2014. Since 2016, Beckett has been a team capta ...
,
Stephen Mangan Stephen James Mangan (born 16 May 1968) is an English actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He has played Guy Secretan in ''Green Wing'', Dan Moody in '' I'm Alan Partridge'', Seán Lincoln in ''Episodes'', Bigwig in ''Watership Down'', Postma ...
and
Richard Osman Richard Thomas Osman (born 28 November 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, novelist and comedian. He is the creator and former co-presenter of the BBC One television quiz show ''Pointless''. He has presented the BBC Two quiz sho ...
– with Dent joined by
Tim Key Timothy David Key (born September 1976) is an English poet, comedian, actor, screenwriter and radio personality. He is best known for playing Alan Partridge's sidekick Simon in '' Mid Morning Matters'', '' Alpha Papa'', and '' This Time'', as ...
and
Henning Wehn Henning Wehn (; born 10 April 1974) is a German stand-up comedian based in the UK. Career Wehn studied Business Administration in Münster and worked in customer relations. In 2002, he moved to the United Kingdom to work in the marketing dep ...
respectively during recordings. On 9 July 2013, owing to favourable ratings from the specials, Channel 4 announced its decision to commission a full series of six episodes of the crossover, which was aired from July to September. Following the first series, the network ordered additional series for 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. On 13 July 2018, Channel 4 aired a special edition of the crossover series as part of commemorations towards 100 years of
women's suffrage in the United Kingdom A movement to fight for women's right to vote in the United Kingdom finally succeeded through acts of Parliament in 1918 and 1928. It became a national movement in the Victorian era. Women were not explicitly banned from voting in Great Britai ...
. As part of the special, all male members of the cast and crew were replaced, leaving the episode to feature an all-female cast –
Katherine Ryan Katherine Louisa Ryan (born 30 June 1983) is a Canadian comedian, writer, presenter, and actress based in the United Kingdom. She has appeared on many British panel shows, including as a regular team captain on ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' and '' Never ...
acted as host, while
Roisin Conaty Roisin Marcella Conaty ( ; born 26 March 1979) is an English comedian, actress, and writer. She won the Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010 for her show ''Hero, Warrior, Fireman, Liar''. She played Jo in Channel 4 sitcom '' Man ...
,
Sara Pascoe Sara Patricia Pascoe (born 22 May 1981) is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has appeared on television programmes including ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' for Channel 4, '' QI'' for BBC and '' Taskmaster'' for the digital chan ...
,
Jessica Hynes Tallulah Jessica Elina Hynes (''née'' Stevenson; born 30 October 1972) is an English actress, director and writer. Known professionally as Jessica Stevenson until 2007, she was one of the creators, writers and stars of the British sitcom ''Spac ...
and
Lolly Adefope Ololade "Lolly" Adefope (born 14 September 1990) is a British stand-up comedian and actress, specialising in character comedy. She is known for playing the role of Fran in the Hulu comedy series '' Shrill'', and as Kitty, the ghost of a Georgia ...
participated as the contestants, with an appearance by
Morgana Robinson Morgana Robinson (born 7 May 1982) is an Australian-born English impressionist, comedian, writer and actress, who is best known for her comedy sketch programme ''The Morgana Show'', ''Morgana Robinson's The Agency'', appearances on ''The TNT Sho ...
as
Natalie Cassidy Natalie Ann Cassidy (born 13 May 1983) is an English actress. She has played Sonia Fowler in ''EastEnders'' since 1993, appeared in the BBC Two sitcom-horror '' Psychoville'' and was a contestant on the seventh series of ''Strictly Come Dan ...
. On 11 February 2022, Channel 4 aired the last episode that Sean Lock recorded before his death.


Format

Each episode lasts one hour, including advertising breaks, although the January 2012 special lasted only 30 minutes. Since the first one-third of the programme is occupied in introducing the panel, and due to the comedy interspersed between and during rounds, the game does not consist of the standard 15 rounds. Carr asks each panelist if they have a 'mascot', and the panelist will then indulge in some
prop comedy Prop comedy is a comedy genre in which performers use humorous objects, or conventional objects in humorous ways. The stages and films term "prop", an abbreviation of "property", refers to any object an actor handles in the course of a performance ...
, usually showing off a ludicrous or impractical object and telling a humorous story. The first few specials had different numbers of rounds ranging from 7 to 10. In the first two full series of the show, there were either 8 or 9 rounds. The first three-quarters of the show contained a letters round and a numbers round; the last section had a letters round, a numbers round (if there was time) and a conundrum. More recent series featured rounds involving two contestants participating in humorous activities (usually for bonus points), such as being blindfolded and identifying props that were spelt with nine letters. The letters and numbers rounds are the same as in ''Countdown'', and there are also "Teatime Teasers". The conundrums and teatime teasers typically contain sexual words or innuendos but with usually innocent answers, such as "GONADTIP" (clue: "One way to become a parent", answer: "ADOPTING"). Whilst the clock is ticking, as the contestants attempt to find a word within 30 seconds, Carr often takes part in some form of unusual or non-sequitur activity such as trying to get a dog through an obstacle course, stacking a house of cards or enticing a bird of prey to fly onto his arm. Riley and occasionally Dent sometimes participate in these segments. These segments take place mostly, though not exclusively, in letters rounds. Apart from during the first two specials, there are two contestants on each team, with Richardson and Lock as permanent guests through the episodes for 2021. During some rounds, contestants all offer an answer, but only the best answer from each team counts. During some rounds, one player per team is nominated to answer. A celebrity appears in Dictionary Corner, and, after each numbers round, they present a poem, song or another comedic segment. Susie Dent's "Origin of Words" section does not appear but is instead replaced with an additional segment from the guest. In earlier episodes,
Joe Wilkinson Joseph Roland Wilkinson (born 2 May 1975) is an English comedian, actor and screenwriter. He began his comedy career in 2004 and has supported Alan Carr and Russell Howard on tour. He has also made numerous appearances on television programme ...
appeared as Riley's assistant in the second half of the show, often dressed in costume whilst using props. The humour continued throughout the series, such as Wilkinson offering special prizes, replacing letter tiles with symbols, or turning up despite having been "fired".


Episodes


International broadcasts

In
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, the show has aired on
SBS Viceland SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS ...
since 7 August 2018 from the beginning, as well as on SBS. Later series have also aired on the pay TV channel
BBC UKTV BBC UKTV is an Australian pay television channel in Australia and New Zealand, screening British entertainment programming, sourced mainly from the archives of the BBC, RTL Group (mainly Talkback Thames material) and ITV plc. The channel was o ...
since 23 October 2018. In
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
the show has also been very popular, screening on two free-to-air
TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...
channels
TVNZ 2 TVNZ 2 ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki Rua) is the second New Zealand television channel owned and operated by the state-owned broadcaster Television New Zealand (TVNZ). It targets a younger audience than its sister channel, TVNZ 1. TVNZ 2's line up consi ...
and
TVNZ Duke TVNZ Duke ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki Tiuka), formerly Duke and stylized as TVNZ DUKE or DUKE, is a New Zealand television channel run by state broadcaster Television New Zealand. It screens programming targeted at a male audience. It was launched on 20 ...
, as well as
BBC UKTV BBC UKTV is an Australian pay television channel in Australia and New Zealand, screening British entertainment programming, sourced mainly from the archives of the BBC, RTL Group (mainly Talkback Thames material) and ITV plc. The channel was o ...
on pay TV provider
Sky (New Zealand) Sky Network Television Limited, more commonly known as Sky, is a New Zealand broadcasting company that provides pay television services via satellite, media streaming services and broadband internet services. It is also a wholesale channel pro ...
. In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
certain series of the programme are available on
Britbox BritBox is an online digital video subscription service, founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, operating in nine countries across North America, Europe, Australia and South Africa.
.


Reception


Ratings

The first mashup was watched by 2.49 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched Channel 4 show that week. The next episode, part of "Funny Fortnight", received 1.76 million viewers, which was an 8.3%
audience share Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites. Somet ...
. The 2014 Christmas special was watched by 1.75 million viewers, a 7.6% audience share.


Awards

In 2014, ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' was nominated for the
British Comedy Awards The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...
in two categories: Best Comedy Panel Programme and Best Comedy Moment of 2014. Sean Lock was also nominated for Best Male Television Comic, and Joe Wilkinson was nominated for Best Comedy Breakthrough Artist.


References


External links

* * * * *
The ''Countdown'' Wiki
{{Countdown (game show) 2012 British television series debuts 2010s British comedy television series 2020s British comedy television series Channel 4 comedy Channel 4 panel games Countdown (game show) English-language television shows Television series by ITV Studios Television series by Zeppotron