JV
James Vertigan
Founding member
He can still see it though, can't he? I'm sure he had/has a mug with it on!
NW
He definately used to have a mug with the Chevron on it, and he used to have one with the multi coloured 4 logo on it, but that got replaced by one with the 4 Circles on it, but then all of them dissappeared, I think they still had them as late as 1999, just before the orange look kicked in, now he only has a dictionary and a teapot.
Though I assume the studios still have the chevron and Yorkshire Televison words on the front.
James Vertigan posted:
He can still see it though, can't he? I'm sure he had/has a mug with it on!
He definately used to have a mug with the Chevron on it, and he used to have one with the multi coloured 4 logo on it, but that got replaced by one with the 4 Circles on it, but then all of them dissappeared, I think they still had them as late as 1999, just before the orange look kicked in, now he only has a dictionary and a teapot.
Though I assume the studios still have the chevron and Yorkshire Televison words on the front.
NJ
I wouldn't have thought he'd be too bothered, long as he can do whatever at YTV and present Countdown seemingly day in and day out (does this man ever have a holiday or something because I've never seen any Countdown episode without Whiteley?)
Neil Jones
Founding member
Andrew posted:
Yes I can see this will run and run, until 4 decide to pop it back at 4.15?. I wonder what Whiteley thinks himself about it
I wouldn't have thought he'd be too bothered, long as he can do whatever at YTV and present Countdown seemingly day in and day out (does this man ever have a holiday or something because I've never seen any Countdown episode without Whiteley?)
FA
Back to back episodes are filmed. They usually film for three days a week.
I presume to give holidays they will work for a week or two everyday so that they dont have to film for two/three weeks.
In the past few years with cricket been shown, the episodes per year have been reduced so they may have been able to afford not to record for a few weeks for holidays.
Neil Jones posted:
does this man ever have a holiday or something because I've never seen any Countdown episode without Whiteley?
Back to back episodes are filmed. They usually film for three days a week.
I presume to give holidays they will work for a week or two everyday so that they dont have to film for two/three weeks.
In the past few years with cricket been shown, the episodes per year have been reduced so they may have been able to afford not to record for a few weeks for holidays.
NW
Back to back episodes are filmed. They usually film for three days a week.
I presume to give holidays they will work for a week or two everyday so that they dont have to film for two/three weeks.
In the past few years with cricket been shown, the episodes per year have been reduced so they may have been able to afford not to record for a few weeks for holidays.
Don't forget that it never used to be on all year round, that only happened in 1997 or so, before then it used to share with Fifteen To One or imported junk. I assume it has been filmed like that for years, plus I have seen Richard on a couple of holiday programmes too, and God knows how much Carol used to do out of Countdown. The only episodes they do live are apparently the finals.
fanoftv posted:
Neil Jones posted:
does this man ever have a holiday or something because I've never seen any Countdown episode without Whiteley?
Back to back episodes are filmed. They usually film for three days a week.
I presume to give holidays they will work for a week or two everyday so that they dont have to film for two/three weeks.
In the past few years with cricket been shown, the episodes per year have been reduced so they may have been able to afford not to record for a few weeks for holidays.
Don't forget that it never used to be on all year round, that only happened in 1997 or so, before then it used to share with Fifteen To One or imported junk. I assume it has been filmed like that for years, plus I have seen Richard on a couple of holiday programmes too, and God knows how much Carol used to do out of Countdown. The only episodes they do live are apparently the finals.
SE
Square Eyes
Founding member
I wonder if they have a standby for Richard or Carol in the unlikely event of one of them being ill and out of action for any length of time. Can't imagine anyone else at the helm of Countdown really.
I remember Carol was hospitalised recently with a stomach complaint (according to the papers anyway), seemed she was quite ill, but she didn't appear to miss any Countdowns.
I remember Carol was hospitalised recently with a stomach complaint (according to the papers anyway), seemed she was quite ill, but she didn't appear to miss any Countdowns.
NW
I didn't know that, but there was that whole fiasco when she was pregnant a few years ago and at the same time Richard appeared on This Is Your Life, after she had the baby, but Countdown were still showing the episodes when she was pregnant.
Rather scarily off topic; I found a book at our College's Library, How to do Maths (Or something patronising) By Carol Vorderman, and it scared me slightly.
Square Eyes posted:
I wonder if they have a standby for Richard or Carol in the unlikely event of one of them being ill and out of action for any length of time. Can't imagine anyone else at the helm of Countdown really.
I remember Carol was hospitalised recently with a stomach complaint (according to the papers anyway), seemed she was quite ill, but she didn't appear to miss any Countdowns.
I remember Carol was hospitalised recently with a stomach complaint (according to the papers anyway), seemed she was quite ill, but she didn't appear to miss any Countdowns.
I didn't know that, but there was that whole fiasco when she was pregnant a few years ago and at the same time Richard appeared on This Is Your Life, after she had the baby, but Countdown were still showing the episodes when she was pregnant.
Rather scarily off topic; I found a book at our College's Library, How to do Maths (Or something patronising) By Carol Vorderman, and it scared me slightly.
BR
But that's the smaller picture. How is the slot performing overall, and is Countdown getting better figures than Pet Rescue used to in the slot?
It's all about the replacements - A Place in the Sun and Home from Home regularly got over 2m viewers when screened in the 5-6pm slot, so if their doing well, C4 will be able to justify moving Countdown.
The main reason for the change IMO is the BBC2's daytime schedule now begins at 3pm, so Channel 4 get in first at 2.45pm.
nwtv2003 posted:
Well the average ratings for Countdown at 4.15pm were 1.6 Million, now they have gone down to 800,000 as a consequence of being on at 3.15pm. And according to Channel 4, they said that this is the sort of ratings they'd expect for 3.15pm. (Source BBC News Online )
But that's the smaller picture. How is the slot performing overall, and is Countdown getting better figures than Pet Rescue used to in the slot?
It's all about the replacements - A Place in the Sun and Home from Home regularly got over 2m viewers when screened in the 5-6pm slot, so if their doing well, C4 will be able to justify moving Countdown.
The main reason for the change IMO is the BBC2's daytime schedule now begins at 3pm, so Channel 4 get in first at 2.45pm.
JE
The only episodes they do live are apparently the finals.
As far as I'm aware, they've never done a live episode, not even for the finals. Five episodes are recorded in a day, and the recording is usually done in a three or four day block (each day providing a week of programmes). When it was half-hour episodes they used to record six in a day, whch is why the Dictionary Corner guests tended to change on odd days of the week - now that they record in five in a day, Dictionary Corner guests generally get to do Monday to Friday unless the schedule is interrupted by cricket or racing. It's easy to spot where a filming block ends as Richard has to wrap up the show without introducing Monday's contestant (who isn't there, obviously).
One consequence of recording a week's programmes in a day is that if something goes wrong, it can affect a whole week's programmes. The only time I remember anything going (seriously) wrong was a rather odd week (I think it was in the lead-up to the 3000th show) where the Dictionary Corner guest hadn't turned up, and Kathryn Apanowicz was called as a last-minute stand-in but couldn't make it to the studio until halfway through the recording. So Damian Eadie joined Suzy Dent in Dictionary Corner for three shows, and instead of the usual guest's monologue, Richard basically interviewed them for a few minutes to fill time.
Jenny
Founding member
nwtv2003 posted:
fanoftv posted:
Back to back episodes are filmed. They usually film for three days a week.
I presume to give holidays they will work for a week or two everyday so that they dont have to film for two/three weeks.
In the past few years with cricket been shown, the episodes per year have been reduced so they may have been able to afford not to record for a few weeks for holidays.
I presume to give holidays they will work for a week or two everyday so that they dont have to film for two/three weeks.
In the past few years with cricket been shown, the episodes per year have been reduced so they may have been able to afford not to record for a few weeks for holidays.
The only episodes they do live are apparently the finals.
As far as I'm aware, they've never done a live episode, not even for the finals. Five episodes are recorded in a day, and the recording is usually done in a three or four day block (each day providing a week of programmes). When it was half-hour episodes they used to record six in a day, whch is why the Dictionary Corner guests tended to change on odd days of the week - now that they record in five in a day, Dictionary Corner guests generally get to do Monday to Friday unless the schedule is interrupted by cricket or racing. It's easy to spot where a filming block ends as Richard has to wrap up the show without introducing Monday's contestant (who isn't there, obviously).
One consequence of recording a week's programmes in a day is that if something goes wrong, it can affect a whole week's programmes. The only time I remember anything going (seriously) wrong was a rather odd week (I think it was in the lead-up to the 3000th show) where the Dictionary Corner guest hadn't turned up, and Kathryn Apanowicz was called as a last-minute stand-in but couldn't make it to the studio until halfway through the recording. So Damian Eadie joined Suzy Dent in Dictionary Corner for three shows, and instead of the usual guest's monologue, Richard basically interviewed them for a few minutes to fill time.
AP
It was reported at the time that it was the first time in Countdown's history that they had to cancel a whole block of recordings. They came very close to running out of episodes. It was clear on screen that the new ones had only been recorded a week or two in advance, because Richard was mentioning events that had only just happened.
It's interesting to note the viewing figures for Countdown, although the overnight figs won't include people who recorded it and watched it later, so the final numbers may well end up quite a bit higher. I'd like to know how the figures for the programmes now on between 1600 and 1700 compare with what Countdown was getting. That Home from Home thing is absolute garbage. Why would anyone want to watch American pensioners coming to Britain on holiday?
Square Eyes posted:
I wonder if they have a standby for Richard or Carol in the unlikely event of one of them being ill and out of action for any length of time. Can't imagine anyone else at the helm of Countdown really.
I remember Carol was hospitalised recently with a stomach complaint (according to the papers anyway), seemed she was quite ill, but she didn't appear to miss any Countdowns.
I remember Carol was hospitalised recently with a stomach complaint (according to the papers anyway), seemed she was quite ill, but she didn't appear to miss any Countdowns.
It was reported at the time that it was the first time in Countdown's history that they had to cancel a whole block of recordings. They came very close to running out of episodes. It was clear on screen that the new ones had only been recorded a week or two in advance, because Richard was mentioning events that had only just happened.
It's interesting to note the viewing figures for Countdown, although the overnight figs won't include people who recorded it and watched it later, so the final numbers may well end up quite a bit higher. I'd like to know how the figures for the programmes now on between 1600 and 1700 compare with what Countdown was getting. That Home from Home thing is absolute garbage. Why would anyone want to watch American pensioners coming to Britain on holiday?