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If Richard Whiteley dies, Will Countdown still be on?

(May 2005)

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DO
dodrade
Specifically, I mean has any game on countdown gone on for a full minute?
JE
Jenny Founding member
dodrade posted:
Specifically, I mean has any game on countdown gone on for a full minute?


No. The original French version, "Des chiffres et des lettres", has 45-second rounds, but the UK show has only ever had 30-second rounds.
SE
Square Eyes Founding member
Calendar have given an update on Richard's health this evening, he is still in Bradford Royal Infirmary, where he is "making good progress".

Dunno how far in advance they record, guess they might have to draft in a stand-in if they start to run out of episodes.
HA
harshy Founding member
Gavin Scott posted:
harshy posted:
dodrade posted:
Has the countdown clock ever gone the whole way round?


I think the clock is turned back manually well it was a few years ago, not sure if the whole thing is automatic now.


The clock continues on it's path back round to the top.

It used to move in realtime, but now it travels from 31 to 60 in about 3 or 4 seconds.

Spare lamps for the 0-30 side are kept in place holders on the 31-60 side.

So there you go.


Thanks Gavin for the information.
SC
scottishender
Square Eyes posted:
Calendar have given an update on Richard's health this evening, he is still in Bradford Royal Infirmary, where he is "making good progress".

Dunno how far in advance they record, guess they might have to draft in a stand-in if they start to run out of episodes.


Or Channel 4 could show repeats of old shows till Richard gets better
NW
nwtv2003
Square Eyes posted:
Calendar have given an update on Richard's health this evening, he is still in Bradford Royal Infirmary, where he is "making good progress".

Dunno how far in advance they record, guess they might have to draft in a stand-in if they start to run out of episodes.


I read somewhere that they have enough episodes to show until July. Depends how long he'll be in Hospital and what his Doctor recommends when he gets out.

Good to hear he's making progress.
SO
Steven O
nwtv2003 posted:
Square Eyes posted:
Calendar have given an update on Richard's health this evening, he is still in Bradford Royal Infirmary, where he is "making good progress".

Dunno how far in advance they record, guess they might have to draft in a stand-in if they start to run out of episodes.


I read somewhere that they have enough episodes to show until July. Depends how long he'll be in Hospital and what his Doctor recommends when he gets out.

Good to hear he's making progress.


Amen to that, my best wishes also for a speedy recovery.

As an aside, when the 'game' for Richard's "Gotcha" from Noel Edmonds was played out, the clock ticked for 40 seconds in one of the rounds.
XI
Xilla
Gavin Scott posted:
harshy posted:
dodrade posted:
Has the countdown clock ever gone the whole way round?


I think the clock is turned back manually well it was a few years ago, not sure if the whole thing is automatic now.


The clock continues on it's path back round to the top.

It used to move in realtime, but now it travels from 31 to 60 in about 3 or 4 seconds.

Spare lamps for the 0-30 side are kept in place holders on the 31-60 side.

So there you go.


I remember one episode when I was a kid where they did a wideshot of the studio whilst the people in the dictionary corner was talking and you saw the clock continuing back to it's starting position. (Which seemed quite odd at the time. Strange choice of shot.)
SC
Si-Co
Xilla posted:
I remember one episode when I was a kid where they did a wideshot of the studio whilst the people in the dictionary corner was talking and you saw the clock continuing back to it's starting position. (Which seemed quite odd at the time. Strange choice of shot.)


Yes, I too remember seeing that a few times, with the clock going forward from 30-60 seconds in real time.
SC
scottishender
In early Countdowns, Did Richard Whiteley sit on the left side of the clock and the dictonary corner was on the right. It also shows on the main picture of the first version on the Countdown board game.
SC
Si-Co
scottishender posted:
In early Countdowns, Did Richard Whiteley sit on the left side of the clock and the dictonary corner was on the right. It also shows on the main picture of the first version on the Countdown board game.


Yes, that was the case for quite a few years. Not sure when they changed it - early nineties I would guess.
WE
Westy2
Are C4 mentioning on air that 'these shows were recorded before Richard's illness' ?

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