- 12 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:31Good afternoon and welcome to the Countdown studio and our second semi-final.
00:36So who's going to meet our number one seed?
00:39Paul James.
00:41We'll discover that at the end of today's game.
00:43So just sit down and enjoy some of the best possible Countdown action.
00:48Now you'll enjoy it at home and indeed we'll enjoy it in the studio.
00:52Except poor Rachel because she's normally so brilliant at the numbers
00:55and never gets a chance here because they're so good.
00:58Isn't that a bit of a...
00:59Yeah, well you get in the finals so they're picking trickier number selections
01:03and they're giving with one hand and then they're just doing it with themselves
01:05so they're taking with the other.
01:08Unfair.
01:09But still, if they slip up, there's always Rachel to straighten it out for it.
01:13The pressure's on.
01:14Actually the pressure's on Heather as well because I don't think
01:16we've had a lady in the finals since I've been doing it.
01:19So all the hopes of the females out there rest on Heather today.
01:22All right Heather, don't let them down.
01:23So who have we got?
01:24We've got Heather.
01:25Well done Heather.
01:26Heather is our number three seed.
01:28She won Monday's quarterfinal with the score of 100.
01:31She also holds the record for the highest score of the series, 114 points.
01:35Well done.
01:36An assistant editor from Seven Oaks in Kent.
01:40Seven Oaks, we want nine letters here today.
01:42All right.
01:43And you're joined by, of course, David Barnard.
01:46David's our number two seed who won his quarterfinal game on Thursday
01:49with a score of 879 points.
01:52So we've got two great characters here, two great players,
01:56number three seed and the number two seed,
01:58vying with each other to meet the number one seed in the final.
02:01So big round of applause.
02:03These are great, great players.
02:09Well Susie, hold on tight.
02:11This is going to be, this is going to be fun.
02:14And who's with us?
02:16Alistair.
02:16Alistair McGowan.
02:17The polymath, who is Alistair McGowan.
02:20Yes, but as you said to Rachel,
02:21my role here today is fairly minimal
02:24because you never get words that these guys miss.
02:26So I'll just hopefully be entertaining you later on
02:29with a few voices in Manchester here.
02:31Home, of course, of Manchester City now.
02:34Who, I believe, I believe Manchester City have now signed,
02:36my girlfriend told me now, she said,
02:38did you know they'd signed two English players?
02:40Because they never signed English players, Manchester City.
02:42And she said, yeah, I think they're both called Alf.
02:44But I don't know what their surname was.
02:45I thought she was right, because he said,
02:48today, result, very, very good, very happy.
02:54Performance, first Alf, very good.
02:57Second Alf, better.
03:01Brilliant stuff.
03:02Brilliant stuff.
03:03Well done.
03:04Lovely.
03:04Lovely.
03:05Now, it's time for the serious business.
03:08You're playing for the final, chap.
03:09So, Heather.
03:10Good afternoon, Rachel.
03:11Afternoon again, Heather.
03:13I'll start with the consonant, please.
03:16Start this semi-final with S.
03:19And another.
03:20H.
03:23A third.
03:25R.
03:27And a fourth.
03:29Z.
03:31A vowel, please.
03:33E.
03:35And another vowel.
03:37O.
03:38Another.
03:41I.
03:42Another vowel.
03:45A.
03:47And a final vowel, please.
03:51And a final O.
03:53And it's countdown time.
03:55And a final vowel, please.
04:26Yes, Heather?
04:27Six.
04:28And David?
04:29Six as well.
04:30All right.
04:30Heather?
04:31Hazier.
04:32Hazier.
04:33Very good.
04:33David?
04:34Hosier.
04:35Well, what do we think about that?
04:37And you're spelling it with the...
04:38H-O-S-I-E-R.
04:40Yes, absolutely fine.
04:41As long as it was the S, not the Z, I'm happy.
04:43Very good, very good.
04:45What else have we got there?
04:46I had Hosier as well, but nothing more than that.
04:50No, Hazier for me.
04:51Very good.
04:52Six all.
04:53Now then, David, take it away.
04:54Letters game.
04:55A clever consonant, please.
04:57Thank you, David.
04:59N.
05:00And another one.
05:02D.
05:03And another one.
05:05R.
05:06And another one.
05:09F.
05:10And a vowel.
05:11E.
05:12And another one.
05:14U.
05:15And another one.
05:18A.
05:19And a consonant.
05:22S.
05:22And a final consonant, please.
05:25And a final N.
05:27Stand by.
05:28D ratings.
05:29I know.
05:51I know.
05:52I know.
05:53I know.
05:57I know.
05:59yes David a seven seven and Heather seven David a thunder a sunder and Heather refunds yes happy
06:09enough I'm very happy all right funders was there as well people who fund things funders
06:15and the else just those three I'm afraid sevens all right 13 all as we go into the third game
06:22Heather it's yours start with a consonant please thank you Heather C and another D and a third T and
06:36another
06:36consonant n vowel please Oh another I and another you another vowel please e and finish with a vowel and
06:59finish with I countdown
07:35Heather a seven and David eight right Heather fiction fiction and David induction eduction
07:45well done well done David that comes from the verb to educe which is to bring out or develop
07:51something like potential and induction is the noun from that well done
07:57very good all right 21 to 13 David would you be good enough clever consonant please thank you David
08:03s and another one j and another one d and another one l and a vowel a and another one
08:18e and another one
08:23I and one more oh and a final consonant please and a final teeth tick tock
08:33click on the one oh well done
09:01keep watching
09:02you
09:03Now then, David.
09:04Seven.
09:05Heather.
09:06Eight.
09:07David.
09:08Dilate.
09:09Dilate.
09:10And Heather.
09:11Isolated.
09:12Isolated.
09:13Well spotted.
09:14Yeah, very good.
09:15Well done.
09:19That evens things up a bit.
09:2121 all.
09:22But in the corner.
09:23Now then, Alistair.
09:24I was stuck on sixes with jailed and jilted.
09:26I'm sure like people at home, but isolated is fantastic.
09:28But Susie has another eight.
09:30Come along.
09:30It's an anagram of isolated, actually.
09:32And it's sodalite, or sodalite.
09:35S-O-D-A-L-I-T-E.
09:37And it's a blue mineral that you'll find in igneous rocks.
09:40Well done.
09:42Imagine that.
09:43Very good.
09:4321 all as we go into our first numbers game of the day.
09:46And that one would belong to Heather.
09:48May I have one now, please?
09:49Five small.
09:50Thank you, Heather.
09:51And I'm fully expecting not to have to do anything with this round.
09:54It's all up to you two.
09:55So for the first numbers game today, they are three, two, six.
09:59Six, another two, nine, and the large one, 100.
10:03And the target, 648.
10:06Six, four, eight.
10:07One, two, six, seven, and the large one.
10:09Two, five, eight.
10:14Two, five...
10:29One, two, five.
10:30Two, five, eight.
10:32Three, seven, and the large one.
10:34Two, seven.
10:34One, seven, and the, one.
10:34One, one, two, one.
10:35One, two, three.
10:37and Heather six four eight six four eight David six four eight all right then Heather and two
10:44over two it's one two over two is one nine minus one is eight yep eight plus 100 for 108
10:51108 108
10:53sixes for six four eight yeah well done six four eight very good and David I did two times three
11:00is six two times three six other two is eight yep at the hundred is 108 again 108 and then
11:10multiply by
11:10six and you haven't used your actual six yeah well done same as well well done very good 31 all
11:19making
11:20Rachel done this is outrageous but she'll her time will come Alistair your time has come yes well it's
11:28very interesting how people generally have a certain phrase that defines them or phrases
11:32that they use again and again I think we're all guilty of that and obviously part of my job as
11:36an
11:36impressionist is to pick out the phrases that people use again and again and then to make capital out of
11:41it in person Gary Barlow is very fun of the phrase there do you know what do you know what
11:45he'll always
11:45say do you know what I I'll tell you what in fact you can do a whole Gary Barlow impression
11:48with just
11:49those two phrases basically do you know what I'll tell you what you know what you know what yeah you
11:53tell you what what course very famous saying girlfriend uh Ed Miliband love to say let let
11:59let's make this absolutely clear that's one of his favorite let's make this absolutely clear um there's
12:05somebody I can't think who it is on the television who always says uh you be sure of it I
12:09can't think
12:09who it is yeah you be sure of it but Mark Lawrenson from match of the day his favorite phrase
12:14is that
12:14after the Lord Mayor's show he loves to say this all the time say you know today Gary it was
12:20all a bit
12:20after the Lord Mayor's show when it's a man United big game midweek you know and today hey come on
12:25there's a bit after the Lord Mayor's show it's a really strange phrases because what he's implying
12:29is that something happened that was so exciting that was unable they were unable to match it
12:32everything was just paled into significance after this major event but he says it all the
12:36time after the Lord Mayor's show my girlfriend watches my fiance now but my girlfriend we're watching
12:42the football together recently and she said have they got professor Brian Cox commentating on the
12:46football now and I didn't know what she meant then I realized she thought that Mark Lawrenson was
12:49professor Brian Cox because if you take Mark Lawrenson's voice and just make it hey come on
12:54ever so slightly less world weary and take away the gruffness from it you realize that he does turn
12:59into professor Brian Cox it's almost like the same voice and of course professor Brian Cox has that
13:05wonder doesn't he about absolutely everything and it's like we're brothers isn't it Mark well if you
13:09say so Brian no it is it's like we're brothers in voice you know and I'm sure you share my
13:14love as my
13:15vocal brother of the universe and all things great in the universe isn't the universe just marvellous
13:19Mark well do you know what Brian for me the universe it's all a bit after the Lord Mayor's show
13:32perfectly perfect thank you Alistair and now a tea time teaser which is tell need and the clue
13:40Susie helps to make the books look lovely Susie helps to make the books look lovely
14:01welcome back I left with the clue Susie helps to make the books look lovely and the answer is don't
14:08tell
14:08I mean I kept the pun don't don't tell is lace what don't better than dent and don't tell is
14:14an
14:15ornamental tooling used in bookbinding which resembles lace edging and tooling
14:21good where are we now 31 all close contest here and David I call upon you for a letters game
14:28okay can I have a consonant please thank you David H and another one ah and another one V and
14:40one more W and a vowel A and another one E and another one you consonant
14:56and one more consonant please and the last one P and here we go
15:32now then David register five five Heather five right David waiver waiver thank me wavering to you wrong sort of
15:44waiver and in the corner Alistair well it's you know we have the word unwavering yes so unwaver is there
15:52but does it exist without
15:54I think it will only be unwavering it is unfortunately no unwaver no unwaver seems unfair you can have unwrap
16:04our Christmas presents yes how appropriate 36 all Heather letters game start with a vowel please thank you Heather A
16:13and another E and another I
16:20I and one more E followed by consonant M and another T a third R fourth L and final vowel
16:42please and a final I clock time
17:15I'll see you next time
17:17now and now and have a eight and eight well done David ain't not quite written down here from David
17:24real time real time have a material with a second E okay and material with a second E is absolutely
17:34fine it means military equipment military materials and they took it straight from the French and David real time I
17:42know we talk about doing things real time on on them the computer etc any
17:46but it's there but it's two words I'm afraid bad luck and well done Heather on that leading 44 to
17:5436 but what magic has Alice take offers I thought I got a real magic I thought I got altimeter
18:01but I realized that there was two eyes and not two T's
18:04oh bad luck yeah I was very disappointed Maltier is the only other Maltier word more Maltier that's nice yeah
18:12like a nice cuckoo well done now then David are you going to steal back some sort of parity here
18:1844 to 36 you're down and it's a letters game
18:22could I have a consonant please thank you David S and another one M and another one H and another
18:32one G one more R and a vowel E and another one I and another one O
18:48a final vowel please and a final A countdown
18:54is
19:21A countdown
19:25Now then, David.
19:26A seven.
19:27A seven, Heather.
19:28Six.
19:29And your six?
19:31Orgasm.
19:31And David?
19:32Hagiris.
19:33Yes, absolutely fine. You spell it for me, David.
19:36H-E-G-I-R-A-S.
19:38Yes, it's an exodus for migration.
19:41Looks back to Muhammad's departure from Mecca to Medina.
19:45Really?
19:45Yes.
19:47Hagiris.
19:48Well done.
19:49Never heard of it. Well done, David. That's excellent stuff.
19:51Now, Alistair.
19:52There were other sevens. Ogre-ish.
19:55Yep.
19:55Heroism.
19:56Yep.
19:57Hoagies.
19:58Yes.
19:59And Moorish.
20:01Pretty good.
20:0244 to 43.
20:04Heather's still in the lead there.
20:06And we're going to let us game, Heather.
20:08May I have a consonant, please?
20:10Thank you, Heather.
20:11Y.
20:12And another.
20:14T.
20:15And another.
20:17G.
20:18And another.
20:21S.
20:22A vowel, please.
20:24E.
20:25And another.
20:27I.
20:29A third vowel, please.
20:31E.
20:32And another.
20:35A.
20:36I'm going to finish with a consonant.
20:38And finish with D.
20:40And here they go.
20:42And.
21:02And another.
21:13Heather and seven seven David just a six and you're six gaiety gaiety Heather I just did
21:24know I just did he's bang up a g i s t yeah it's to take in livestock for payment
21:31it's
21:32a very old agrarian term I bet I just did very good Alistair anything else and a couple of
21:42sixes stagey and staged things close to my heart and possibly de-stage to take
21:49something I don't know I don't know if you can de-stage or de-rig there is another seven
21:53um describes this contest actually edgiest um edgiest as de-stage not it had luck had
22:01luck 51 place 43 well done Heather as we now concentrate on Susie's origins of
22:08words silence please well I've been reading this great book it looks at phrases
22:16from around the world idioms from around the world and where they came from and
22:20translates them into English for you and before I go into some of the English
22:24idioms I thought I'd read some of those from other cultures because they they
22:28tickled my fancy a little bit and in Italian if you want to say life goes on
22:34they say one Pope dies they make another in French if you want to say you're
22:40spending time on a pointless task you talk about combing the giraffe and it's my
22:45absolute favorite from German is that this is probably the equivalent of our
22:48mutton dressed up as lamb and it's from behind a girl's school from the front a
22:54museum which I really liked but anyway they also they also talk about some
22:58English idioms as I say and and one of them is humble pie which refers to the
23:03umbels in the old days of a deer which would be awful and they generally were
23:08given to visitors that you didn't really think much of all the peasants who would
23:11sit in the corner and eat umbels pie which then became humble pie later but I do
23:15recommend it's just lovely lots and lots of different idioms from around the
23:18lands and and I'll give you a laugh but it certainly did me really really
23:22brilliant stuff 51 plays 43 as we go into a numbers game David that would be
23:31your numbers game okay for large please big tactical decision there thank you
23:35David four from the top row and two other ones and we'll see what we have for
23:40this round so the two small ten and one and we know what's coming the four large
23:45fifty twenty five seventy five and one hundred and the target nine hundred and
23:51fifty three nine five three
24:23no David nine five three nine five three Heather nine five three go on David I did a hundred times
24:31ten is a thousand one hundred times ten a thousand
24:34take away the 50 is nine hundred and fifty yeah and 75 divided by 25 makes three to add on
24:40yeah not the toughest for large challenge for you two nine five three now then Heather
24:46ten subtract one for nine multiply by a hundred then add the 50 yes three in the same way
24:53yeah great well done very good well done
24:5861 to 53 as we turn to a team teaser which is ten clues and the clue there aren't ten
25:06clues think about eight
25:08there aren't ten clues think about eight
25:26and the answer is escalant escalant Susie well definitely use this to describe Christmas lunch it means fit to be
25:39eaten or edible I should hope
25:41escalant thank you very much 61 plays 53 Heather letters game off you go I
25:47start with a vowel please thank you Heather e and another a and another e and
25:57another Oh consonant please s and another n third consonant x another
26:12D and a final consonant and a final L here comes the clock
26:20At the top� policy of an autoimmune
26:20thecountyl
26:20thecountyl
26:24thecountyl
26:27thecountyl
26:30thecountyl
26:31thecountyl
26:34thecountyl
26:38thecountyl
26:50Heather six and David six as well all right Heather I must loaned yes and David
26:58sealed sealed thank you very much and the else in the corner I was still
27:04playing not easy this one no I was hoping for salons if you have a salon open but
27:13sadly not what else you got nothing Saxon was all I could see which is that a
27:18proper now it is yes I think I've been salons for that very well so 67
27:27place 59 David do you help us out I have a consonant please thank you David s and
27:35another one D and another one C and one more G and a vowel a and another one I and
27:51another one E T a final consonant please and a final N countdown
28:08so
28:35Yes, David?
28:36Eight.
28:37An eight in Heather?
28:38Seven.
28:39No, seven, Heather.
28:40Stained.
28:41Stained.
28:42David?
28:43Sedating.
28:44Sedating.
28:45Well done.
28:46Well done.
28:47Very good.
28:48Excellent.
28:51Well done indeed.
28:5367 all.
28:55What have we got in the corner?
28:56I was stuck on sevens.
28:57Casting, ceasing.
28:59I took a gamble on stedding.
29:02Oh, that's very good.
29:04Stedding, I think, is like a farmstead in America.
29:08That's brilliant.
29:08Well done.
29:09Thank you very much.
29:10Excellent.
29:11In this company.
29:13Very, very good indeed.
29:15So, 67 all Heather.
29:16Last letters game.
29:17Will you have a consonant, please?
29:19Thank you, Heather.
29:20M.
29:22And a vowel.
29:23A.
29:25A consonant.
29:27D.
29:28Vowel.
29:30I.
29:32Consonant, please.
29:34P.
29:35A vowel.
29:36E.
29:38A consonant.
29:39L.
29:42A vowel.
29:45I.
29:47And a final consonant.
29:49And a final T.
29:51Stand by.
29:51One.
29:53Bud.
29:53Four.
29:54Two.
30:15Let's do it.
30:16See you next time.
30:17Bye.
30:18Bye.
30:20Bye.
30:22Heather. Seven. A seven, David. A seven. Okay, Heather. Mine's plaited. Yes, and David. Impaled. Impaled. Very nice. Pretty good.
30:34Yes. Pretty good. And in the corner. More sevens limited. Yep. And palmed. Palm something over the crossbar, perhaps. Yep,
30:43yep.
30:45It's six, yep. Seattle football. Oh, is that six? That's six. Plaited's good there. Very good. Palmed. If you palm
30:52something off on somebody, what's that? How'd you do that? It's your business. Nick, you should know about that sort
30:58of thing. Ask out that sugar, I'll tell you. Hasn't he got enough apprentices yet? How many does he need?
31:04Thousands. Now then, 74. All as we come to the final game, as it were. David. First proton can have
31:12to go four large again.
31:13You are. Thank you, David. Four from the top, two small. We know we've got a crucial conundrum. Let's just
31:18see if it's a tiebreaker. Right, so the last numbers game today. The two are ten and five, and the
31:24four large ones, 50, 100, 25, and 75. This could be tricky. The target, 658. 658.
32:05Now then, David. That's six, 60. Six, 60, two away. Heather.
32:11Six, 60. Not written down. Well, let's hear from you, Heather.
32:16100 plus 25 is 125.
32:19100 plus 25 is 125.
32:22One, two, five, fives are six, two, five.
32:25They are.
32:2775 minus 50 is 25.
32:2975 minus 50, 25.
32:3165 plus 25 plus 10.
32:33Yeah, you're there.
32:3460.
32:35Well remembered.
32:35Well done.
32:37Now then, David.
32:38I did 75 minus 5 is 70.
32:4175 minus 5, yep, 70.
32:43100 divided by 25 is 4.
32:45Yes.
32:47Take that away from the 70 is 66.
32:50And multiply by 10.
32:51And multiply by 10, yeah.
32:526, 60, two away.
32:53Two away.
32:54Now then, Rachel, they couldn't get it.
32:56Can you take it to 658?
32:58I can't.
32:59I'm not sure if it's possible.
33:00But with the 5 and the 10, hard to get anything isn't round.
33:04But I will have another look, just in case.
33:06But what does this mean?
33:0781 all, that's what it means.
33:09That means it's right down to the wire.
33:12Heather, David, countdown, conundrum time.
33:16This is a critical one.
33:18Who's got the fastest finger?
33:46Is it inaudible?
33:51Inaudible.
33:52Let's check that out for you.
33:55Whoa!
34:04Well done.
34:06You're in the final.
34:07Whoa.
34:07How about that?
34:10Well, couldn't have been closer, could it?
34:13It could not have been closer, but you pulled it off.
34:15Well done, Heather.
34:16Bad luck, David.
34:17You put up a brave performance right through this contest.
34:20And we say goodbye with a heavy heart, but you've done brilliantly well.
34:24And back to Ross and Wye.
34:26Beaten by the better player.
34:27You're beaten by a tremendous player, but you're going off with this wonderful trophy.
34:32With our very best wishes and congratulations, too.
34:35And we'll see you in the final, young lady.
34:37Indeed.
34:40Have a good night's sleep.
34:41I'll try to.
34:42I'll try to.
34:43Well done.
34:44Very well done.
34:45So, there we are.
34:47Great stuff, wasn't it?
34:48Amazing.
34:49Great stuff.
34:50And we'll see you tomorrow.
34:52Alistair.
34:53Until tomorrow.
34:54Yes.
34:55Very exciting, that.
34:56Wasn't that something?
34:57Wasn't that something?
34:58And they stole all your thunder again.
35:00Oh, no.
35:00These two rotters.
35:01They can have all the thunder.
35:02Wasn't it a brilliant game?
35:04Wasn't it good?
35:04It's really...
35:05I can't wait for tomorrow now.
35:06Tomorrow.
35:07The final.
35:07The final.
35:08The big one.
35:09Yeah.
35:09So, tomorrow, you better join us.
35:12Fireworks in the Countdown studio tomorrow.
35:14It's the shootout.
35:16So, you'll be with us.
35:17Same time, same place.
35:19You'll be sure of it.
35:30George Clark checks out some Christmassy amazing spaces,
35:33one of which is actually good enough to eat.
35:34Not sure the owners would appreciate that,
35:36but then they probably shouldn't build a gingerbread house
35:38if you don't want people to eat it.
35:39Anyway, that's a date.
35:41Next, Sandy's got a thousand and one things you should know.
Comments