The Countdown Thread

[SuperSajuuk]

There's no news articles announcing this as far as I can find, but in a Zoom call that was held with the producer (Damian Eadie) and numerous former contestants (including Philip Aston) at one point recently [mid-March], there will no longer be an audience at all on Countdown. The previously "temporary" arrangement is now permanent unless something changes.

I can understand why Countdown has finally taken this decision given it was one of the last daytime shows that even had one, as just about every show filmed for daytime nowadays is recorded in bulk with no audience. It does mean that the format of the show is likely to change subtlely [as it already did for the pandemic anyway], for example the audience will not be asked for the conundrum at the end if neither contestant and all applause will be canned.

I don't think it will change much productoin and presentation wise, given the programme has barely acknowledged the audience existing for quite some time before covid happened, but it will be disappointing for the many fans of the show, especially as many future contestants had appeared in the audience before their in-game appearance.

Refer to this thread on the C4Countdown forum for more (notably this post which is presumed to be from Aston himself explaining what was said): http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.p...31#p192657

[Apologies if this should have been in one of the existing threads but I didn't want to necro a dead discussion on this]

[Cassia Tuna]

Sad, but another sign of the times I guess!

[This is UTV]

When is Anne Robinson starting to film? I wonder if there will be more changes to the show when Ms Robinson takes over?

[Brekkie]

Hardly a surprise and from the comments in that thread it's as if some people haven't realised it's been the case for nine months now. They haven't been ruled out completely by the look of it but I think even best case scenario, ignoring the cost factor, would be audience not returning till the series due to air late 2022.

I suspect the same call may be made with Pointless.

[Larry the Loafer]

Sad, but another sign of the times I guess!

You say that about a show that's barely changed its format for nearly 40 years

[Loydy]

To be fair, I believe it was hard work for them trying to fill the audience and there were a lot of regulars that would turn up for a day out. The audience team were always asking staff working at the studios or surrounding TV office buildings if they wanted to sit in and watch to make up numbers. Much easier to have no audience then try and make camera shots work for about 20 people who stayed for the final recording of the day,

[nwtv2003]

To be honest whilst sad as it is, I’m not at all surprised in the slightest. I can only echo the previous posters comments. I went a few times when it was filmed at Quay Street and they could barely fill the audience back then. It’s probably an expense they could be doing without, whilst tickets have always been free, they have to get someone to organise the tickets and to co-ordinate the audience too, as well having a warm up host. When I went to an afternoon recording they also provided food, which was mostly snacks, but these are the type of costs that add up.

[XIII]

I imagine for a show that films 15 shows a week, it's probably hard to find an audience to come in on a regular basis although it surprises me that Pointless was able to fill their audiences considering Elstree is not easy to get to. Something like Loose Women which is live and once or twice a day is probably a bit easier audience wise given its location.

[m_in_m]

Will they be able to squeeze and extra recording in per day without an audience or was it already a very streamlined operation?

[AllWillBeWell]

Very petty if you ask me. Perhaps they will retain the audience for specials.

[Brekkie]

I doubt it - they already do 5 x 50 minute shows a day. Most other daytime shows record only 3 or 4 episodes, although with a slightly longer run time.

[adamiow]

They did do a handful of celebrity episodes for primetime on More4, so if they did some more, perhaps they could bring in the audience for them.

I assume Cats Do Countdown will retain the audience, so anyone still interested in the show could go to that instead - though it might be a shock to the some of the Countdown audience who haven't seen the show!

[XIII]

I doubt it - they already do 5 x 50 minute shows a day. Most other daytime shows record only 3 or 4 episodes, although with a slightly longer run time.

I think they wouldn't want to risk tiring out Anne, Rachel and Susie.

They did do a handful of celebrity episodes for primetime on More4, so if they did some more, perhaps they could bring in the audience for them.

I assume Cats Do Countdown will retain the audience, so anyone still interested in the show could go to that instead - though it might be a shock to the some of the Countdown audience who haven't seen the show!

Catsdown will more certainly have an audience although IIRC it takes a lot longer to film compared to normal Countdown.

[Brekkie]

Would be nice if they could get an audience back in time for the 40th anniversary - I presume they might do another Championship for that as they did for the 30th.

In many ways it is a surprise the audience survived this long considering how brutal the cuts have been to it at points in the past. I do think though some shows which have switched to a fake audience need to consider more how they use it - it's odd for example Countdown continue to have clapping over the credits when it isn't something that's really necessary.


I assume Countdown is largely filmed in the day and Catsdown at night (probably not the same nights). IIRC they do film two episodes back to back, but with quite a bit of content ending up on the cutting room floor, unlike Countdown itself which is pretty much filmed as live.

[JLav25]

To be fair, I believe it was hard work for them trying to fill the audience and there were a lot of regulars that would turn up for a day out. The audience team were always asking staff working at the studios or surrounding TV office buildings if they wanted to sit in and watch to make up numbers. Much easier to have no audience then try and make camera shots work for about 20 people who stayed for the final recording of the day,

That's a fair assessment. I was a semi-regular in the Countdown audience for a few years as my work often coincided with days, and it was a fun day out. A lot of the audience members were there nearly every session, although I don't think it was too often extra staff had to make up numbers. A few times, runners etc were made to make up the numbers when the conundrum went to the audience however.

Numbers tended to fluctuate a quite wildly. They'd often have school trips and the type in afternoon sessions, but some of the late sessions (only held on Mondays) would sometimes only have about 20 people in.

I imagine for a show that films 15 shows a week, it's probably hard to find an audience to come in on a regular basis although it surprises me that Pointless was able to fill their audiences considering Elstree is not easy to get to. Something like Loose Women which is live and once or twice a day is probably a bit easier audience wise given its location.

There were a lot of regulars, many of them former contestants who live locally. The former warmup, Dudley Doolittle, would bring some of his mates along as well.