Countdown to success
MARION McMULLEN on the record-beating quiz show – and the Frenchman behind it
CAN I have a vowel please? Countdown is one of the longest running quiz shows in the world and it all began with Marcel Leopold Stellman.
He brought the French TV series Des Chiffres et Des Lettres, which translates as Numbers And Letters, to the UK as Countdown in 1982.
Marcel pitched the concept to several networks and it was ultimately picked up by Yorkshire Television, which commissioned eight shows.
The series was later bought by a fledgling Channel 4 and became the first programme to be aired following the station’s launch in November 1982. Belgium-born Marcel, who passed away this month at the age of 96, was part of the programme’s celebrations for its 2,000th episode in 1997, its 3,000th episode in 2001 and the 5,000th episode in 2010.
His own television career first began in the 1940s and 1950s when he presented children’s programmes, including Pinky And Perky.
He used to select the songs the two pig puppets would sing. He went on to work as a producer and international manager at Decca Records from the mid-1950s up to 1989, alongside major names including Sir Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and Dame Vera Lynn. Countdown ended up in the Guinness World Records in 2014 for the most series broadcasts for a TV game show as it reached its 6,000th episode. Richard Whiteley was the first Countdown presenter and headed the quiz for 23 years, with maths whizz Carol Vorderman selecting the letters and numbers. Other presenters over the years included Des Lynam, Des O’Connor, Jeff Stelling, and most recently, Nick Hewer. It was revealed in February that Anne Robinson is to be the first female host of Countdown and will join will join mathematician Rachel Riley and lexicographer Susie Dent on the Channel 4 daytime show. The former Weakest Link presenter joked: “The show is almost as old as I am and just as historic.”