Countdown: 05/06/2026


3:10 pm - 4:00 pm, Friday, June 5 on Channel 4 +1 (15)

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About this Broadcast

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05/06/2026
Season 1, Episode 1

Colin Murray and Rachel Riley host the long-running words-and-numbers game with John Thomson joining Susie Dent in Dictionary Corner


new HD new subtitles
Game Show/Quiz/Contest Show/Game Show

Cast & Crew

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Rachel Riley (Co host)
Susie Dent (Contributor)
Damian Eadie (Series producer)

More Information

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Did You Know..

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Colin Murray (Host)
Born: March 10, 1977 in Dundonald, east Belfast
Best Known For: Co-hosting the Colin and Edith Show on Radio 1
Early-life: Born on March 10, 1977, and raised on the Ballybean Housing Estate in Dundonald, east Belfast. Expelled from grammar school at 16 for being disruptive in class, Murray was keen on entering a career in journalism, becoming a trainee on The Ulster News Letter and spending a year's fellowship at the Toronto Star. He then set up a pop magazine called Blank and wrote a pop column in the Sunday People.
Career: He got his big break when he was signed up to co-host Radio 1's Session programme alongside Donna Legge in 1999. His witty one-liners and laidback presenting style proved popular, and the pair often deputised for the likes of John Peel, Steve Lamacq and Mary Anne Hobbs. In 2002, Colin was headhunted to front Channel 4's ill-fated breakfast show RI:SE but left to front the channel's late-night music shows. In late 2003, he was reunited with RI:SE co-host Edith Bowman for The Colin and Edith Show, which pulled in more than five million listeners before the pair went their seperate ways in 2006. Since then, he has presented Five's American football show, NFL Live, and the channel's European Poker Tour Series. He currently presents the channel's coverage of the UEFA Cup and hosts the topical sports-based news show Fighting Talk on BBC Radio Five Live. However, he hasn't forgotten his roots and also presents a late-night weekend show on Radio Ulster.
Quote: 'It used to be that you'd turn on a TV chat show, and you'd learn by the end something about the person. These days, it tends to be just an interviewer cracking bad jokes.'
Trivia: Murray supports the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team.
Rachel Riley (Co host)
Born: January 11, 1986 in Rochford, Essex
Best Known For: Countdown.
Early-life: Rachel Annabelle Riley was born in Rochford, Essex, on January 11, 1986. She studied mathematics at Oriel College, Oxford.
Career: Riley's big break came in 2008 when she was chosen from more than 1,000 applicants to replace Carol Vorderman on Countdown. She presented her first show alongside Jeff Stelling in January 2009, and reached her 1,000th episode in June 2013. Away from the numbers and letters on Countdown, she began co-hosting The Gadget Show alongside Jason Bradbury in June 2013. She was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2013 and was the fifth celebrity to be eliminated.
Quote: 'I don't want girls to aspire to being famous for the sake of being famous. If I was only known for wearing a dress, that wouldn't have any value for me.'
Trivia: Riley won £36,000 for charity on a celebrity edition of The Bank Job. She supports Manchester United.
Susie Dent (Contributor)
John Thomson (Guest)
Born: April 02, 1969 in Salford
Best Known For: Cold Feet and The Fast Show.
Early-life: Thomson was born Patrick Francis McAleer in Salford on April 2, 1969 to Mary McAleer, who gave him up for adoption six weeks later. He was adopted from the Catholic Children's Rescue Society by Andrew and Marita Thomson, a businessman and a bookseller from Didsbury. He attended Runshaw College between 1985 and 1987, studying for four A-levels, including theatre studies. He was described as 'clearly a talent for comedy'. Following this, he turned down a scholarship in America to study drama at Manchester Polytechnic.
Career: While at university, Thomson met Steve Coogan, who secured him a job on Spitting Image. They would continue to collaborate on such programmes as Coogan's Run , the Paul and Pauline Calf video diaries (where he played Fat Bob) and Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge, which he also contributed to writing. In 1994, Thomson appeared in the BBC sketch series The Fast Show. He made guest appearances on various series such as Soldier Soldier, Playing the Field and Men Behaving Badly in the 1990s before being cast as Pete Gifford in the ITV hit comedy drama Cold Feet. He participated in the BBC series Comic Relief does Fame Academy and chalked up several TV shows before starring in another TV series, New Street Law, about a Manchester chambers. He has since appeared in Kingdom and Coronation Street.
Quote: 'People who know me know me, but the public believe what they read in the papers. They stare at me. I wonder what they're thinking.'
Trivia: Thomson was a contestant in the 2013 series of Celebrity MasterChef.
Damian Eadie (Series producer)
Born: August 15, 1969 in Blackpool

Before / After

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