Countdown: 17/12/2025


2:10 pm - 3:00 pm, Today on Channel 4 HD (104)

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About this Broadcast

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17/12/2025
Season 1, Episode 1

Colin Murray hosts the words-and-numbers game, with Christopher Biggins joining in the fun in Dictionary Corner. With Rachel Riley and Susie Dent


new HD subtitles new
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)
Christopher Biggins (Guest)
Best Known For: His outlandish personality.
Early-life: Christopher Kenneth Biggins was born in Oldham, Lancashire, on December 16, 1948, but grew up in Salisbury, Wiltshire. He took elocution lessons as a child and dreamed of becoming a vicar, a chef or an actor. He decided to concentrate on acting after playing the lead role in a local amateur dramatics production. The reviews were so good, he was offered a position with a repertory theatre company - and hasn't looked back since.
Career: Biggins made his TV debut in a 1971 episode of sitcom Doctor at Large, and has been making audiences laugh ever since. There have been forays into drama with the likes of I, Claudius, The Duchess of Duke Street, Poldark and Upstairs, Downstairs, but his gregarious nature has been put to good use in a variety of comedies. Among his most famous projects are Porridge, Rentaghost, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, Cluedo and Psychoville. He was also a co-host on Cilla Black's Surprise Surprise. Biggins won the 2007 series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! His most recent big-screen credit is the critically panned Britflick Run For Your Wife, and he continues to appear on stage in both plays and panto.
Quote: "I'm perfectly happy being me, thank you, and I happen to know that I am afforded enormous respect from everybody I know."
Trivia: Biggins and his partner, Neil Sinclair, formed a civil partnership in 2006.
Damian Eadie (Series producer)
Born: August 15, 1969 in Blackpool