Calendar Countdown Pilot - Never Before Seen On TV - Part 1 Of 3

[jneedham1000]

can u get the normal ones plz

[97channel]

Hahaha, that was hilarious when he ignored the old lady. Also, "Stop and reset".

[supaganj]

Ahh those famous Whiteley opening words: Stop, and reset.

[bradgandy02]

Of course, Joyce became a series champion (the first, I think, but correct me if I'm wrong.) on Countdown.

[iluvthecompanioncube]

They should bring back that theme and clock sound. I love it. Go figure.

[miblodelcarpio]

This is even more ridiculously hilarious if you turn on YouTube's experimental Transcribe Audio captions.

[jneedham1000]

Why don't you have the proper calander countdown

[DANWOODHOUSE]

@jneedham1000 It all depends if someone either had it in them to record the show all those years ago, or if someone is willing to fork out the £95 fee to get a D.V.D of Calendar Countdown from I.T.V productions.

[sstones1]

ok as a YTV viewer (sniff Sniff at their forced demise) .. The truth.

Channel 4 in the uk was not the first with Countdown.

Yorkshire TV in England was. and Richard presented for quite a few years before C4 started and may I say did a good job.

used to be shown at 6:30pm GMT monday nights.

as for this pilot... well many YTV viewers may recognise the setting as an adaptation of YTV's studio for Winner Takes All with Jimmy Tarbuck/Geoffrey Wheeler

[DANWOODHOUSE]

@sstones1 If you do a youtube search for a clip called "WINNER TAKES SHAUN" you will see it is the same set as winner takes all, but with the 4-1, 2-1, lights taken away

[OpT1mU5PrYm3]

Hahahaha.

"We had a toss - and Alec won the toss."

Priceless Whiteley, really.

[RJohnLloyd]

Richard Whiteley's accent's rather strong in this, isn't it ?

[formulacountdown]

I love, how in the second round, the music doesn't play!

[aberalex4]

do they have 45 seconds

[202Hunter]

wow this is rare . amazing

[hamster2166]

if this episode is so rare, how did you get hold of it?

[countdowngoofs]

@hamster2166 Somebody that was on the show years ago got a copy from the producers

[SportsBod]

Clips of Calenar Countdown were actually shown on a BBC One show called 'TV's Greatest Failures' around 2002.

The late mayor of Wetwang was on taking about this - and rather bemused that he was on a show about failures when it is Channel 4's longest running entertainment programme - and the French original was running since the late 70's and is still going -

hardly what you'd call a failure!

[tvpirate05]

I'm from the US, but have always admired this show, as I'm a big trivia and word game fan. The version that made it to air uses nine letters, correct?

[Marc412]

That's right.

[jeffrey44]

Ha ha. I love the bit near the start where Richard Whitley obviously isn't listening to the female contestant.

"How many crosswords do you do per day?"

"What, compile or solve?"

"Okay, hope you have some fun today".

[vanhalen2005]

@jeffrey44 Hahaha, he blatantly wasnt listening :D

[gottagothatsme]

Cathy's clear just come back from Madeira judging by her attire!

[DANWOODHOUSE]

Bev Isherwood did'nt speak on the networked countdown either, but Cathy did!

[cameronboy18]

I wonder why they didn't let Cathy announce each letter when it was drawn?

[countdowngoofs]

Because they would have to pay her more if she spoke

[cameronboy18]

Is that so?! Wow.

[RPOED1]

@countdowngoofs

lol how much more?

[steviegTVreturns]

Judging by the YTV frontcap at the start, this could be before 1982, as that is when their frontcap ident changed, great find by the way, did you obtain this from ITV or something?

[countdowngoofs]

It was definitely 1982, somebody sent it to us but guessing, it probably has come from Yorkshire TV.

[steviegTVreturns]

I typed this comment before I saw part 3 of this clip, and it's credited MCMLXXXI which is 1981. Still that's irrelevant, it's a good clip but it shows how much the show has come on during the years.

[countdowngoofs]

Sorry stevie, you are right, the actual series was recorded in 1982 so we assumed this was too.

[jamesbooker89]

was this the very 1st show they did be for Channel 4 in 1982

[DANWOODHOUSE]

thats a tricky question, the countdown book states that the main series of calendar countdown was done then followed by a non transmitted pilot (this one?)

but seeing this though you'd think that was the other way around.

[countdowngoofs]

This pilot was recorded in 1981, so it must have been pre Calendar Countdown, which was recorded in 1982. The pilot your referring to was maybe one for Countdown.

[DANWOODHOUSE]

so you mean that there could have been a seperate non transmitted pilot each for Calendar countdown and the networked countdown

it starts to make a bit of sense now

[pigeonshouse]

I remember seeing a few clips of this on 'Tarrant on TV' - this was a pilot for an ITV programme that never got made. I assume Channel 4 bought it and changed the format slightly.

But confused as to why the lady contestant only got 30 seconds as opposed to the 45 seconds given to the man in 'his' round.

[formulacountdown]

@pigeonshouse It's 45 then 30. if it was the other way round (if Joyce had gone first) it still would have been 45 first/