Countdown | Wednesday 28th June 2023 | Episode 8049
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TVTranscript
00:01This programme contains strong language and adult humour.
00:04APPLAUSE
00:31Hello, everybody. It's Wednesday, it's Countdown,
00:34it's semi-final day again, so close your curtains,
00:38turn your phone off, let nothing distract you at all.
00:42Rachel Riley, that phrase on Countdown 20 years ago
00:45would have got laughed at.
00:47They would have done a retake. What do you mean, turn your phone off?
00:50It wouldn't have been a thing. It used to be...
00:52It was a cliched phrase.
00:54Close the curtains, take your phone off the hook.
00:57Don't let anybody ring you.
00:59It's so commonplace, but actually it's not that long ago.
01:02On this day, 2007, other brands are available,
01:06the first iPhone was released, the iPhone 1 was released.
01:10Yeah, things have changed a bit since then, haven't they?
01:12Do you remember all that?
01:14I didn't have any of the early ones, couldn't afford them.
01:16I remember when my friend got her first iPod
01:19and she was the first one in school to get it.
01:21She was cool, I wasn't that cool,
01:23but I was never an early adopter of things.
01:25I like everyone else to test them out and then they debug them
01:28and I'll get a later version quite happily.
01:31Right, the dictionary corner.
01:33Somebody who never just dials it in.
01:36Our J of the D, Susie Dent, and alongside her,
01:39a woman when she thinks of phones, she immediately thinks of E.T.
01:43Our super special, super space scientist, Maggie Adderham-Polkock.
01:50Well, this isn't about space today, Maggie.
01:52It's not even about planet Earth.
01:54It's about one little patch of land
01:57and that patch of land is Ireland.
01:59Nay, that patch of land is just the province of Ulster
02:02because we have an all-Ulster battle today.
02:05We've Tehran against Donegal.
02:07Cillian McMulgan, our number two seed,
02:10joint highest score in a single show of Countdown ever.
02:13Well, he's got all the pressure on him. How are you?
02:15Good, thanks. Yeah. Good.
02:17Now, it took me ages to get you a nickname and you deserve one
02:20because Tom Stevenson's the history maker
02:22and he's the joint highest score ever.
02:24We just don't give them out.
02:26I like the Kill Cillian bit and it's a bit morbid,
02:29so I did come up with the Incredible Malk.
02:31But if you don't like it, I won't give it to you.
02:33I think it's brilliant. You have it? I love it, yeah.
02:35But listen, superheroes are there to be slain
02:38and that's exactly what Peter Burke is going to try and do.
02:42Well, if this was Gaelic football, who would win?
02:45Maybe Taron?
02:47Pretty close, I'd say, yeah.
02:49Is there a kind of feeling of kinship and brotherhood?
02:53Absolutely not.
02:55I was saying, yeah, but... Fair enough.
02:58Cannot wait. Killian and Peter, good luck.
03:03Off we go to Incredible Malk.
03:05Afternoon, Rachel. Afternoon, Killian.
03:07Can I start with a consonant, please?
03:09You can indeed start our second semifinal with L.
03:11And another.
03:14G. And a third.
03:17T. Vowel.
03:19E. And another.
03:22O. And a third.
03:24E. And a consonant.
03:28L.
03:30Vowel.
03:32I.
03:34And a final consonant, please.
03:38A final D.
03:40At home and in the studio, let's play Countdown.
03:54MUSIC PLAYS
04:13Time. Killian?
04:15Six. And Peter?
04:17Yeah, a six for me as well. A six as well.
04:19What have you got? Toiled.
04:21Toiled. And Peter?
04:23And gilled.
04:25Happy with toiled, obviously.
04:27And, yeah, to gill a fish is to gut or clean it.
04:30Yeah. Yeah.
04:32OK, Maggie, just sixes is what we say at this standard.
04:35Anything else?
04:37Another six, a gelled.
04:39Gelled. So, there you go. Top scoring in the studio.
04:41First round, who'd have thunk it, eh?
04:43Peter, more letters, please.
04:45Consonant, please, Rachel. Thank you, Peter.
04:47S.
04:49And a vowel.
04:51O. And a consonant.
04:53H.
04:55And a vowel.
04:58E.
05:00Consonant.
05:02S. A vowel.
05:05O.
05:07Consonant.
05:10T.
05:12A vowel.
05:15A.
05:17And a final consonant, please.
05:1930 seconds.
05:21CLOCK TICKS
05:50Time's up. Peter?
05:52Seven. And Cillian?
05:54Seven, yeah. And a seven.
05:56Peter? Soothes.
05:58Soothes. Cillian? And a sentence.
06:00Soothes. Yep. And soothes.
06:02Well done. Susie, any better?
06:04Just another seven for us.
06:06Photos. Photos.
06:08As in the verb, with E. Yeah.
06:1013 points each.
06:12Peter, Bert, I told you, every game is different.
06:15Let's get the first numbers round. Cillian, you're picking.
06:18I'm going to go with four large here.
06:20Rachel, please.
06:22It could be decided on how easy or difficult these numbers games might be.
06:26Only one way to find out.
06:28The two little ones, four and three.
06:30And the big ones, 75, 25, 50 and 100.
06:36And the target, 961.
06:39961. Numbers up.
06:48MUSIC PLAYS
07:12961.
07:14Thanks for that, Cillian. What did you get?
07:16962. Not fully written down.
07:18One away, not fully written down. Peter?
07:20Too far away, no. Too far away.
07:22962. One away. Go, Cillian.
07:24OK, so I've done 75 times 3.
07:2675 times 3, 225.
07:29100 divided by 25 equals 4.
07:33Yes.
07:35Multiply that by...
07:39225 multiplied by 4?
07:41900.
07:43Damn it. Add the 4.
07:45I think I've gone wrong here.
07:47You have gone wrong. I know exactly where you've gone wrong.
07:49As soon as you said this part, you've gone wrong.
07:51Yeah. We knew for a while,
07:53but it was fun watching you disintegrate,
07:55hanging on to those seven points.
07:58Rachel, write that chip.
08:00Should I put you out of your misery for 962?
08:02Yeah. OK, if you say...
08:04Right, get the pieces.
08:06100 divided by 25 is 4.
08:08Times that by 75 for 300.
08:11And then add the 4 here for 304.
08:14Times that by the 3 for 912.
08:17And add the 50.
08:19But you might have guessed this was impossible,
08:21so one away is as good as you could have done.
08:23Well done, Rachel.
08:25APPLAUSE
08:27So we remain at 13 points each.
08:30Cillian's Big Four gamble did not pay off.
08:33Let's get our first teatime teaser.
08:35You stated...
08:37You stated you'd only be around for a few nights.
08:40Now your welcome has expired.
08:43APPLAUSE
08:51Hello again. You stated you'd only be around for a few nights.
08:54Your welcome has expired. Outstayed, outstayed.
08:57We're still none the wiser as to who's outstayed their welcome.
09:00On Countdown, Cillian and Peter, 13 points each.
09:03You stated...
09:05You stated you'd only be around for a few nights.
09:08Now your welcome has expired.
09:10Your welcome on Countdown, Cillian and Peter, 13 points all.
09:13And, Peter, you are up.
09:15Consonant, please, Rachel. Thank you, Peter.
09:17M. And a vowel.
09:20E.
09:22A consonant.
09:24R.
09:26And a vowel.
09:28O.
09:30Consonant.
09:32B. A vowel.
09:34E.
09:36A consonant.
09:39A vowel.
09:41A.
09:43And a final consonant, please.
09:45A final D.
09:47Thanks, Rach.
10:08MUSIC
10:20Time's up, Peter.
10:22Eight. Cillian?
10:24A seven. A seven, Cillian.
10:26Bromate. And this eight, Peter?
10:28Moderate. Moderate, well done.
10:30Well spotted.
10:32APPLAUSE
10:34Big eight points for Peter, our number three seed.
10:38Maggie?
10:40Bromate, but nothing higher.
10:42Yeah. Another round, another chance, Cillian.
10:45Consonant, please, Rachel. Thank you, Cillian.
10:48F.
10:50And another.
10:52D. And a third.
10:54R.
10:56A vowel.
10:58I. And another.
11:00E. A third.
11:03O. Consonant.
11:05N.
11:07A consonant.
11:09V.
11:11And a final consonant.
11:13And a final W.
11:15Half a minute.
11:17MUSIC
11:32MUSIC
11:48Cillian? Eight.
11:50Peter? Just a six.
11:52We've had a reversal. Peter?
11:54Ironed. Cillian?
11:56And overwind? Yes, you can overwind your watch.
11:59Very good indeed.
12:02You could not script it better.
12:04And we're unscripted. Exchange in eights.
12:07Nothing better, eh? That was our eight as well.
12:09Yeah, well done. Lovely.
12:1121 points each.
12:12The numbers, I predict, are going to become ever more important today.
12:16Peter, you're choosing these.
12:18Can I have two large, four small, please?
12:20You can indeed, playing it cautiously, I suppose.
12:24We never know what these numbers throw up.
12:27This time they are four, eight, ten, one,
12:32100 and 75.
12:35And the target for you, 687.
12:38687. Numbers up.
12:58MUSIC
13:11687, Peter? Yep, 687.
13:13Blowing on. Cillian? 687, yep.
13:16Both got it. Top notch. Peter?
13:18Ah, sorry, I've made a mistake, actually.
13:20I've used one number twice. Cillian?
13:2275 times eight.
13:24I saw you just double-checking that.
13:27Plus 100. 700.
13:29And then I've got 4 minus 1 is 3. Yep.
13:32And then 10 plus 3, take that away.
13:35Perfect, 687. Fantastic.
13:37APPLAUSE
13:40Little moments, little moments.
13:42That's what we'll come down to.
13:44A good time to catch your breath.
13:46Maggie Adderan at Polcock.
13:48Well, I think I want to...
13:50I'm thinking of life, the universe and everything. Yeah.
13:52And one of the big philosophical questions we often ask is,
13:55is there life out there?
13:57And as a space scientist, I'd say yes, and just leave it at that.
14:01But I think it's a numbers game,
14:03because we're sort of playing with numbers here.
14:05But if you look out in the universe,
14:07our solar system has a sun at the centre
14:10with eight planets going round.
14:12But each sun we see is...
14:14Each star in the night sky is a sun like our sun. Yeah.
14:17And so in our galaxy, there are 300 billion stars.
14:22And it's quite interesting, because there was a probe called Gaia.
14:26If I was speaking maybe five, six years ago,
14:28I would have said there's only 200 billion stars.
14:30But Gaia worked out we were 50% out, which is a bit embarrassing.
14:33Wow. So 300 billion stars in our galaxy,
14:35and each one is a sun,
14:37and we're detecting planets going around them called exoplanets.
14:40So just in our galaxy, there's quite likely to be life.
14:43But if you scale up for the whole of the universe,
14:45one of the things that the Hubble Space Telescope taught us
14:48is that there are about 200 billion galaxies out there.
14:52So, Omar, I think it's almost conceited
14:54if we think we're the only ones, because there's just so much out there.
14:58I couldn't... There's two things.
15:00A, it's conceited to think we're not.
15:02And also, I just can't believe we're the cleverest thing in the universe.
15:05I really can't imagine that's true.
15:07I'm hoping there's something better. Yeah.
15:09Love it, Maggie. Thank you so much.
15:14Ten points in it. Killian, back to those letters.
15:17Consonant, please, Rachel. Thank you, Killian.
15:19D. And another.
15:22C. And a third.
15:25N. Vowel.
15:28I. Another.
15:30A. And a third.
15:33E. And a fourth.
15:37O. Consonant.
15:40M.
15:42And a final consonant.
15:45Final L.
15:47Here we go.
15:49♫
16:20Time's up, Killian.
16:22I'll risk a nine.
16:24Peter? I'll stick with a seven.
16:26Seven is? Medical.
16:28This is the risk, though.
16:30And it will be a genuine risk here, Peter.
16:33Demonical.
16:35Demonical. Demonical.
16:37I look over with devil eyes at Susie.
16:40Well, most of us will know demonic, that's in the dictionary.
16:44Could you stretch it a little bit?
16:46Yeah, in the 15th century, you could have demonical,
16:48and it's in the dictionary.
16:55Absolute wow. Demonical.
16:57For 18. Plenty of road left, Peter.
17:00Let's travel a bit further.
17:02Consonant, please, Rachel. Thank you, Peter.
17:04S. And a vowel.
17:08I. Consonant.
17:11R. Vowel.
17:13Vowel.
17:15E. Consonant.
17:18T. Vowel.
17:21A. Consonant.
17:25N. Vowel.
17:29E. And a final consonant, please.
17:31And a final P.
17:33Start the clock.
17:43CLOCK TICKS
18:07Peter. Eight.
18:09Kellyanne. Nine.
18:11Could he go back to back nines?
18:13And, Peter, there's nothing you'll be able to do about that.
18:15What's the eight? Pertains.
18:17Pertains. Another nine?
18:19Episternum.
18:21He didn't even say risky, Susie.
18:24Er, he didn't.
18:26And he shouldn't have done, because it's in the dictionary.
18:29It's the plural of an episternum,
18:31which is a bone between the clavicles in mammals.
18:34APPLAUSE
18:40Peter, I'd say you and I go for a drink.
18:42There's a wee bar round the corner. Yes, please.
18:44We'll just leave them to it. Yeah, can we go now?
18:46Happy days!
18:48I just want numbers from Kellyanne.
18:50Let's try four large again.
18:52Still going for four large.
18:54Slightly less of an edge to it now, though.
18:56Slightly less important.
18:58But it's by no means over. Let's have a look.
19:00Two little ones this time. Ten and eight.
19:0325.
19:0550 and 100.
19:07And your target, 722.
19:10722. Numbers up.
19:32MUSIC PLAYS
19:42722, the target. Kellyanne?
19:44722, not written down.
19:46OK, and Peter? 723.
19:48723, not written down.
19:50Kellyanne, ten points if what's in your head makes sense.
19:53Yeah, 100 minus 10.
19:55100 minus 10, 90.
19:57Times eight. Times eight, 720.
20:00And 50 divided by 25.
20:02Yep. Add that on.
20:04It does indeed make sense, 722.
20:06APPLAUSE
20:10What a little run Kellyanne McMulcan has just put together
20:13in this second semifinal of Series 87.
20:16A very rare thing indeed when we return from the break.
20:19Kellyanne is on a hat-trick of nines.
20:22We will see if the letters fall for her when we return.
20:25But your tea time teaser is I Get Shiny.
20:28I Get Shiny. I Get Shiny White Teeth After Visiting Her.
20:32I Get Shiny White Teeth After Visiting Her.
20:43APPLAUSE
20:50Welcome back. I Get Shiny White Teeth After Visiting Her.
20:54I Get Shiny becomes Hygienist.
20:56Hygienist. But that nine-letter word doesn't count.
20:59This one will be pretty special indeed.
21:02Kellyanne McMulcan has managed two nines on the bounce
21:05in the last two letters rounds.
21:07Will he do it again? Three on the bounce?
21:10Peter's thinking, I'm picking three violence.
21:12Let's find out. Off you go, Mr Burke.
21:14Constant, please.
21:16X.
21:18Vowel, please.
21:20I.
21:22Constant.
21:24B.
21:26And a vowel.
21:28E.
21:30Constant.
21:32N.
21:34A vowel.
21:36I.
21:38Constant.
21:40Y.
21:42Erm...
21:44Constant.
21:46Are you sure the Incredible Mock is this incredible?
21:48R.
21:50Another constant, please.
21:53T.
21:55Caution, now. Caution, now. Here we go.
22:23MUSIC STOPS
22:28Phew! Time is up. Peter?
22:30A five. A five. And, Kellyanne?
22:32Five. Yeah.
22:34A five as well. OK. Peter, what's the word?
22:36Inert. Inert.
22:38And, Kellyanne? Entry.
22:40An entry.
22:42Dictionary Corner.
22:44I think we've got a six. Yeah, a six.
22:46Come on, you two are useless. You lot. You two. Come on.
22:49What have we got? Is it tinier?
22:51Tinier's there, yeah.
22:53Is Trixie there as well? It's a bedding terminology.
22:56T-R-I-X-I-E.
22:58Oh, that kind of Trixie. Yeah.
23:00Yeah, very nice. Three doubles and one treble.
23:02So, I just want to check.
23:04So, you beat Kellyanne and Peter and I beat Kellyanne and Peter.
23:07It's like taking candy from a baby. I know.
23:10Series 86 was just a higher standard.
23:12That was the thing. Right.
23:1482 plays 26.
23:16Next round is letters and next round is Kellyanne.
23:19Consonant, please, Rachel. Thank you, Kellyanne.
23:22D. And another.
23:25R. And a third.
23:28L. Vowel.
23:30U. And another.
23:33E. And a third.
23:35I. A consonant.
23:38S. Vowel.
23:42A.
23:44And a final consonant.
23:46Final C.
23:48Good luck.
24:17MUSIC STOPS
24:19Kellyanne.
24:21Let's try another nine.
24:23Peter.
24:25Seven. A seven.
24:27Secular. Another nine.
24:29I think this is incorrect, but I'll go for it anyway.
24:31Radicules. Radicules.
24:33Radicules, yes.
24:35Don't be ridiculous.
24:37But it is in, actually.
24:39It means the same as a radical.
24:42R-A-D-I-C-L-E.
24:44R-A-D-I-C-L-E, just with one extra letter,
24:46and it's a part of a plant embryo that develops into the root.
24:50Bravo.
24:54Excellent stuff.
24:56Let's take a break, at least. We all need it.
24:58Let's go to Dictionary Corner.
25:00And, Susie, your origins of words.
25:02You've been doing it the whole way through the show.
25:04I wasn't at all prepared for this,
25:06cos I was just so caught up in the game, yes.
25:09Well, I read a really lovely piece
25:12by a guy called Daniel de Haas recently,
25:15and he was talking about words that have surprising connections,
25:19which is one of my favourite subjects.
25:21But it turns out he's a software engineer,
25:23and he has taken a dictionary, essentially,
25:26and analysed it in such a way
25:28that he can trace etymological roots right back
25:31even to the most ancient proto-languages,
25:34ones that we haven't actually even seen,
25:37but we've reconstructed, they're that old.
25:39Anyway, back to Daniel.
25:41He has discovered one thing I would never have thought of,
25:44that piano, short for piano forte, obviously,
25:47is actually linked to plain clothed, believe it or not.
25:51Cos if you go all the way back,
25:53the Latin planus means level or flat or even.
25:57And, of course, you have the sort of flat and even keys of a piano
26:00if you go all the way back.
26:02Pay and peace is a nice one.
26:05If you pay someone, the whole idea originally
26:08was that you were appeasing them,
26:10you were sort of bringing peace
26:12by actually paying back something you owed them,
26:14and pax in Latin is peace,
26:16so they go all the way back to appeasing a creditor.
26:19And I'm just going to end with one other that I just quite like as well,
26:23and that's college.
26:24You go to college and legalise,
26:26cos they actually all go back to the Latin lego,
26:30meaning I choose or appoint.
26:33So that gave us, if you're appointed to go to college, etc,
26:37people who have been chosen to work together,
26:39also gave us colleague,
26:41and also people are appointed to, you know, dispense the law, if you like.
26:48So it's kind of...
26:49You can see they're all sort of quite tangled roots,
26:51but just unpicking them, and they're so sort of knitted together,
26:55but unpicking them takes you all the way back to such ancient roots
26:58that actually spawned in so many different directions.
27:01Brilliant. Thank you, Susie.
27:03Right, back to the game, Peter. Let's have some fun.
27:07Consonant, please.
27:08Thank you, Peter.
27:10D
27:11And a vowel.
27:13U
27:14And a consonant.
27:16T
27:17A vowel.
27:19E
27:21Consonant.
27:23S
27:24A vowel.
27:26A
27:27Consonant.
27:29F
27:30A vowel.
27:33E
27:34And a final consonant, please.
27:36And a final R.
27:38Countdown.
28:03Time's up.
28:05Peter?
28:06Eight.
28:07An eight. And Cillian?
28:08Eight as well.
28:09An eight as well. What have you got, Peter?
28:11Features.
28:12Yes. And Cillian?
28:13Draftees.
28:14Draftees.
28:15Features.
28:16Yes.
28:17Susie and Maggie?
28:18Features as well, so also eight.
28:20108 plays 34.
28:22Last letters round, Cillian McMulcan.
28:25Consonant, please, Rachel.
28:27F
28:28F
28:29F
28:30F
28:31M
28:32M
28:33G
28:34Another.
28:35M
28:37A third.
28:38T
28:39Vowel.
28:40A
28:41And another.
28:42E
28:43And a third.
28:44O
28:45Fourth.
28:48E
28:51Consonant.
28:52N
28:55And a final consonant, please.
28:57Final P.
28:58The final P.
28:59Last letters.
29:01-♪♪
29:09-♪♪
29:17-♪♪
29:25Kylian? Stick with seven. Peter? Seven as well. What's the seven, Kylian?
29:38Peonage. Thank you. And Peter? Montage. Let me just check those quickly.
29:44Montage, obviously. Montage, absolutely fine. Peonage is all to do
29:51with menial work and the carrying out of it. So was there any other word
29:57worth risking above a seven? We've got another seven, megaton, but...
30:01Megaton. That's everything. OK, last numbers now, Peter, Berk. The honour's
30:06all yours. Let's go six small, please. Just for pride and for fun. Six little
30:11ones to finish the day. Thank you, Peter. And they are six, five, seven,
30:19two, nine, and another two. And the target, 968. 968, last numbers.
30:41MUSIC
30:59Huge target with six small numbers. Peter? No, not quite close enough.
31:03Kylian? 967, not written down. OK. After today's show, I don't believe a word
31:09I say, but let's hear it. Nine times six. Nine times six, 54. And then I've
31:17done two plus seven. Two plus seven, nine. Times two. Times two is 18.
31:25Multiply those together. Times them together for 972. Minus the five. And
31:30you have a five left over. Well done. Nicely done. Fantastic. Seven points
31:34for you. And is that as good as it gets? No, but you will have to leave it
31:38with me. All right, there you go. 968 possible. We'll see if we can get
31:43there as we head towards the final round of today's second semifinal of
31:48series 87. Fingers on the buzzers as we reveal today's Countdown Conundrum.
31:54MUSIC
32:05MUSIC
32:24Nobody with a late buzz at all. So the ten points go back in and nobody in
32:31the studio is leaning forward in their seats. So let's reveal it for
32:36everybody at home. Vice regal is the word. Is that like deputy queen?
32:42These are so hard, aren't they? I think we're learning these words as
32:45much as trying to decode them. Relating to a viceroy. Really difficult.
32:49They should be. The conundrum is just a little bit more difficult when it
32:52comes to the series final. But, Peter, that's it. Curtains for Donnie
32:56Gohal. Tyrone win the Battle of Ulster here on Countdown. But,
33:00Peter, fantastic stuff. You take this away with you to go alongside your
33:05teapot. Did you feel a little all right? I mean, the nines were just...
33:09They were very good. I didn't think I could hate him more. I find my
33:14hatred level phone has just been roughly the same. Really? That's
33:18where it is. All right, then, Credible Monk, happy? Very happy, yes.
33:23Do you want me to give you a little tantaliser ahead of tomorrow's final?
33:26Go for it. Ronan Higginson, semi-final, 122.
33:32Hillyam McMulcan, semi-final, 122. See you tomorrow. Well done, sir.
33:39Maggie, Susie, are you ready for tomorrow, a battle of the ages?
33:43Just about. And as if today could get any better, 968, Rachel Riley.
33:51That was the first idea I had, but it just took a while to find it.
33:55If you say nine times seven is 63, times two is 126, less five is 121,
34:04and you have another two and a six remaining to add for eight, which you
34:09can times together for 968. Nice, well done. APPLAUSE
34:14What a way to finish this show. Well, listen, we could have had a giant
34:19Instead, we're just marvelling at the Incredible Monk.
34:22Can the hurricane blow him away in the final of series 87 of Countdown?
34:27Tomorrow, ten past two, Susie, Rachel and I will be here.
34:31You can count on us.
34:34You can contact the programme by email at countdown at channel4.com.
34:38You can also find our web page at channel4.com forward slash countdown.
34:48APPLAUSE