Countdown conundrum

Published Monday 4 August 2008 at 17:20

Countdown could survive the departure of Des O’Connor, but not that of Carol Vorderman. She is probably irreplaceable. Channel 4 is not likely to find another attractive, effervescent woman who knows her 87 times table.

When Des’ move was announced, websites started debating who might replace him. All the usual suspects were named in just the same way as when Sue Lawley left Desert Island Discs. Nobody was bold enough to think that an unknown might be equal to the job.

When the London Palladium bosses were looking for a replacement for Tommy Trinder, one of their talent scouts saw a young comic struggling with small audiences in South Coast summer shows. Someone took a gamble and he got the job: Bruce Forsyth.

Richard Anthony Baker

Grand Parade

Leigh-on-Sea

Essex

Also in Features [RSS]

Embarking on entertainment: Reading the review of You Lucky People by Patrick Newley (page 18, September…
iPlayer pay: The Stage Online mum who enquires how much artists get paid when their…
Talent drain: I read the letter from Bryn Hughes headlined American Dream ( Letters, page…
Showing support: As a regular weekly subscriber to The Stage, I am really disappointed of late…
Printing plates: We at Samuel French Ltd were surprised and excited to see an illustration…
Pages of history: Wanted: Good home for a collection of more than 500 theatre programmes dating…
Palace history: May I through the pages of The Stage, ask readers for any memories or…
Embrace or withdraw: There’s one major snag with Ewan Spence’s vision for Eurovision ( September…
Gospel truth: Having recently seen the Last Choir Standing competition on BBC1, I am amazed…
Host with the most: There must be numerous solutions to the current dissatisfaction with the…

All RSS feeds are published for personal, non-commercial use. (What’s RSS?)