![]() For the latest news and expert tips on getting the best deals this year, take a look at our Black Friday 2021 and Cyber Monday 2021."So I'm not retiring really, but if something comes along and it's really interesting and is sort of a one-off for quite a short period, then I’d be flattered, but I really want to spend what little time that is left of me relaxing and travelling when I can and with my partner Catherine." He explained: "The thing is Countdown is a a two year contract, so to look at a diary when you're 77 and think about two years ahead, it's a bit much really. I give it 18 months.At 77, the presenter says he has found it difficult to factor in the lengthy contracts, and is hoping the unofficial retirement will give him the opportunity to spend more time with his partner. We have already seen Robinson at her best on Countdown, and it was perfectly adequate. But Countdown isn’t the sort of programme a host gets better at, because there is so little for them to do. Usually when a new host joins an old show, the polite thing to do is allow them some time to bed in. Someone as professionally explosive as her will always struggle with being relegated to the role of usher. That leaves Robinson – or any host – nothing to do but swallow their ego and keep things ticking over. Riley is better at maths, Dent is better at words, and all the jokes are contracted out to whoever is on Dictionary Corner. Robinson is clearly somebody who relishes being the centre of attention, but her mistake is picking a series where she is by far the least important participant. She did wink at the end, of course, but when the highlight of a show is watching a septuagenarian briefly close an eye, it cannot be a good sign. Except for the moment when Susie Dent delivered a mini lecture about what’s referred to as ablaut reduplication (such as wishy-washy or crisscross), she remained supremely disengaged. She doesn’t feel much like a joiner-inner, battling to rouse enthusiasm when one contestant’s “sliced” was spectacularly undermined by the other’s “unsliced” and only barely raising an eyebrow when someone unearthed the word “flasher”. ![]() ![]() So far, my guess is that Robinson is a Lynam. Meanwhile, Lynam was bored rigid from the moment he set foot in the studio, and was never going to last. You could sense that Whiteley genuinely loved joining in with the rounds, which is why he lasted so long. If you don’t – and spoiler alert, I don’t – then it’s a bit like spending the longest Sunday afternoon of all time at your grandma’s house. If you have a nose for anagrams, it’s a thrilling way to sharpen your intellect. My grand Countdown theory is that it only works as a show if you’re any good at it. There was a numbers round, and one of the contestants accidentally duplicated one of her numbers. There was a letters round and someone got a six. ![]() Rory Bremner was in Dictionary Corner for the opening episode, doing a Boris Johnson impersonation to the sort of deafening silence you normally only hear in the vacuum of space. A bit of meandering chit-chat with Rachel Riley, a flaccid little attempt at spikiness with the contestants (“You’re an accountant? Is that as exciting as it sounds? Yes? Oh”) then it was on with grinding business as usual. Opening with a clip of her first ever Countdown appearance almost 40 years ago, Robinson struggled to impose herself on the show from the start. On the basis of her first episode, the answer is probably not. Would Robinson, who made her millions by insulting poor people on TV, really be able to find her niche here? Still, there’s a sense that he got through his nine-year tenure only by leaving his personality at the door before every taping. Only Nick Hewer, Alan Sugar’s surgically vicious lieutenant in The Apprentice, achieved a decent post-Whiteley stint in the host’s chair. Des O’Connor tried to find space for his trademark bawdiness for almost two years before quitting in defeat. Richard Whiteley sparkled in the role for 22 years, but all of his successors have floundered. ![]()
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