Reassuringly comfortable TV

Listening to Radio 2 (by internet) this afternoon, I heard on the news that today was the final edition of Countdown featuring Carol Vorderman. Not in itself earth shattering news but, I am pretty sure, the end of an era for an entire generation (my Nan included).

I am certainly not a massive Countdown fan (can't afford to be frankly, having opted instead for a full time job during the day, and an overseas one at that), but on those rare occasions when I happen to be in the UK on a weekday afternoon flicking through the channels, if Countdown is on I do tend to flick no further.

Save for perhaps the colour of the set, the main presenter (since Richard Whiteley died) and Carol Vorderman's hairdo, as far as I can tell Countdown has not changed a bit in the 26 years it has been going. Where other game shows have come and gone (even on Channel 4 afternoons - remember 15 to 1?) it has quietly kept doing what it does so effortlessly. Which is to provide mental stimulation to the legions of pensioners who are sitting down with a cup of tea and a biscuit. It is reassuringly comfortable TV - no agenda, no sense that it will ever change more than the afore-mentioned aspects of the show (nor does it need to).

I remember coming home from school on the days when my Nan and (now passed, but still very missed) Grandad would be staying with us. Countdown was always on. And I would watch it with them on those days. And you cannot help but play along at home. I was never any good mind, but that wasn't the point. Whatever else was going on in the world didn't matter for that 45 minutes or so. For 26 years it has always been there, predictable in its format, but at the same time reliable in serving the needs of its audience. Although I only dip in and out very infrequently, every time I do it has the feeling of something slightly old-fashioned, but at the same time safe and dependable. In that way, very much like the grandparents I used to secretly enjoy spending many a post-school afternoon watching it with.

But now that neither Richard Whiteley or Carol Vorderman remain as hosts, I sense that it will no longer be the same show. The same audience will remain, but you can almost hear them already saying, in unison, "it's not as good as it used to be".

The very worst thing it could do is to use the excuse of changing its presenters to adapt itself further, in the belief that now is the time for a complete overhaul. Fresh is the one thing Countdown is not, nor (since 1982) has it ever been. And that's the point. I hope that, for people like my Nan, it is only the faces of the presenters that change, and not the presenting style or indeed anything else about this tea-time favourite. Including even the cod liver oil and stairlift ads in the commercial breaks.