This show started out as a bit of fun, a mashup show made for the 30th anniversary of Channel 4 in 2012, but it proved so popular that they it was commissioned for a series, and since then many more have followed. Hosted by Jimmy Carr, with permanent team captains Sean Lock (series 1-9) and Jon Richardsom (series 1-9), and Countdown lexicographer Susie Dent (series 1-9) in Dictionary Corner, and Countdown mathematician Rachel Riley (series 1-9) doing the letters and numbers, with Joe Wilkinson occasionally offering "help". The series is a mashup of satirical comedy panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats and long-running word and number game show Countdown, the show follows the usual game play of Countdown, but the bonus is the added banter, joke answers and rude words in play, for the teatime teasers and the final conundrum, the player mascots, Jimmy doing something funny to distract the players during the Countdown clock, alternative versions and music for the clock time, and so many other funny elements. Guests on the show, on the teams, as guest captains, in Dictionary Corner and for other reasons, have included: Kriss Akabusi, Tom Allen, David Baddiel, Bill Bailey, Aisling Bea, Rob Beckett, Jo Brand, Brett Domino Trio, Alex Brooker, Kevin Bridges, Kathy Burke, Adam Buxton, Clarke Carlisle, John Cooper Clarke, Roisin Conaty, Nina Conti, Victoria Coren, James Corden, Matthew Crosby, Greg Davies, Jack Dee, Rob Delaney, Natasia Demetriou, Danny Dyer, Joey Essex, Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff, Paul Foot, Rebecca Front, Mel Giedroyc, Rhod Gilbert, Lauren Goodger, Sally Gunnell, Rich Hall, Nick Helm, Adam Hills, Alex Horne and The Horne Section, Sharon Horgan, Russell Howard, Reginald D. Hunter, Jessica Hynes, Phill Jupitus, Miles Jupp, John Kearns, Humphrey Ker, Tim Key, Jamie Laing, Cariad Lloyd, Gabby Logan, Josie Long, Joe Lycett, Lee Mack, Jason Manford, Stephen Mangan, Sarah Millican, David Mitchell, Bob Mortimer, Trevor Noah, Dara O'Briain, David O'Doherty, Jono O'Neill, Richard Osman, Sara Pascoe, Chris Ramsey, Romesh Ranganathan, Vic Reeves, Adam Riches, Jonathan Ross, Antoinette Ryan, Katherine Ryan, Peter Serafinowicz, Sam Simmons, Jen Steadman, Isy Suttie, Liza Tarbuck, Dennis Taylor, Johnny Vegas, David Walliams, Holly Walsh, Seann Walsh, Henning When, Jack Whitehall, Josh Widdicombe, Claudia Winkleman, Jake Yapp and many more. It is funny, it is clever, you can play along with the game, and laugh loads at all the jokes during the game, you could argue it is better than both the original shows, a brilliant satirical comedy panel gameshow. Very good!

What is there more to say than what was written in the title? The show's host Jimmy Carr is a quick thinker, which allows him to make incredibly funny jokes all while retaining the edgy, dark humour he is known for. The scripted skits that take place while participants are writing down their answers are crazily ridiculous. Resident team captains Sean Lock and Jon Richardson have such strong chemistry with each other that I'd have a hard time imagining comedians that would be better in their place. All the while there is still the classic rounds of Countdown being played that many know and love, all starring the same lexicographer Suzie Dent, and presenter/mathematician Rachel Riley.The entire show feels genuine, which is an important achievement that some panel shows have an issue with. In conclusion, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown lives up to the hype as one of the pinnacles of British panel shows.

8 Out Of 10 Cats does Countdown is and will always be, one of my favorite quiz shows. It is so funny, each episode in a different way, some more than others, but they never fail to make me giggle.Jimmy Carr does a great job as host, and still manages to stay funny and quick to comment. Jon and Sean are both some of my favorite comedians, they are always very clever and very funny, and actually fairly good at countdown, which is quite nice.Last but not least: the format. The general format of Countdown really hits the spot with me. Sitting at home, trying to get a better word than they do, is so much fun.All in all a great show!

Crossover shows are an interesting beast as popular programmes are combined and it is compelling to see how their individual styles play off one another to create something truly unique on its own. While there have been successful examples of such shows because of this, there have also been failures as the styles of the individual shows don't mix well together, creating something that can be tedious and awkward to watch. Therein lies the problem with this show: while Countdown is always enjoyable, the 8 Out Of 10 Cats element slightly suffers due to humour that is mildly amusing at best and completely unfunny at worst.Firstly, I'll explain how the show works to those who are unfamiliar. The show is a panel show where two teams (one headed by Cats comedians Sean Lock and the other by John Richardson) compete to win Countdown. To do so, they play a series of games where a random set of letters or numbers is put onto a board, and the contestants have to either make words with the letters or find out how they can use the numbers to get to a pre-determined number set by the board. At the end, both teams have to figure out a Countdown Conundrum by unscrambling a word. Whoever has the most points wins.That is the main part of the show that works, as with all good game shows, it is always engaging to try and play along by finding the words, working out the sums with the numbers and working out the conundrum. Meanwhile working out the Teatime Teasers (where you work out a conundrum set by the show during the break) is interesting, despite the quite juvenile clues which often sounds like something written by an immature teenager looking for cheap laughs. It is a great format that works well in its original form, and works mostly fine here too.However its the 8 Out Of 10 Cats element that lets the side down, as doesn't work as well. While Jimmy Carr and the gang can be funny at times, they clearly aren't on top form here. This is due to how the humour either ranges from annoyingly quirky (highlighted with the random antics that Jimmy does during the Countdown games that can sometimes distract from playing along with the game itself) to generically safe and bland. Guest comedians they bring in, like Joe Wilkinson and Lee Mack, don't help matters as they usually don't tickle the funnybone either. And the previously mentioned juvenile Teaser gags don't work either as they are more concerned with appealing to the lowest common denominator by being stupidly crass and opposed to relying on clever humour. That is my biggest problem with the show as a whole: while the original Countdown format is always engaging and it can be humorous here and there, the lack of strong comedy (or any edge for that matter) spoils it.It doesn't help that the pacing is slightly off as since the laughs are few and far between a lot of the time, the pacing can feel quite slow at points while you wait for the actual game to start. The fact that there are cases where it takes over ten minutes for the games to get going doesn't help this fact. It just feels quite slow and you would wish they would get started already.However, it isn't all bad. As I've said, there can be very funny parts on the show (Joe Lycett's story about receiving an e-mail from a drunk fan in a recent episode is priceless) and the Countdown format, regardless of this variant, is always watchable. Adding in some familiar faces from the original show (like the Dictionary Corner's Susie Dent and the ever so beautiful Rachel Riley) is a nice touch and gives it some familiarity for Countdown fans who may be initially alienated by this variation of it, and even if irritating at points, it can be quite entertaining to see how badly some celebrities are at the game.As such, I feel that while this show is a decent attempt at a crossover, it is seriously lacking in some areas but mainly in humour and edge. For a supposed comedic panel show, the humour is too sporadic to be consistently funny and the lack of edge to the humour makes it slightly bland at points especially considering how risqué the comedians have been previously (mainly Jimmy Carr). However, the good jokes and the game itself are always engaging and worth watching on that basis alone. Because of this, 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown isn't a complete failure, but it perhaps didn't need anything more than its initial one off status, and there isn't much worthwhile here to convince you of otherwise. Just stick with the original shows instead.