Anne Robinson has confirmed she is leaving Channel 4’s Countdown, having been the first woman to hold the role at the long-running show.
Countdown, which is filmed at dock10 in MediaCity, was the channel’s first programme to be broadcast 40 years ago, and Robinson, 77, took over the presenting role from Nick Hewer in February last year. The first episode fronted by her went out on June 28th.
She recorded 265 episodes and has filmed her final programmes already, giving Channel 4 until June to find a new presenter.
“I am quitting to make way for an older woman,” said Robinson, who also said: “We no longer have Northern newsreaders in Dictionary Corner – we have had a raft of top celebrities.”
In an interview with the Daily Mail she said she was moving on because she has “a lot going on – grandchildren, a big garden, an apartment in New York – and I want to enjoy them.”
She also commented on her travels to MediaCity in Salford for days of filming, calling it “great fun but… intense. I go up and we do 15 shows in three 11-hour days.
“I’m built to last so I don’t really mind, but it does take up quite a chunk of my time.
“I have made up my mind,” she said. “I only signed on for a year and I have helped them out by doing about 40 shows more than my contract.”
And in response to claims there were divisions within the on-screen team, she told the Mail: “There isn’t a question of my going because of a rift, that’s nonsense”.
