Letters and Numbers
| Letters and Numbers | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Presented by |
Richard Morecroft David Astle Lily Serna |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 450 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes per episode |
| Production company(s) | Shine Australia |
| Release | |
| Original network | SBS One |
| Picture format |
576i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 2 August 2010 – 27 June 2012 |
| External links | |
| Website | www |
Letters and Numbers was an Australian game show on SBS One. It was hosted by former newsreader Richard Morecroft, co-hosted by David Astle and Lily Serna, and was based on the French format Des chiffres et des lettres while its structure is similar to the UK version of the show, Countdown. It began airing on 2 August 2010. On 22 June 2012 SBS announced on the official website its decision to "rest" the show; the final episode aired on 27 June 2012. Repeat episodes are still shown on SBS.
Two contestants compete against each other in a series of nine rounds, split into three sections. The first two sections consist of two letters rounds followed by a numbers round; the third section consists of a letters round, a numbers round, and the conundrum round. After the first commercial break, Astle would present a story on the origins of particular words and phrases.
The winner of the game returns in the next show to face a new opponent; a player who wins six times is forced to retire, becoming a retired champion, in which case two new contestants will play the next game. Retired champions with the highest cumulative score may return for a special tournament at the end of each series. Every contestant also wins a Macquarie Dictionary 5th Edition, signed by the presenters.
One contestant chooses how many vowels and consonants they would like to make up nine randomly chosen letters. There must be at least three vowels and four consonants. The contestants then have thirty seconds to find the longest word that they can make out of these letters. Any word which appears in the Macquarie Dictionary is allowable, as well as some inflections. The contestant with the longest word is awarded one point for each letter in the word, but nine-letter words count double (thus scoring 18 points). If both contestants find words of equal length then each is awarded points. Proper nouns are not qualified during the Letters rounds.
One contestant chooses how many "small" and "large" numbers they would like to make up six randomly chosen numbers. Small numbers are between 1 and 10 inclusive, and large numbers are 25, 50, 75, or 100. All large numbers will be different, so at most four large numbers may be chosen. The contestants have to use arithmetic on some or all of those numbers to get as close as possible to a randomly generated three-digit target number within the thirty second time limit. Fractions are not allowed—only integers may be used at any stage of the calculation.
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