''Celebrity Letters and Numbers'' is an Australian comedy

panel game show A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participate. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on '' ...

on SBS which premiered on 2 October 2021. It is a revived version of the

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

Letters and Numbers ''Letters and Numbers'' is an Australian game show on SBS (Australian TV channel), SBS. It is hosted by former newsreader Richard Morecroft, co-hosted by David Astle and Lily Serna. Although it is based on the France, French game show ''Des chiff ...

'', which aired on SBS from 2010 to 2012, with an altered format with celebrity contestants competing rather than members of the public. Co-hosts

David Astle David Robert Astle (born 9 November 1961) is an Australian TV personality and radio host, and writer of non-fiction, fiction and plays. He also co-hosted the SBS Television (SBS) show ''Letters and Numbers'', as the dictionary expert, in company ...

and Lily Serna returned from the original series, while comedian, journalist and actor Michael Hing replaced presenter Richard Morecroft as host. Two series of twelve episodes were commissioned in July 2021 with celebrity guests including

Hamish Blake Hamish Donald Blake (born 11 December 1981) is an Australian comedian, television and radio presenter, actor and author. Since 2003, he has worked with Andy Lee as part of the comedy duo Hamish and Andy. The pair have performed live and on ...

Susie Youssef Susie Youssef is an Australian writer, actor and comedian who works in television, on radio and stage. She is best known for her appearances in the television series '' The Project'', '' Whose Line Is It Anyway? Australia'', and '' Rosehaven ...

Merrick Watts Merrick Watts (born 18 November 1973) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. He is best known for performing stand-up comedy and radio works as part of the comedy duo Merrick and Rosso with Tim Ross. Career Stand up Watts beg ...

and

Matt Okine Matthew Okine (born 12 April 1985) is a stand-up comedian, author and radio presenter from Brisbane, Australia. Okine is of Ghanaian and European descent, born to his father, Mack Okine, and his mother Roslyn, who died of breast cancer when he ...

. Series three premiered on 17 September 2022, with series four set to air on 5 February 2024. As of February 2024, new episodes of Celebrity Letters & Numbers have been pulled from SBS, after just two episodes. The last 10 episodes in series 4, which broadcast on

SBS Viceland SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS V ...

at 6.00pm Weeknights starting from 9 September 2024 until 20 September 2024. The show is similar to the British comedy panel show ''

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' is a British comedy panel show on Channel 4. The show follows the game of '' Countdown'', but presented in a comedy panel show format seen on ''8 Out of 10 Cats'', with the show being a crossover of the two. ...

'', which also features celebrity comedians and airs on SBS in Australia.

ITV Studios Australia ITV Studios Australia is an Australian television production company and the Australian arm of UK company ITV Studios. It was formed as Artist Services in 1989, later becoming Granada Media Australia before being rebranded to its current name i ...

also took over as the production company (

Shine Australia Endemol Shine Australia is a subsidiary of Banijay Entertainment, a global content production and distribution company. The current CEO of Endemol Shine Australia is Peter Newman. Endemol Shine Australia is based in Sydney. The company’s pro ...

had produced the civilian version); the revamped program uses ITV-owned elements developed for the British ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

'' such as its logo style and theme music.

Gameplay

Unlike the original version of ''Letters and Numbers'', each episode features three contestants competing individually and the winning contestant does not return for the next episode. Additionally, instead of winning a ''

Macquarie Dictionary The ''Macquarie Dictionary'' () is a dictionary of Australian English. It is considered by many to be the standard reference on Australian English. It also pays considerable attention to New Zealand English. Originally it was a publishing proje ...

'', the guest with the most points wins a single volume from the 1980s ''Oceaniapaedia''

encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...

, allegedly donated by the Hing family (in later series, winner gets an item from Hing's childhood bedroom, e.g. a set of

goth Goth or Goths may refer to: * Goths, a Germanic people Arts and entertainment * Gothic rock or goth, a style of rock music * Goth subculture, developed by fans of gothic rock * ''Goth'' (2003 film), an American horror film * ''Goth'' (2008 f ...

rings). Another addition is the inclusion of a Dictionary Corner guest, as in the British show ''

'', who sits beside Astle. The mix of letters and numbers rounds, the final nine-letter conundrum and the eight-letter word mixes preceding the commercial break are retained from the original series. Scoring also differs slightly from the original ''Letters and Numbers.'' All contestants whose answers are valid win points, regardless of whether another contestant declared a longer word (in the letters game) or achieved a closer numerical target (in the numbers game). Spelling variations, such as American spellings, are also valid in ''Celebrity Letters and Numbers.''

Episodes

Series 1 (2021)

Series 2 (Early 2022)

Series 3 (Late 2022)

Series 4 (2024)

: :

References

External links

SBS On Demand: ''Celebrity Letters and Numbers''
*{{IMDb title, tt15533298 Special Broadcasting Service original programming 2021 Australian television series debuts 2020s Australian comedy television series 2020s Australian game shows Australian English-language television shows Television series by ITV Studios Australian television series based on non-Australian television series