Susie Dent

Preview - 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown

It's two Carrs for the price of one tonight as Alan Carr appears as a guest team captain on a new series of the panel/game show mash-up.

Preview - 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown

The quiz show mash-up returns, and continues to demonstrate how some of the best TV formats can come out of the most unusual places.

Susie Dent interview

Susie Dent doesn't mind a naughty word or two - even when she's the butt of the jokes.

New series of the word-wrangling panel show, with guests including David Walliams (AKA all the Carry On films stuffed into one suit) and Jonathan Ross (who brings along some cat nappies as a mascot). Isy Suttie is in Dictionary Corner alongside Susie Dent, Jon Richardson has brought a Ouija board to assist him ("at various points I may go into a trance-like state"), and there are two faintly rude-sounding anagrams for you to untangle.

Jimmy Carr hosts another helping of humorous word wrestling, with regular team captains Jon Richardson and Sean Lock joined by David Mitchell and Katherine Ryan. Rachel Riley remains on number and letter duty, while Susie Dent shuffles along her Dictionary Corner bench to make room for guest dictionary delvers and YouTube popmakers the Brett Domino Trio. And, believe it or not, that name is not an anagram.

The awkward language of David Brent and The Office

As we know, David Brent actually has a lot of words, and most of them lead to podiacide, otherwise known as shooting yourself in the foot.

With a little liquid still left in that particular game show crossover sponge, here's another splash of word-wrangling whimsy from the Cats crew, with Jimmy Carr, Sean Lock and Jon Richardson joined by Reginald D. Hunter and British comedy award-winner Aisling Bea in search of those elusive eight-pointers. The lexicographical gold-panning is overseen, as ever, by Susie Dent, with assistance from Holly Walsh. As for which format to remix next, how about 8 Out of 10 Cats does The Crystal Maze?

Jimmy Carr hosts another series of mash-ups between the teatime quiz and lairy panel show. 8 Out Of 10 Cats team captains Sean Lock and Jon Richardson get their thinking caps on, alongside guests James Corden and Jack Dee. Over in Dictionary Corner - where nine-letter words reign supreme - up-and-coming comic Joe Lycett joins Susie Dent, while Rachel Riley is assisted in the numbers game by Joe Wilkinson (Him & Her). For true Cats devotees, the latest series continues on Mondays at 10pm, too.

Jimmy Carr hosts the latest special edition of mirthsome panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats, which finds it "mashed up" with veteran Channel 4 word quiz Countdown. Team captains Sean Lock and Jon Richardson face off against each other as usual, but with anagrams and numbers as their weapons of choice. There are guests joining them, along with hairy comedian Joe Wilkinson, the show's longstanding lexicographer Susie Dent and resident number boffin, former Strictly contestant and lad mag fave Rachel Riley.

For reasons never really explained - well, beyond the fact that the letters board presents a fine opportunity for puerile mischief - the Cats mob have become a little smitten with Countdown: this is the third mash-up between the shows in little over a year. Jimmy Carr again hosts, though Sean Lock is away on tour, so regular captain Jon Richardson pairs up with gruff Welshman Rhod Gilbert to take on Rob Beckett and panel show pro Lee Mack. Over in dictionary corner, Countdown veteran Susie Dent is joined by the marvellous Tim Key.