Countdown is on for Downe Hospital’s Consultant Psychiatrist as he Takes on Quarter Final Challenge of Popular Quiz Show

23rd April 2024
Dr Mark Finnerty On Countdown Set

Downe Hospital’s Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Mark Finnerty is preparing for a battle of wits in May as he flexes his numerical know how and word prowess as a quarter finalist on Channel 4’s Countdown programme.

A daytime quiz fixture since the 1980’s, contestants on the generation spanning quiz show pit their wits against their rivals, vowels, consonants and numbers while the iconic Countdown clock ticks down.

Dr Finnerty has already competed in eight episodes of the show securing a place in the quarter finals next month. Dr Finnerty explained how he would have always tuned in to the show as a “school kid” having watched it over the years.

When Northern Ireland’s own Colin Murray took over as host, Mark decided to apply. “Somehow I found myself filling in an application form and you forget then about it, until five months later I got an email asking if I’d like to do an audition for the show,” said Mark. “That was back in October 2023 and the episodes were screened in January of this year.”

Filmed in Manchester, Mark said the process went by in an “anxious blur!” “I go back in May for the quarter finals and I’m looking forward to it.”

Mark’s advice to anyone who might be sitting at home watching the show thinking of applying is to “just do it.” “After years of thinking ‘I can do that’ I decided to apply. It has been such a good experience and the Countdown team are as lovely as you see on screen.”