The Urban Myth that is Harry Peters...
Who is Harry Peters?
If you believe some, he is nothing more than a myth, an urban legend, something people made up.
If you believe others, he may well be the greatest Countdown player ever to have graced the studios in Leeds.
It's said that, in around 1985-1986, Harry made his debut on the show and immediately went on an 8-game winning streak, becoming an octochamp with a record score- and not just a record score, but a phenomenal record score- that of around 562 points. To give you an idea of just how high this is, the "official" record for the 9 round game was David Williams' 535, and if you convert Julian Fell's 8-game record from the 15 round game to the 9 round game, it still only comes to around 557, just shy of Harry's record. This means, statistically, anyway, that Harry Peters is better at Countdown than Julian Fell- in footballing terms, it'd be like saying "he's better than Pele".
However, as the rumour goes, Harry never made it onto the screen- you see, he had a bit of a temper. He tended to talk back to dictionary corner, questioned every decision that went against him (which, admittedly, wasn't many). And, in his fourth game, when he was beaten to the conundrum by a split second, he was livid, even going so far as to refuse to shake hands with his opponent, even though he'd still con by a comfortable margin. Eventually, following a foul-mouthed outburst in his eighth and final game, the producers decided that he was "unsuitable" for broadcast on the air, and his entire eight-game run was scrapped, and the challengers brought back to play off against each other in the shows where they had previously been beaten. However, as the shows were scrapped, there is no way to prove that any of the above happened, and it has gradually become accepted that Harry never existed.
But, there is still some pretty compelling evidence- his scores, which I cannot remember off-hand but include a high score of 81 (a then-record, Harvey Freeman was the first person to "officially" beat the 80-point mark in 1987) and have been printed in full, twice, by two separate people. There has been someone claiming to have witnessed the end of his octochamp run, and there is also physical evidence- in series 6, Helen Grayson retired early, before the end of her octochamp run, due to personal reasons. Interestingly, her retirement came 8 games before the end of the heats and the start of the quarterfinals- leading many to believe that she didn't retire early at all, but was, in fact, defeated by Harry Peters in his first game, and that those eight games were originally Harry's, before they were struck from the record. Series 6 took place in 1985, exactly the same time he was supposed to have been on the show. Also, shows have been scrapped before- technical difficulties (i.e. letter tiles that could potentially cause seizures) have necessitated the re-recording of shows before, so it's not entirely unprecedented.
Unfortunately, this evidence is all circumstantial- the score postings could very easily have been copied from each other, and the "person from the audience" could so easily have been, well, inaccurate as well. Indeed, Countdown producer Damian Eadie has gone on the record as saying that the Harry Peters story is a load of cobblers- however, Damian wasn't actually working on the show way back in 1985, so if there was a cover-up, it wouldn't have been too difficult to hide it from him in the decade+ before he joined the production team. Another set back is the sheer fact that one episode of Countdown costs a lot to make- in today's money, almost a quarter of a million pounds. Enough to mean they could afford to lose the odd one, but eight in a row, all because of a contestant who's a bit lippy? Improbable, I'm afraid, it'd have been easier to simply edit out all the profanity.
How can we prove/disprove the Harry Peters legend?
Obviously, the best person to ask would be Harry himself- if he existed, of course. Other people who would be "in the know" include his supposed first victim, Helen Grayson, and the eventual series 6 champion Darryl Francis. It's not unfeasible that they might remember the story of a foul-mouthed, yet brilliant, Countdown champion. Also, any member of the production team at the time would be a good person to start with. However, remember that the Helen Grayson theory is merely that- a theory, nothing more, he may have appeared anywhere up to a year after the end of series 6, but it is the best lead so far. If anyone has any videotapes from that time, particularly of Helen Grayson's last match/the one after it, if it can shed any clues, or if anyone knows any member of the production team from that time, then I urge you, don't keep it to yourself, the mystery of harry peters must be solved once and for all.
Thank you for your time.
Nebagram 2003