Jon Richardson pays poignant Sean Lock tribute as posthumous Countdown airs

Jon Richardson has paid tribute to late comedy legend Sean Lock, as his first posthumous new episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown aired on Channel 4 last night (February 12).

Lock passed away at the age of 58 last August following a cancer diagnosis, which was not publicly announced before his death. As Richardson said in his tweet, he and his co-stars were aware, and he shared his awe at how Lock didn't let his cancer stop him from bringing the laughs.

"Watching Sean's last ep of Countdown I can see how upset I was knowing he was ill and how much that affected my performance, while Sean himself continued to be effortlessly hilarious," he wrote.

"A true comic to the end. That's why he's trending on Twitter and why he's so missed."

While Richardson refers to the episode as "Sean's last", and the episode itself contained a 'in memory of' title card, a tweet from Channel 4 referred to it as "one of his last appearances on the show". Digital Spy has reached out to the broadcaster to confirm what the case is.

In the episode, Lock was paired with Harry Hill, while Richardson was on the opposing team with Rosie Jones, who has been starring in Casualty lately. Nick Mohammed joined Susie Dent in Dictionary Corner, while Jimmy Carr and Rachel Riley hosted and took charge of the numbers, respectively.

"Ah. This is bittersweet," Jones tweeted.

Lock managed to guess the final conundrum of the episode. Ironically, the word 'underdogs' didn't help his team win the fabled Countdown house plants, but it did help them lose by less.

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown airs Friday nights on Channel 4, and you can catch up on All4.

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