Sean Lock: Cats Does Countdown viewers in tears at ‘emotional’ tribute in late comic’s ‘last episode’

Comedian died of cancer last year

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown viewers were left in tears as Sean Lock’s “last episode” ended with a tribute to the late comedian.

The comic – who died in August 2021 of cancer – was one of the team captains on the popular series, a mash-up of panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats and Countdown.

Friday (11 February) night’s episode was one of the last filmed by Lock before his death and concluded with Lock correctly guessing the conundrum, an anagram of “rude dongs” that spelled out “underdogs”.

The episode then ended with a tribute to Lock, with a pre-credits message reading: “In loving memory of comedy legend Sean Lock, 1963 – 2021.”

Lock’s name trended on Twitter as the episode aired, with alternative team captain Jon Richardson tweeting that he had found the episode particularly hard to watch back as he’d known that Lock was sick during filming.

“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,” the comedian tweeted.

“A true comic to the end. That’s why he’s trending on twitter and why he’s so missed.”

Fans also found the scene “emotional”, with one tweeting: “Just watching Sean Lock in one of his last shows. F*** cancer sideways with a splintered plank. It is beyond me how someone can have a comedic brain like that.”

“Lovely final episode for Sean Lock on Cats Does Countdown, got a tear in my eye,” another viewer commented.

Another tweet read: “Immensely bitter sweet watching Sean Lock on #catscountdown . His new dictionary had me crying with laughter.”

“Bloody love you Sean Lock. The underdog did good. Very VERY good. Shed a tear on the reveal,” one tweet read.