Countdown star Susie Dent wants co-stars Katherine Ryan and Jimmy Carr to carry her coffin at funeral

Susie Dent is planning her own funeral - and wants her TV colleagues to play an important role.

The lexicographer, known for her beloved appearances on both Countdown and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, expressed her desire for some of her co-stars to play a part in the proceedings. Speaking on the Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake podcast, she explained how she would combine “naff” 80s music with a group of comedians carrying her coffin.

The Dictionary Corner expert said: “I decided it would be some of the comedians - many of the comedians from 8 Out of 10 Cats. Jon [Richardson] could be too small walking on behind, Katherine Ryan maybe Jimmy [Carr], Joe Lycett please. I’d like to have some naff 80s music playing very loudly and be carried in on a rickshaw. I’ve not been on one before.

"The only problem with this is, I would quite like to be buried with all 20 volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary, so that could be a bit of a struggle.”

Dent has been a fixture in the Dictionary Corner since 1992. But she also admitted on the podcast that she doesn’t like the idea of being succeeded on Countdown and jokingly declared her intention to haunt the Channel 4 studio.

“I’m going to haunt the Countdown studio because I don’t like the thought of anyone taking over from me. If I do haunt it, it’s only going to be half of me because people only ever see the top half,” she said.

“I think there was a debate on QI once as to whether I had legs at all and they decided I was a salamander. So I’m going to be torso only. I’m just going to be the top half. So I think in that spirit it’s just going to be the top half of me swooping around and definitely haunting the person trying to take over.”