“Taskmaster is the show we need right now”
★★★★ Anita Singh, The Daily Telegraph
“Charming, batshit, hilarious…That something so pointless, so silly, so endlessly daft should exist is just delightful”
★★★★ Lucy Mangan, The Guardian
“I wish I had discovered it earlier as it’s sublimely silly and funny”
★★★★★ Deborah Ross, The Mail on Sunday
“The funniest double act on television… Taskmaster is one of TV’s most refreshing comedies. It’s nonsensical, silly and different from anything else on TV”
Frances Taylor, Radio Times
London – 19th November 2020 – It was announced today that fans will get a festive treat as Alex Horne’s BAFTA winning show will return with a one-off Taskmaster festive special on Channel 4. The news arrives as series ten of the hit comedy entertainment show enjoyed its best performance on record with its premiere in its brand-new primetime slot.
For the first time ever, the Task Cottage doors will be flung open to welcome five brand new faces from the worlds of TV, film, radio, journalism, and shiny floor entertainment, as the almighty Greg Davies sets ludicrous challenges with his Little Assistant scuttling in tow for this one-off festive special. Our well-known contestants are experts in their respective fields, and will be revealed in due course, but how will they compare in the most hard fought, high stakes, ridiculous game show on television?
The latest series featuring Daisy May Cooper (This Country, BBC Three), Johnny Vegas (Benidorm, ITV), Katherine Parkinson (IT Crowd, Channel 4), Mawaan Rizwan (Live At The Apollo, BBC Two), and Richard Herring (RHLSTP) Taskmaster launched on Channel 4 this October and the debut episode pulled in the show’s best performance on record – a consolidated audience of 3 million viewers, making it Channel 4’s biggest new title for young viewers this year. The official Taskmaster Podcast, hosted by Ed Gamble, went to No.1 in the iTunes podcast charts immediately after its release, while #Taskmaster trended at No. 1 on Twitter throughout and following transmission of the series ten premiere.
Line-Up and Transmission details will be confirmed in due course.
FURTHER CRITICAL PRAISE FOR SERIES 10 of TASKMASTER:
“The funniest show on television” Luke Holland, The Guardian
“Joyously ridiculous” Victoria Segal, The Sunday Times
“Greg and Alex make a strong double act… on screen they have natural rhythm” ★★★★★ Christopher Stevens, The Daily Mail
“it’s still the same delightful, daft show” ★★★★★ Steven Perkins, TV Times Magazine
“it’s still just as ridiculous and entertaining as ever” ★★★★★ Lauren Morris, Radio Times Online
“Anyone new to Taskmaster will quickly get the idea of its sublime silliness” ★★★★★ The Mail On Sunday
“impressive” ★★★★ Boyd Hilton, Heat
“weird and wonderful” ★★★★★ Mike Ward, Daily Star
“Its fun to watch not just because the tasks are silly, but also in the execution, as the comics come up with (mostly) inventive ways of making the magic happen” ★★★★ Daily Mail
“an entertaining return of a joyous show” ★★★★ Steve Bennett, Chortle
“the beauty of Taskmaster has always been its winning format” Ian Hyland, The Daily Mirror
“Surreal, downright silly and the most fun to be had on TV” Veronica Lee, The I
“there is nothing not to love” The Sun
“From the beginning its clear that this season… will be a winner. Proper laugh-out-loud TV” The Daily Telegraph, SH
“hilarious as usual” Emily Baker, The I
“The hilarity still comes in waves” Lynn Gibson, Inside Soap
“Extraordinary and hilarious” Jennifer Kyte, Sunday Express
“the novelty game show that struck comedy gold” The Mail on Sunday
“Still one of the most inventive- and definitely the most reliably funny- programme on TV” Total TV Guide
“Crash landing onto its new home on Channel 4 after nine seasons on Dave, its only right that this brilliant, bonkers show reaches a wider audience” Sara Wallis, The Daily Mirror
“The national service for comedians” Joe Clay, The Times
“it’s ridiculously funny” Mike Ward, Daily Express
“it is still as funny, inspired and daft as ever in its tenth series” Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke
ENDS
For more information please contact:
Florrie Sheehan at Avalon: fsheehan@avalonuk.com
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Notes to Editors:
About Taskmaster
- Taskmaster is a BAFTA winning and International Emmy nominated comedy game show originally created by Alex Horne. Greg Davies stars as the all-powerful “Taskmaster” who, with the help of his loyal assistant Horne, sets out to test the wiles, wit and wisdom of five comedians through a series of strange and surreal challenges in what is the most hard-fought and ridiculous comedy entertainment format on TV.
- 84 episodes have been produced in the UK so far, with a further 51 ordered by Channel 4 as part of a landmark six season deal in 2020. Series 10 – 15 will be aired on Channel 4 from Autumn 2020, following nine record-breaking series on UKTV’s Dave.
- Since the programme’s launch in 2015 on UKTV’s Dave, Taskmaster’s audience has grown by 80% from series one to series nine, averaging an audience of 1.8 million viewers at its peak.
- Taskmaster was crowned Best Comedy Entertainment at the BAFTAs 2020 and won Best Entertainment Programme at the Broadcast Awards 2018, having previously received two more nominations for both awards. It has also been nominated for Best Entertainment Programme at the RTS Awards, Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, the Broadcast Digital Awards, and the TV Choice Awards.
- The original Taskmaster programme and format combined has been sold into 106 countries, with 140 episodes of the format being made outside the UK including local versions of the show produced for VTM in Belgium, TVE in Spain, and TVNZ in New Zealand. While the original will air on The CW in the U.S. this August.
- The format has seen huge success in Europe, with the Swedish version winning Programme of the Year at the Kristallen 2019 (Sweden’s TV Academy Awards) and its fourth series for SVT reaching ratings of over a 50% market share in a primetime weekend slot. Two new series have been ordered for MTV in Finland after its first episode ranked in the top ten most watched shows in the country, and there are returning series for Discovery in Norway and TV2 in Denmark.
- The Taskmaster YouTube channel has received over 82 million views and has 415,000 subscribers.
- #HomeTasking had over 76 million impressions across all content on YouTube. Viewing grew by 42%, while subscribers grew by 85% since it launched on the Taskmaster YouTube channel. It was watched in 125 countries with viewers ranging from the US to the UK and from Moldova to Mongolia.
- The Taskmaster Podcast hosted by Ed Gamble, went to No.1 in the iTunes podcast charts immediately following release of it’s first episode.
- The Taskmaster Book 200 Extraordinary Tasks for Ordinary People has sold over 110,000 copies.
- A Taskmaster boardgame was released in Autumn 2019 and entirely sold out a week after it went on sale. It has sold over 50,000 copies to date. An expansion pack was released this year along with the launch of the official Taskmaster shop.
