TASKMASTER SERIES 16 CONTESTANTS REVEALED

JULIAN CLARY – LUCY BEAUMONT – SAM CAMPBELL – SUE PERKINS – SUSAN WOKOMA

EMBARGO: 22:05pm Thursday 1st June 2023. As another victorious Taskmaster champion is crowned, a brand-new bunch of the nation’s best and brightest comic minds have been selected by the Taskmaster Greg Davies to compete in a series of his most tricksy tasks yet, while a watchful Little Alex Horne calmly observes and takes notes with admirable efficiency in the 16th series of the BAFTA winning and Emmy nominated global comedy juggernaut.

Simultaneously bringing their A-Game and bracing themselves for the most bizarre show on television are; comedian, performer, and author Julian Clary (Friday Night Live, Channel 4), comedy actor, writer and stand-up Lucy Beaumont (Meet The Richardsons, Dave), multi-award winning stand-up Sam Campbell (Bloods, Sky), presenter, writer and comedian Sue Perkins (Perfectly Legal, Netflix), and actor, writer and director Susan Wokoma (Cheaters, BBC One). All five are vying to win points, prizes, and eternal glory in hope of winning the coveted golden trophy along with bragging rights as the Taskmaster Series 16 Champion.

 

Elsewhere, it has recently been announced that BAFTA nominated comedian, writer, and actor Rose Matafeo, and critically-acclaimed writer and performer Mike Wozniak have been confirmed to host and star in Channel 4’s brand new children-focused entertainment show Junior Taskmaster, with Matafeo assuming the role of the mighty Junior Taskmaster and Wozniak as her loyal Assistant, the show has recently been commissioned following the continuing success of ratings and critical hit Taskmaster.

 

Taskmaster is produced by Avalon and Executive Producers for the series are Alex Horne, Richard Allen-Turner, Rob Aslett, James Taylor, Jon Thoday and Andy Devonshire who also acts as Series Director, while Andy Cartwright will also continue as Series Producer. Taskmaster is commissioned for Channel 4 by Tom Beck, Head of Live Events and Commissioning Editor, Entertainment, with Phil Harris, Head of Entertainment and Events.

 

Transmission details will be confirmed in due course

 

RECENT CRITICAL PRAISE FOR TASKMASTER:

 

“Taskmaster is miraculous. It deserves to be carried through the streets in a sedan chair”
Stuart Heritage, The Guardian

 

“it’s a brilliantly bizarre hour of telly… Taskmaster is still firing on all cylinders”
Huw Fullerton, Radio Times

 

“genuinely beloved Channel 4 gameshow Taskmaster… one of comedy’s most cuddly and likeable programmes”
Marc Burrows, The New Statesman

 

“TV’s most reliably hilarious game show… The chemistry between the gang is palpable from the off… and the tasks are as admirably unpredictable as ever”
Steven Perkins, TV Times Magazine ★★★★★

 

“this beloved gameshow’s formula is largely dependent on its personnel and, once again, a nicely cast mixture of wacky, grumpy and puppyish comics is working its mysterious but consistent magic’
Phil Harrison, The Observer

 

“Lots of people love Taskmaster… lots of people you’ll enjoy… its [the] fun silly get home from the pub kind of telly that loads of people love”
Emma Bullimore, BBC Radio 2

 

“It’s early days, but we don’t care – we’re declaring this series of Taskmaster one of the show’s best”
Total TV Guide

 

“Greg Davies and Alex Horne are back for the superbly entertaining comedy show”
The Mail on Sunday

 

“the ever-popular show reaches a remarkable 15th series… silly… always fun”
The Daily Telegraph

 

“There’s never been a bad series of Taskmaster, but you know you have a great one when the panellists are making each other roar with laughter”
Jack Seale, The Guardian

 

“the 15th series of competitive absurdist comic challenges gets under way”
Helen Stewart, The Sunday Times

 

“The chaos created by the glorious mix of celebrities and eclectic challenges has been highly entertaining so far this series”
The Sun

 

“Currently into its 15th series, this show never gets old, thanks to the ever-inventive tasks dreamed up by co-host Alex Horne”
Radio Times

 

“As the 15th series of Alex Horne and Greg Davies’s giddy ridiculous series begins, a hat-tip to the creators of the tasks which never fail to be inventive and amusing”
Phil Harrison, The Guardian

 

“Just when life was starting to get a bit boring, here comes Taskmaster to bring back the bizarre… and bonkers!”
Love It!

 

Heat Magazine ★★★★

 

“Tune in for more crazy stunts”
Daily Mail ★★★★

 

“consistently entertaining”
Daily Star

 

“innovative”
The Times, Joe Clay

 

“suitably silly”
Gerrard Gilbert, The I

 

“absurd and hilarious”
TV & Satellite Week

 

-ends-

 

For more information contact:

 

Channel 4

Kate Conway – kconway@channel4.co.uk

 

Avalon

Florrie Sheehan – FSheehan@avalonuk.com

 

 

Taskmaster Fact Sheet

 

  • Taskmaster is a BAFTA winning and International Emmy nominated comedy entertainment 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.

 

  • 159 episodes have been produced in the UK so far, as part of a landmark six season deal with Channel 4 in 2020, which has recently been renewed for a further six series by the broadcaster following nine record-breaking series on UKTV’s Dave.

 

  • The show enjoyed its best performance on record with its Channel 4 launch which reached 3.9 million consolidated views after the first episode, winning the majority share of young viewers 16 – 34’s and making it the best-performing new entertainment show of the year (Broadcast, 2020). Watched by a broad multi-generational audience, it was Channel 4’s youngest skewing series last year. In terms of audience share of young viewers (16-34) it is in the top three in the coveted 9pm slot, with Gogglebox and Derry Girls. Taskmaster is also hugely popular on All 4, where it is available for free and, since 2021, the average views per episode [0-7Days, O+O] have grown for the title with each series. Since the programme’s initial launch in 2015 on UKTV’s Dave, Taskmaster’s audience has grown by 80% from series one to series nine.

 

  • Taskmaster was crowned Best Comedy Entertainment Show at the National Comedy Awards 2022 and 2023, Best Comedy Entertainment at the BAFTAs 2020 and won Best Entertainment Programme at the Broadcast Awards 2018, having previously received two more nominations for the Broadcast Awards and recently picking up its third BAFTA nomination for the 2023 ceremony. It has also been nominated for the Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award at the NTA’s 2021 and 2022, Studio Entertainment at Rose d’Or 2021, Best Entertainment Programme at the RTS Awards, Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, the Broadcast Digital Awards, Edinburgh TV Award, the TV Choice Awards, and Best Returning Format in the International Format Awards 2020.

 

  • The original Taskmaster programme has been sold to 94 countries and aired on The CW in the U.S. in 2020.

 

  • Over 350 episodes have been produced outside the UK with local versions now in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Nordics, Croatia and Portugal where it ranked first for most watched entertainment programs on its channel RTP 1.While Taskmaster Australia launched on Channel 10 where is became the channel’s top new show of the year, produced by Avalon Television with Kevin&Co and featuring Tom Gleeson as the Taskmaster with Tom Cashman as the Taskmaster’s Assistant, and Taskmaster New Zealand has received funding for a fourth season from New Zealand On Air to play on TVNZ and TVNZ+ in 2023. The first season of Le Maitre du Jeu for Bell Media, which aired in Canada in September 2022, increased Noovo’s performance in the Thursday time slot by 50%, while the UK original received a nomination for Canada’s film and TV Rockie Awards 2023 for best Comedy and Variety show.

 

  • The format has seen huge success in Europe, with the Swedish version reaching ratings of over a 50% market share in a primetime weekend slot on SVT and now in its seventh series. Norway’s original version of Taskmaster, Kongen Befaler, won the Norwegian TV Academy Award (Gullruten) for Best Entertainment Show in 2022, where a seventh season has been commissioned by Discovery. Finland’s version of Taskmaster, Suurmestari, won Game Show of the Year at the Venla Gaala awards, with a fourth series ordered by MTV, and Stormester, Denmark’s Taskmaster, won Best Game Show at the 2022 Vindere Awards, with TV2 commissioning a ‘Champion of Champions’ series for 2023.

 

  • The Taskmaster YouTube channel has seen huge success internationally, reaching over 7.5 billion impressions since it first launched in October 2019, with just under 500 million views and over 1.1 million subscribers, of which over a third are from the U.S. The channel has had over 110 million hours’ worth of content viewed with 51% of those hours from the US (56 million hours watched). The show has grown significantly in popularity with U.S. audiences and over the last year there have been a total of 74 million views.

 

  • #HomeTasking had over 100 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 Book 200 Extraordinary Tasks for Ordinary People has sold over 150,000 copies, while a second book ‘Bring Me The Head of the Taskmaster’ published in September 2021 and has sold almost 30,000 to date. Both books featured as Sunday Times Bestsellers at launch. The Swedish version of the book has sold 108,000 copies to date.
  • A Taskmaster boardgame was released in Autumn 2019 and entirely sold out a week after it went on sale. It has sold over 200,000 copies to date along with an expansion pack. A second game, Taskmaster The Secret Series Game was released in 2022. All the games are available to buy from the official Taskmaster shop, TaskmasterStore.com

 

  • Taskmaster Education takes elements of the show and uses them to inspire, engage and teach children and young people. Tasks can be adapted to meet a near infinite range of teacher objectives, whether curriculum-based or more focused on social and emotional development.

 

  • Taskmaster is working with Homeless Link; the national membership charity for frontline homelessness services, creating a virtual Taskmaster at Home event with all the money raised going to homeless charities across the UK. Having raised over £115,000, more information on the virtual event can be found here.

 

  • The launch of series 13 also saw the unveiling of the brand new Taskmaster App; a show companion where viewers can watch the show on TV and score along at home, taking on the role of the mighty Taskmaster themselves. The app also features the Taskmaster Academy with quizzes from every series of the show, group and solo tasking games, and a Jukebox featuring all of the music from the show.

 

 

 

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