TASKMASTER SERIES 18 CONTESTANTS ANNOUNCED

ANDY ZALTZMAN – BABATUNDE ALÉSHÉ – EMMA SIDI – JACK DEE – ROSIE JONES

As another series of epic tasking draws to a close, the almighty Greg Davies and his Little Alex Horne are already excited to welcome the next batch of bright-eyed hopefuls to their BAFTA and National Comedy Award winning, international hit show. Taskmaster series 18 is set to air later this year on Channel 4. The news arrives shortly after Taskmaster: The Live Experience has been confirmed to go ahead this September.

Hoping to pass muster and be the best are: comedian, host of The Bugle Podcast and cricket statistician Andy Zaltzman (The News Quiz, BBC Radio 4), comedian, actor and podcaster Babatunde Aléshé (Celebrity Gogglebox, C4), actor, comedian and writer Emma Sidi (Starstruck, BBC Three/HBO Max), legendary stand-up and writer Jack Dee (I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, BBC Radio 4), and stand-up, presenter, actor and author Rosie Jones (Trip Hazard, C4).

Elsewhere, Taskmaster: The Live Experience has been confirmed to go ahead, and will launch this Autumn. Taking place at Dock X in London’s Canada Water from 18th September 2024. Taskmaster: The Live Experience gives fans the chance to step into the shoes of their favourite comedians and enter the iconic Taskmaster House. Based on the BAFTA and National Comedy Award winning hit TV show, brand-new ridiculous and infuriating tasks set in the lab, living room, shed and other recognisable locations will get contestants battling for points, culminating in a final in the studio theatre where one player will win the Taskmaster’s seal of approval.

This summer also sees the launch of the brand-new Taskmaster VR Game, the eagerly anticipated game from Scallywag Arcade released on Meta Quest and SteamVR allows players to step into the contestants’ shoes by competing in extraordinary challenges or to fill the industrious boots of the Taskmaster’s Assistant by creating tasks of their own and challenging their friends in local play.

Executive Producers for Taskmaster series 18 are Alex Horne, Richard Allen-Turner, Rob Aslett, James Taylor, Jon Thoday and Andy Devonshire (The Apprentice and The Great British Bake Off), who also acts as Series Director, while Andy Cartwright is Series Producer. Commissioned for Channel 4 by Head of Live Events, Tom Beck and Head of Entertainment, Steve Handley.

WHAT THE PRESS SAID ABOUT SERIES 17 of TASKMASTER:

“nearly five years on it’s a veritable TV empire… [and] it’s clear that success hasn’t diluted Taskmaster’s inventiveness and verve”
Huw Fullerton, Radio Times

“One of the most effortless and reliable pleasures TV has to offer.”
Phil Harrison, The Guardian

“the most imaginative thing on TV”
Isobel Lewis, The i 

“Another series full of relentlessly good vibes and ludicrous fun seem assured as the latest batch of comedy contenders get settled in”
Phil Harrison, The Observer

“It’s not every panel show that can broadcast two series a year and feel fresh each episode, but Taskmaster is a cut above.” ★★★★
Nicola Tucker, TV Times Magazine

“How Greg Davies and Alex Horne come up with their wonderfully wacky challenges, week in, week out, we’ll never know, but they come thick and fast again here”
Gemma Graham, The Sun

“The 17th series of Taskmaster and surely they’ve used up all the potential contestants, or Alex Horne (“The Harry to my Meghan Markle,” according to Greg Davies) must have run out of fresh ideas for his enjoyably silly tasks. Not a bit of it… enjoy”
Gerard Gilbert, The i

“The absurdist comedy competition has not yet encountered a shortage of willing victims and as the latest gang settles in”
Helen Stuart, The Sunday Times

“in every week of this show he’s [Alex Horne] still throwing away ideas that could start a tabletop craze of their own.  In just this episode, you’ll be itching to try out the final “live” task”
Huw Fullerton, Radio Times 

“Let this year’s bizarre comedy capers begin”
Julia Davis, The Sunday Times

“this television masterpiece… still as funny as ever. Just watch it – it’s brilliant”
Love It!

“Seventeen series in, and it’s still the most hilariously unpredictable show on TV – long may it reign!” ★★★★★
Steven Perkins, TV Times Magazine

“The show made its return last night for its 17th instalment – an impressive feat”
Stuart Pink, The Sun

“deliciously chaotic opener”
Gerard O’Donovan, The Daily Telegraph

“the national service for comedians”
Joe Clay, The Times

“There’s yet more ridiculous hilarity… wacky but always wonderful tasks… continues to deliver”
The Sun

“With a seemingly endless stream of good comedy names queuing up to take part in this show, it is still going strong on season 17. What started as a hidden gem became a cult hit and is now very firmly a mega mainstream stalwart for Channel 4”
Sara Wallis, Daily Mirror

“this brilliant show returns for its impressive 17th series”
The Sun

★★★★
Daily Mail

“Praise be, Taskmaster is back… In an uncertain world, it’s good to know there are some things you can rely on. The sun rising in the morning. The noisy eater sitting near you at the cinema. The rain starting 10 minutes after you put your washing out. And, of course, Taskmaster, the endlessly inventive task-based comedy game show that serves up reliably bonkers entertainment series after series.”
Chris Miller, Virgin Media

-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.
  • Taskmaster has triumphed as one of Channel 4’s most popular programmes in recent  years, coming in as the channel’s third most streamed title of year of 2023 with 2.3 billion viewing minutes recorded across all series watched in the year. The launch episode of the latest series [S17] averaged an audience of 3.2m, with 40% of viewing coming from streaming [0-28days, all platforms]. Watched by a broad multi-generational audience, Taskmaster was Channel 4’s youngest skewing series last year, and in terms of audience share of young viewers (16-34) across last year’s series on the channel it was second only to Gogglebox in the coveted 9pm slot.  Taskmaster is also hugely popular on Channel 4 streaming, 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, Best Comedy Entertainment at Rose d’Or 2023, 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 120 countries and aired on The CW in the U.S. in 2020.
  • Over 88 seasons and 881 episodes have been commissioned 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. Taskmaster Australia launched on Network Ten where it became the channel’s top new show of the year and received a nomination for Most Outstanding Comedy at the Logies, produced by Avalon Television with Kevin&Co and featuring Tom Gleeson as the Taskmaster with Tom Cashman as the Taskmaster’s Assistant, and and Taskmaster New Zealand series 5 will launch on TVNZ in 2024, while it won Best Entertainment Show at the NZ TV Awards. 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 won Canada’s film and TV Rockie Awards 2023 for best Comedy and Variety show. Taskmaster Canada is now in production for series 3.
  • 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 series 9 is in production for TV4, produced by Avalon Television with Baluba. Norway’s local version of Taskmaster, Kongen Befaler, won the Norwegian TV Academy Award (Gullruten) for Best Comedy Show in 2024, where a tenth season is in production for Discovery. Finland’s version of Taskmaster, Suurmestari, won Game Show of the Year at the Venla Gaala awards, with a sixth series ordered by MTV3, with the channel also launching the first international version of Junior Taskmaster later this year. Stormester, Denmark’s Taskmaster, which is now in its ninth series, won Best Game Show at the 2022 Vindere Awards, with TV2 launching successful Taskmaster spin off series, ‘Champion of Champions’ in 2023 and ‘One More Chance’ 2024, which achieved an incredible 82% share in the 15-34 demo.
  • The Taskmaster YouTube channel has seen huge success internationally, reaching over 9.8 billion impressions since it first launched in October 2019, with just over 736 million views and over 1.5 million subscribers, of which over a third are from North America. The channel has had over 168 million hours’ worth of content viewed with 54% of those hours from North America (85 million hours watched). The show has grown significantly in popularity with American audiences and over the last year there have been a total of 107 million views.
  • The Taskmaster book ‘200 Extraordinary Tasks for Ordinary People’ was published in 2018, while a second book ‘Bring Me The Head of the Taskmaster’ was published in September 2021 and combined they have sold 180,000 copies to date. Both books featured as Sunday Times Bestsellers at launch. The Swedish version of the book has sold 108,000 copies to date.
  • For the first time, Taskmaster is entering the world of virtual reality with the brand new upcoming virtual reality game, Taskmaster VR. Published by Scallywag Arcade, a Draw & Code studio, Taskmaster VR is set to launch in 2024 for Meta Quest 2 and 3.
  • The festive season saw the launch of brand-new Taskmaster Crackers which entirely sold out before they hit the shelves at pre-sale. Having currently sold over a quarter of a million crackers to fans across the world, production has gone into overdrive to meet phenomenal demand in time for Christmas. They are currently on sale and can be found on the Taskmaster Store as well as Amazon where they became an official No.1 best-seller and have been ordered by fans across 58 countries around the globe including in North America, Australia, Thailand, South Korea and Iceland among other countries.
  • A Taskmaster boardgame was released in Autumn 2019 and entirely sold out a week after it went on sale. It has sold over 250,000 copies to date along with an expansion pack. A second game, Taskmaster The Secret Series Game was released in 2022. Taskmaster The Card Game was released in September 2022 and has sold over 70,000 copies to date. All the games are available to buy from the official Taskmaster shop, www.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 Club launched in September 2023, offering schools across the country the opportunity to host after school clubs that bring Little Alex Horne and the silly joy of Taskmaster into their classrooms. Over 800 schools in the UK have registered to date on com.
  • 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 £125,000, 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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