TASKMASTER SERIES 15 AIRS AT 9PM, THURSDAY 30TH MARCH ON CHANNEL 4

STARRING FRANKIE BOYLE, IVO GRAHAM, JENNY ECLAIR, KIELL SMITH-BYNOE, AND MAE MARTIN


“It’s fair to say that Taskmaster has become a pop-culture phenomenon”
Boyd Hilton, Heat Magazine

“This has become one of the funniest shows on television”
Helen Stewart, The Sunday Times

“there is nothing as thrillingly funny as… Taskmaster”
Stephen Kelly, The Guardian

 

The infallible Greg Davies resumes his role as the formidable Taskmaster, with a back pocket full of points and the other back pocket full of wry observations and bird seed for Alex Horne, it’s time for five brave comedians to step into the spotlight and get tasking in the most bizarre yet cut-throat show on television as the BAFTA and twice National Comedy Award winning Taskmaster airs at 9pm on Thursday 30th March on Channel 4.

 

Comedian and TV host Frankie Boyle (Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, BBC Two), stand-up comedian Ivo Graham (Have I Got News For You, BBC One), award-winning comedian Jenny Eclair (Older and Wider podcast), actor and writer Kiell Smith-Bynoe (Ghosts, BBC One), and award-winning Canadian comedian, actor, writer and producer Mae Martin (Feel Good, Netflix) are the ones courageous enough to enter the crypt and task like they’ve never tasked before.

 

Their eyes are firmly set on the only prize any comedian will ever need: A gilded effigy of the head of Greg Davies.  The person who raises it victorious at the end of the series will be the one and only Taskmaster champion. Or, more accurately, the fifteenth one and only Taskmaster champion. They’ll have a lot of tough things to learn about themselves across the ten episodes – but hopefully they’ll have a really lovely time doing it.

 

Taskmaster series 15 airs weekly from 9pm, Thursday 30th March 2023
Previews available via Ready To Air

 

RECENT CRITICAL PRAISE FOR TASKMASTER:

 

“simple, laugh-out-loud silliness has never been so precious. And no one does that better than Greg Davies and the participants in his deliriously dumb comedy game show”
Mark Wareham, The Mail on Sunday ★★★★

“this comedy challenge show remains one of the most creative and funny shows on the box”
Sara Wallis, The Daily Mirror

“Horne’s tasks… are as joyous and ingenious as ever”
John Dugdale, The Sunday Times

“It can only be the return of Greg Davies in the beloved but oh-so-silly gameshow (with his assistant “Little” Alex Horne by his side)”
Hollie Richardson, The Observer

“The comedy game show, a wonderful hour of nonsense, is back and as vibrant as ever”
Stuart Pink, The Sun

“A welcome return for the show where five comedians perform daft tasks under the beady eyes of Greg Davies and Alex Horne… Great fun”
The Daily Telegraph

“Taskmaster Greg Davies as he returns to his gilded throne for the 14th series of this comedy game show… Let the games begin”
Daily Mail ★★★★

“If there is a finer double act than Greg Davies and Little Alex Horne, I’d like to know about it. Ant and Dec eat your heart out”
Sara Wallis, The People

“once again, Taskmaster is making comedians despair for our entertainment and after 14 series, it hasn’t lost its touch”
David Butcher, Radio Times

“Greg Davies is back to preside over the 14th series of the BAFTA-winning show, with series creator “Little” Alex Horne once again setting ridiculous challenges for a new bunch of comedians”
TV Times Magazine ★★★★

“never less than brilliant”
Mike Ward, Daily Star

“It’s become such an institution, such appointment telly, that it’s almost impossible to imagine what life was like before it was nestled among the schedules”
Daily Star on Sunday

 

 

ENDS

For more information please contact:
Florrie Sheehan at Avalon: [email protected]
Kate Conway at Channel 4: [email protected]

 

Notes to Editors:

 

  • 159 episodes have been produced in the UK so far, as part of a landmark six season deal with Channel 4 in 2020, 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). 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 2021, 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 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 third for most watched entertainment programs on its channel RTP.While Taskmaster Australia launches on 2nd February 2023 on Channel 10, 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%.

 

  • 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 – Bast i Test season 7 will air in 2023. 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 being 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 just over 6.1 billion impressions since it first launched in October 2019, with just under half of the channel’s views and over a third of its subscribers originating from the U.S. The channel has had over 100 million hours worth of content viewed with 41% of those hours from the US (42 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 59 million views in the last 12 months reaching a million subscribers, while 41% of the channel’s watch time comes from the U.S.

 

  • #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 148,000 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 almost 180,000 copies to date along with an expansion pack. Both are available to buy on 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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