Taskmaster
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[[Greg Davies]] | [[Greg Davies]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | Rose Matafeo (Junior Taskmaster) | ||
== Co-hosts == | == Co-hosts == | ||
Umpire: [[Alex Horne]] | Umpire: [[Alex Horne]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | Mike Wozniak (Junior Taskmaster) | ||
== Broadcast == | == Broadcast == | ||
| - | Avalon Television for Dave, 28 July 2015 to present | + | Avalon Television for Dave, 28 July 2015 to 6 November 2019 (72 episodes in 9 series + 2 specials) |
| + | |||
| + | Avalon Television for Channel 4, 15 October 2020 to present | ||
</div> | </div> | ||
| Line 25: | Line 31: | ||
But a problem shared is a problem halved, so Horne has invited some comedy friends to perform these surreal dreams. Greg Davies hosts the programme, ranks the performances, and the best player over the programme (and over the series) is the winner. | But a problem shared is a problem halved, so Horne has invited some comedy friends to perform these surreal dreams. Greg Davies hosts the programme, ranks the performances, and the best player over the programme (and over the series) is the winner. | ||
| - | <div class=image>[[File:Taskmaster panel.jpg|400px]]''The players from Series 1: Ranganathan, Skinner, | + | <div class=image>[[File:Taskmaster panel.jpg|400px]]''The players from Series 1: Ranganathan, Skinner, Conaty, Widdicombe, Key. Seated: Davies and Horne.''</div> |
''Taskmaster'' is theatre of the absurd, sensible people doing insensible things. The atmosphere was heightened by the filming location - almost all the tasks took place in a hired cottage, decorated as a shrine to the Taskmaster. There was no narration over the films, just the natural sound of the players talking. | ''Taskmaster'' is theatre of the absurd, sensible people doing insensible things. The atmosphere was heightened by the filming location - almost all the tasks took place in a hired cottage, decorated as a shrine to the Taskmaster. There was no narration over the films, just the natural sound of the players talking. | ||
| - | Fans of bizarre television flocked to this show, and it gained audience as the series went on. | + | Fans of bizarre television flocked to this show, and it gained audience as the first series went on, and as each subsequent series aired. ''Taskmaster'' turned into a massive hit for Dave, their first since [[Argumental]] about five years earlier. After five years, during which the format was honed to perfection, UKTV's contract expired and the show went up for new bids. Channel 4 bought the rights; ignoring adjustments for [[Impact of COVID-19|COVID-19]], about all they changed was the credit sequence. |
| + | |||
| + | Pre-watershed editions were made of each episode, which wasn't too much trouble for the most part. When aired on E4, these editions were aired as ''Taskmaster Bleeped''. These evidently went down well, so much so that Channel 4 announced a Junior version, with Rose Matafeo and Mike Wozniak doing Davies' and Horne's jobs. | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Key moments == | ||
| + | |||
| + | The blatant I'm-only-doing-this-because-the-recommission-of-my-show-depends-on-it apathy of [[Dave Gorman]]'s performance. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Any episode where a participant is subjected to extra punishment, such as [[Josh Widdicombe]] being asked to count the numbers of beans, spaghetti hoops and grains of rice in their respective containers or [[Rob Beckett]] being asked to spend a task talking in an accent other than his own or Mike Wozniak bursting a haemorrhoid trying to fart. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Nish Kumar getting fed up with one of the live tasks and throwing a coconut at the Taskmaster's head and promptly being disqualified. Mind you, the highlight of that series was [[Bob Mortimer]], [[Aisling Bea]] and Sally Phillips' less than affectionate tribute to an unwitting victim called Rosalind… | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[Rhod Gilbert]] using his prize tasks to embarrass Davies, especially when he gets Greg's mother involved. Also from that series: Greg taking [[James Acaster]] to one side after an outburst after he struggled to open Phil Wang's "confusing little box". | ||
| + | |||
| + | The barely concealed look of glee on Horne's face after successfully predicting that someone, namely [[Ed Gamble]], would answer the task 'Say a letter of the alphabet' with 'a letter of the alphabet'. | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Catchphrases == | ||
| + | |||
| + | "All the information's on the task." | ||
== Champions == | == Champions == | ||
| Line 54: | Line 78: | ||
|- | |- | ||
|Autumn 2018 | |Autumn 2018 | ||
| - | | | + | |Kerry Godliman |
| + | |- | ||
| + | |Spring 2019 | ||
| + | |Lou Sanders | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |Autumn 2019 | ||
| + | |Ed Gamble | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |2020 | ||
| + | |Richard Herring | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |Spring 2021 | ||
| + | |Sarah Kendall | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |Autumn 2021 | ||
| + | |Morgana Robinson | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |Spring 2022 | ||
| + | |Sophie Duker | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |Autumn 2022 | ||
| + | |Dara Ó Briain | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |Spring 2023 | ||
| + | |Mae Martin | ||
|} | |} | ||
| Line 63: | Line 111: | ||
|2017 | |2017 | ||
|Josh Widdicombe | |Josh Widdicombe | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |2022 | ||
| + | |Richard Herring | ||
| + | |} | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===New Year Treat=== | ||
| + | |||
| + | {| | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |2021 | ||
| + | |Shirley Ballas | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |2022 | ||
| + | |Adrian Chiles | ||
|} | |} | ||
| Line 69: | Line 131: | ||
;'''2015''' | ;'''2015''' | ||
*[[Frank Skinner]] | *[[Frank Skinner]] | ||
| - | *Josh Widdicombe | + | *[[Josh Widdicombe]] |
| - | *Roisin | + | *Roisin Conaty |
*[[Romesh Ranganathan]] | *[[Romesh Ranganathan]] | ||
*Tim Key | *Tim Key | ||
| Line 86: | Line 148: | ||
*Paul Chowdhry | *Paul Chowdhry | ||
*[[Rob Beckett]] | *[[Rob Beckett]] | ||
| - | *Sara Pascoe | + | *[[Sara Pascoe]] |
;2017 (Spring series) | ;2017 (Spring series) | ||
*[[Hugh Dennis]] | *[[Hugh Dennis]] | ||
| - | *Joe Lycett | + | *[[Joe Lycett]] |
*Lolly Adefope | *Lolly Adefope | ||
*[[Mel Giedroyc]] | *[[Mel Giedroyc]] | ||
| Line 99: | Line 161: | ||
*[[Bob Mortimer]] | *[[Bob Mortimer]] | ||
*[[Mark Watson]] | *[[Mark Watson]] | ||
| - | *Nish Kumar | + | *[[Nish Kumar]] |
*Sally Phillips | *Sally Phillips | ||
| Line 110: | Line 172: | ||
;2018 (Spring series) | ;2018 (Spring series) | ||
| + | *[[Alice Levine]] | ||
*Asim Chaudhry | *Asim Chaudhry | ||
| - | |||
| - | |||
*[[Liza Tarbuck]] | *[[Liza Tarbuck]] | ||
| + | *Russell Howard | ||
*[[Tim Vine]] | *[[Tim Vine]] | ||
;2018 (Autumn series) | ;2018 (Autumn series) | ||
| - | + | *[[James Acaster]] | |
| - | *[[ | + | |
| - | + | ||
*Jessica Knappett | *Jessica Knappett | ||
| + | *Kerry Godliman | ||
*Phil Wang | *Phil Wang | ||
| + | *[[Rhod Gilbert]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;2019 (Spring series) | ||
| + | *[[Iain Stirling]] | ||
| + | *Joe Thomas | ||
| + | *Lou Sanders | ||
| + | *[[Paul Sinha]] | ||
| + | *Sian Gibson | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;2019 (Autumn series) | ||
| + | *[[David Baddiel]] | ||
| + | *[[Ed Gamble]] | ||
| + | *[[Jo Brand]] | ||
| + | *Katy Wix (but see [[#Trivia|Trivia]]) | ||
| + | *Rose Matafeo | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;2020 | ||
| + | *Daisy May Cooper | ||
| + | *[[Johnny Vegas]] | ||
| + | *Katherine Parkinson | ||
| + | *Mawaan Rizwan | ||
| + | *Richard Herring | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;2021 (New Year Treat) | ||
| + | *John Hannah | ||
| + | *Krishnan Guru-Murthy | ||
| + | *Nicola Coughlan | ||
| + | *[[Rylan Clark-Neal]] | ||
| + | *Shirley Ballas | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;2021 (Spring series) | ||
| + | *Charlotte Ritchie | ||
| + | *Jamali Maddix | ||
| + | *[[Lee Mack]] | ||
| + | *Mike Wozniak | ||
| + | *Sarah Kendall | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;2021 (Autumn series) | ||
| + | *[[Alan Davies]] | ||
| + | *[[Desiree Burch]] | ||
| + | *Guz Khan | ||
| + | *Morgana Robinson | ||
| + | *[[Victoria Coren|Victoria Coren Mitchell]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;2022 (New Year Treat) | ||
| + | *[[Adrian Chiles]] | ||
| + | *[[Claudia Winkleman]] | ||
| + | *Jonnie Peacock/[[Alan Davies]] | ||
| + | *Lady Leshurr | ||
| + | *Sayeeda Warsi | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;2022 (Spring series) | ||
| + | *Ardal O'Hanlon | ||
| + | *Bridget Christie | ||
| + | *[[Chris Ramsey]] | ||
| + | *[[Judi Love]] | ||
| + | *Sophie Duker | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;Champion of Champions | ||
| + | *Ed Gamble | ||
| + | *Kerry Godliman | ||
| + | *Liza Tarbuck | ||
| + | *Lou Sanders | ||
| + | *Richard Herring | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;2022 (Autumn series) | ||
| + | *[[Dara O'Briain]] | ||
| + | *[[Fern Brady]] | ||
| + | *John Kearns | ||
| + | *Munya Chawawa | ||
| + | *Sarah Millican | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;2023 (New Year Treat) | ||
| + | *Amelia Dimoldenberg | ||
| + | *[[Carol Vorderman]] | ||
| + | *[[Greg James]] | ||
| + | *Mo Farah | ||
| + | *Rebecca Lucy Taylor | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;2023 (Spring series) | ||
| + | *Frankie Boyle | ||
| + | *Ivo Graham | ||
| + | *[[Jenny Eclair]] | ||
| + | *Kiell Smith-Bynoe | ||
| + | *Mae Martin | ||
| + | |||
| + | ;2023 (Autumn series) | ||
| + | *[[Julian Clary]] | ||
| + | *Lucy Beaumont | ||
| + | *Sam Campbell | ||
| + | *[[Sue Perkins]] | ||
| + | *Susan Wokoma | ||
== Inventor == | == Inventor == | ||
| Line 140: | Line 293: | ||
Series 1 participant [[Tim Key]] was retained for future series as a Task Consultant. | Series 1 participant [[Tim Key]] was retained for future series as a Task Consultant. | ||
| + | |||
| + | One of [[Alice Levine]]'s task attempts had to be so badly censored that the censored version had to add a line to explain just how much had been taken out. Way to spoil the illusion. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Just as they had done with [[Penn & Teller: Fool Us]], The CW bought the eighth series in 2020 with a view to producing a remake. It lasted one episode before being hauled off to CW Seed and replaced by ''Supernatural'' reruns. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Kerry Godliman, [[Katherine Ryan]] and [[Alan Davies]] covered for Katy Wix, Katy Wix and Jonnie Peacock in series nine, episode five, series nine, episode six and the 2022 New Year Treat respectively. | ||
| + | |||
| + | After Greg and Alex, the contestant with the most appearances is Kerry Godliman, with twelve appearances. | ||
| + | |||
| + | For the first series, the trophy was a bog-standard off-the-shelf trophy, while subsequent series winners took home a golden replica of Greg's head. ''Champion of Champions'' episodes forked over a replica of the rest of Greg's body. Josh Widdicombe won the first series and the first ''Champion of Champions'' series, meaning that - as of the 2022 episode - Richard Herring is actually the only owner of Greg's body. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The first half of series twelve suffered from a number of broadcasting failures; the Bleeped version of its premiere was aired by accident on first broadcast, while episodes two to five aired without subtitles as a result of residual technical errors following an activation of the fire suppression systems at Red Bee Media's broadcast centre. | ||
| + | |||
| + | As of the first fifteen series and excluding New Year Treats, [[Romesh Ranganathan]], Joe Wilkinson, [[Sara Pascoe]], [[Aisling Bea]], Nish Kumar, Phil Wang, [[Judi Love]], Frankie Boyle are the only people to never win an episode. Wang's, Love's, and Boyle's failures were that bit more abject than the others as they lost ten episodes rather than six, five, five, eight and eight episodes respectively. | ||
| + | |||
| + | In 2023, a pilot was shot for a culinary version, with five celebrity contestants competing to please series nine winner Ed Gamble. They called it Foodmaster. | ||
== Web links == | == Web links == | ||
[http://dave.uktv.co.uk/shows/taskmaster/ Dave webpage] | [http://dave.uktv.co.uk/shows/taskmaster/ Dave webpage] | ||
| + | |||
| + | [http://www.channel4.com/programmes/taskmaster Channel 4 site] | ||
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taskmaster_(TV_series) Wikipedia entry] | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taskmaster_(TV_series) Wikipedia entry] | ||
[http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/tv/taskmaster/ British Comedy Guide entry] | [http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/tv/taskmaster/ British Comedy Guide entry] | ||
| + | |||
| + | [http://taskmaster.info/ taskmaster.info], a database about ''Taskmaster'' around the world. | ||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
| Line 156: | Line 329: | ||
[[Category:Stunts and Dares]] | [[Category:Stunts and Dares]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Channel 4 Programmes]] | ||
[[Category:Current]] | [[Category:Current]] | ||
Revision as of 07:00, 28 July 2023
Contents |
Host
Rose Matafeo (Junior Taskmaster)
Co-hosts
Umpire: Alex Horne
Mike Wozniak (Junior Taskmaster)
Broadcast
Avalon Television for Dave, 28 July 2015 to 6 November 2019 (72 episodes in 9 series + 2 specials)
Avalon Television for Channel 4, 15 October 2020 to present
Synopsis
Comedians are given very strange things to do.
Alex Horne's mind is a strange place. All of the usual elements are there, but they're all mixed up. He makes hot toothpaste pies. He plays golf with hen's eggs. He draws horses while riding horses.
But a problem shared is a problem halved, so Horne has invited some comedy friends to perform these surreal dreams. Greg Davies hosts the programme, ranks the performances, and the best player over the programme (and over the series) is the winner.
The players from Series 1: Ranganathan, Skinner, Conaty, Widdicombe, Key. Seated: Davies and Horne.Taskmaster is theatre of the absurd, sensible people doing insensible things. The atmosphere was heightened by the filming location - almost all the tasks took place in a hired cottage, decorated as a shrine to the Taskmaster. There was no narration over the films, just the natural sound of the players talking.
Fans of bizarre television flocked to this show, and it gained audience as the first series went on, and as each subsequent series aired. Taskmaster turned into a massive hit for Dave, their first since Argumental about five years earlier. After five years, during which the format was honed to perfection, UKTV's contract expired and the show went up for new bids. Channel 4 bought the rights; ignoring adjustments for COVID-19, about all they changed was the credit sequence.
Pre-watershed editions were made of each episode, which wasn't too much trouble for the most part. When aired on E4, these editions were aired as Taskmaster Bleeped. These evidently went down well, so much so that Channel 4 announced a Junior version, with Rose Matafeo and Mike Wozniak doing Davies' and Horne's jobs.
Key moments
The blatant I'm-only-doing-this-because-the-recommission-of-my-show-depends-on-it apathy of Dave Gorman's performance.
Any episode where a participant is subjected to extra punishment, such as Josh Widdicombe being asked to count the numbers of beans, spaghetti hoops and grains of rice in their respective containers or Rob Beckett being asked to spend a task talking in an accent other than his own or Mike Wozniak bursting a haemorrhoid trying to fart.
Nish Kumar getting fed up with one of the live tasks and throwing a coconut at the Taskmaster's head and promptly being disqualified. Mind you, the highlight of that series was Bob Mortimer, Aisling Bea and Sally Phillips' less than affectionate tribute to an unwitting victim called Rosalind…
Rhod Gilbert using his prize tasks to embarrass Davies, especially when he gets Greg's mother involved. Also from that series: Greg taking James Acaster to one side after an outburst after he struggled to open Phil Wang's "confusing little box".
The barely concealed look of glee on Horne's face after successfully predicting that someone, namely Ed Gamble, would answer the task 'Say a letter of the alphabet' with 'a letter of the alphabet'.
Catchphrases
"All the information's on the task."
Champions
| 2015 | Josh Widdicombe |
| Summer 2016 | Katherine Ryan |
| Autumn 2016 | Rob Beckett |
| Spring 2017 | Noel Fielding |
| Autumn 2017 | Bob Mortimer |
| Spring 2018 | Liza Tarbuck |
| Autumn 2018 | Kerry Godliman |
| Spring 2019 | Lou Sanders |
| Autumn 2019 | Ed Gamble |
| 2020 | Richard Herring |
| Spring 2021 | Sarah Kendall |
| Autumn 2021 | Morgana Robinson |
| Spring 2022 | Sophie Duker |
| Autumn 2022 | Dara Ó Briain |
| Spring 2023 | Mae Martin |
Champion of Champions
| 2017 | Josh Widdicombe |
| 2022 | Richard Herring |
New Year Treat
| 2021 | Shirley Ballas |
| 2022 | Adrian Chiles |
Participants
- 2015
- Frank Skinner
- Josh Widdicombe
- Roisin Conaty
- Romesh Ranganathan
- Tim Key
- 2016 (Summer series)
- Doc Brown
- Joe Wilkinson
- Jon Richardson
- Katherine Ryan
- Richard Osman
- 2016 (Autumn series)
- Al Murray
- Dave Gorman
- Paul Chowdhry
- Rob Beckett
- Sara Pascoe
- 2017 (Spring series)
- Hugh Dennis
- Joe Lycett
- Lolly Adefope
- Mel Giedroyc
- Noel Fielding
- 2017 (Autumn series)
- Aisling Bea
- Bob Mortimer
- Mark Watson
- Nish Kumar
- Sally Phillips
- Champion of Champions
- Josh Widdicombe
- Katherine Ryan
- Rob Beckett
- Noel Fielding
- Bob Mortimer
- 2018 (Spring series)
- Alice Levine
- Asim Chaudhry
- Liza Tarbuck
- Russell Howard
- Tim Vine
- 2018 (Autumn series)
- James Acaster
- Jessica Knappett
- Kerry Godliman
- Phil Wang
- Rhod Gilbert
- 2019 (Spring series)
- Iain Stirling
- Joe Thomas
- Lou Sanders
- Paul Sinha
- Sian Gibson
- 2019 (Autumn series)
- David Baddiel
- Ed Gamble
- Jo Brand
- Katy Wix (but see Trivia)
- Rose Matafeo
- 2020
- Daisy May Cooper
- Johnny Vegas
- Katherine Parkinson
- Mawaan Rizwan
- Richard Herring
- 2021 (New Year Treat)
- John Hannah
- Krishnan Guru-Murthy
- Nicola Coughlan
- Rylan Clark-Neal
- Shirley Ballas
- 2021 (Spring series)
- Charlotte Ritchie
- Jamali Maddix
- Lee Mack
- Mike Wozniak
- Sarah Kendall
- 2021 (Autumn series)
- Alan Davies
- Desiree Burch
- Guz Khan
- Morgana Robinson
- Victoria Coren Mitchell
- 2022 (New Year Treat)
- Adrian Chiles
- Claudia Winkleman
- Jonnie Peacock/Alan Davies
- Lady Leshurr
- Sayeeda Warsi
- 2022 (Spring series)
- Ardal O'Hanlon
- Bridget Christie
- Chris Ramsey
- Judi Love
- Sophie Duker
- Champion of Champions
- Ed Gamble
- Kerry Godliman
- Liza Tarbuck
- Lou Sanders
- Richard Herring
- 2022 (Autumn series)
- Dara O'Briain
- Fern Brady
- John Kearns
- Munya Chawawa
- Sarah Millican
- 2023 (New Year Treat)
- Amelia Dimoldenberg
- Carol Vorderman
- Greg James
- Mo Farah
- Rebecca Lucy Taylor
- 2023 (Spring series)
- Frankie Boyle
- Ivo Graham
- Jenny Eclair
- Kiell Smith-Bynoe
- Mae Martin
- 2023 (Autumn series)
- Julian Clary
- Lucy Beaumont
- Sam Campbell
- Sue Perkins
- Susan Wokoma
Inventor
Alex Horne, who also wrote and produced the show.
Title music
The Horne Section.
Incidental music by Dru Masters.
Trivia
Based on a stage show at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010 and 2011.
In early series, judgement was pronounced at the Clapham Grand theatre. Later series used a proper studio set.
Series 1 participant Tim Key was retained for future series as a Task Consultant.
One of Alice Levine's task attempts had to be so badly censored that the censored version had to add a line to explain just how much had been taken out. Way to spoil the illusion.
Just as they had done with Penn & Teller: Fool Us, The CW bought the eighth series in 2020 with a view to producing a remake. It lasted one episode before being hauled off to CW Seed and replaced by Supernatural reruns.
Kerry Godliman, Katherine Ryan and Alan Davies covered for Katy Wix, Katy Wix and Jonnie Peacock in series nine, episode five, series nine, episode six and the 2022 New Year Treat respectively.
After Greg and Alex, the contestant with the most appearances is Kerry Godliman, with twelve appearances.
For the first series, the trophy was a bog-standard off-the-shelf trophy, while subsequent series winners took home a golden replica of Greg's head. Champion of Champions episodes forked over a replica of the rest of Greg's body. Josh Widdicombe won the first series and the first Champion of Champions series, meaning that - as of the 2022 episode - Richard Herring is actually the only owner of Greg's body.
The first half of series twelve suffered from a number of broadcasting failures; the Bleeped version of its premiere was aired by accident on first broadcast, while episodes two to five aired without subtitles as a result of residual technical errors following an activation of the fire suppression systems at Red Bee Media's broadcast centre.
As of the first fifteen series and excluding New Year Treats, Romesh Ranganathan, Joe Wilkinson, Sara Pascoe, Aisling Bea, Nish Kumar, Phil Wang, Judi Love, Frankie Boyle are the only people to never win an episode. Wang's, Love's, and Boyle's failures were that bit more abject than the others as they lost ten episodes rather than six, five, five, eight and eight episodes respectively.
In 2023, a pilot was shot for a culinary version, with five celebrity contestants competing to please series nine winner Ed Gamble. They called it Foodmaster.
Web links
taskmaster.info, a database about Taskmaster around the world.
