Taskmaster Nz Series 5

[Francisca Noggles]

Taskmaster proved a success on British television, spawning international versions in Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Canada (Quebec), Sweden, Spain and the United States. A British spin-off series, Junior Taskmaster, was announced in March 2023.[4] Additionally, a tie-in board game, two books, and a VR game have been released. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Horne hosted #HomeTasking, a series of tasks for people to film in their own homes; for each task, a montage of attempts was posted on YouTube that featured Davies awarding points to his favourite entries.

Taskmaster was the brainchild of comedian Alex Horne, whose idea was inspired by The Crystal Maze, his work for Big Brother,[5] and his envy of his close friend Tim Key winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2009.[6] The original concept of the programme took place over the course of two years. Starting in September 2009, Horne sent 20 comedians monthly tasks by email over the course of a year.[6][7] He then presented their efforts as part of a two-hour show at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe titled The Task Master,[8] which focused on demonstrating the differing attempts by the contestants before revealing who won based on their performances.

Mike Wozniak was announced as the winner of The Task Master.[6][9] Six participants in the original Edinburgh show have gone on to appear in a televised version of Taskmaster as of 2024: Key in series 1; Joe Wilkinson in series 2; Mark Watson in series 5; Wozniak in series 11; Lloyd Langford in series 2 of the Australian spinoff; and Al Pitcher as a guest contestant in series 2 of the Swedish spinoff. Other Edinburgh contestants included Tom Basden, Henning Wehn, Rick Edwards, Josie Long, Stuart Goldsmith, Mark Olver, Tim FitzHigham, Tom Wrigglesworth, Jarred Christmas, Lloyd Woolf, and James Dowdeswell.[10]

For the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Horne conducted another stage show titled Taskmaster II at the Gilded Balloon with a similar format. This time there were ten contestants: nine comedians returning from the previous year, and critic Bruce Dessau. Josie Long was announced as the winner of Taskmaster II.[7][11][12]

Both stage shows proved a success with their audiences, leading Horne to recruit production company Avalon (who were also his agency at the time) to help produce an adaptation of his concept for television, before pitching his idea to several different broadcasters. Channel 4 reportedly paid for the production of a pilot episode, marking the first use of the house in Chiswick which would go on to become the Taskmaster House, but chose not to commission it at the time.[13]

British television channel Dave took interest in the idea and bought the rights to it, with comedian Greg Davies recruited to help present the programme alongside Horne. However, the channel's Deputy Director of Commissioning at the time, Hilary Rosen, was concerned with the structure of the show. Horne assured Rosen that the programme was not like a traditional panel show but "more like a sitcom", to account for the involvement of the same group of contestants who would appear across a series. Another problem with the format of Horne's concept was that shooting a traditional pilot became implausible;[7] however, the aspects of the show filmed before a studio audience were tested in a pilot.[14]

The first series, which started airing in July 2015, proved a success, leading to additional series being commissioned on Dave over the course of five years.[18][19] The filming location for the studio-based segments of the show was changed to Fountain Studios for series two,[20][21] and again to Pinewood Studios from series five onwards,[22] using a studio set resembling the interior of the Clapham Grand theatre that was used for the first series.

In November 2019, rumours arose that Taskmaster was being moved to another channel; Channel 4 had secured the rights to the programme, renewing it for six series over the course of three years.[23] In March 2023, Channel 4 committed to six more series, airing two series of the programme annually up until at least 2026 (i.e. series 21).[24]

Channel 4 also announced a spin-off called Junior Taskmaster with contestants aged between 9 and 11, consisting of eight episodes[24][4] with 9th series contestant Rose Matafeo as the Taskmaster and 11th series contestant Mike Wozniak as her assistant.[25] Junior Taskmaster follows similar children-oriented spin-off programmes on Channel 4 such as Junior Bake Off and Teen First Dates.[24] Another spin-off of Taskmaster, titled Foodmaster, is centred around food. Former contestant Ed Gamble hosted a non-broadcast pilot in July 2023.[26]

Tasks are typically given to the contestants by Horne in his role as the Taskmaster's assistant, who hands them a tri-folded page sealed with red wax and the "TM" branding. The contestants must read the task out loud. Tasks given to contestants range from simple physical challenges, such as "eat as much watermelon as you can in one minute", to more complex or artistic tasks, such as "make a stop-motion video featuring a potato". Some tasks may consist of multiple stages or mini-tasks. In some cases, contestants conduct tasks as a team with one or two other contestants; in such cases all members of a team receive the same score. To complete tasks, contestants often have to apply a level of logic, creativity, or lateral thinking in order to achieve the end goal. Contestants can be disqualified and awarded no points for a task if they fail to achieve the task's objective, inadvertently break one of the task's rules, or cheat. Conversely, they can be given bonus points, either at Davies's discretion or based on criteria described in a task's instructions. Occasionally, prank tasks are given to one contestant alone, who is led to believe the others are performing the same task; Davies may award bonus points for these.

Tasks are mostly pre-recorded before an episode's broadcast; the majority are usually conducted in or around the Taskmaster house, a former groundskeepers' cottage located on the outskirts of a golf course in Dukes Meadows, Chiswick.[28][29] Other pre-recorded tasks are filmed at a specific location that changes each series, with previous locations including Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, Chesham United's stadium, Gatwick Airport and Frogmore Paper Mill. Two tasks are usually conducted during studio segments: an introductory Prize task, in which each contestant supplies an object they possess that conforms to a set theme, all of which will be awarded to the winner of the episode; and a final "Live" task, which the contestants perform onstage in the studio. In the event of a tie in the top score at the end of the episode, either a pre-recorded tiebreaker task between the tied contestants is shown, or a quick live task is performed to determine the winner. Beginning with Series 8, each series is assigned with a theme[citation needed] that influences the design of the house, most notably the portrait of Greg Davies in the living room, as well as the music during transitions between tasks. Themes for each series include Japanese, western, art deco, Victorian, and steampunk.

When asked why he did not present the show, Horne has said that "that was never the plan [...] My role as sidekick is to be sneaky and you can run it from the sides in a really funny way."[7] Horne and Greg Davies had never worked together before Taskmaster;[14] Davies was chosen "because of his authority", Horne says in an interview. He adds that in the pilot, Davies acted as a "dictator figure cross with everyone", but his tone in the show is more relaxed, as "if someone doesn't do something well we really enjoy it so he can be himself".[31]

The series director for Taskmaster is Andy Devonshire, who was previously series director on The Apprentice and the BBC versions of The Great British Bake Off. Peter Orton was director for three episodes in 2016.[32] Production designer James Dillon is responsible for the studio and filming locations as well as the caravan featured from series four onwards,[19] having been past known for designing the original set for The Crystal Maze.[33] Taskmaster's theme music was written and performed by The Horne Section, a jazz band led by Horne.[34]

The British show is also broadcast in Belgium, Sweden, South Africa, Norway, Finland, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Croatia[36] and Portugal.[37] In Australia, SBS Viceland started to air Taskmaster episodes on 27 July 2020.[38] The most recently broadcast series is available on SBS on Demand.

In the United States, The CW acquired series 8 and 9 of Taskmaster for a late-Summer run premiering on 2 August 2020. However, the series opened to extremely low viewership (in comparison to the Canadian import, Fridge Wars, which premiered the same day), and was consequently pulled from the network's schedule on 5 August. The CW added the entirety of Series 8 to its "CW Seed" streaming library on 10 August.[39][40][41][42][43]

A subscription streaming service, Taskmaster SuperMax+, debuted in March 2022. It allows worldwide access to the British version of Taskmaster, free from ads. It followed the show's cult popularity in America, despite little streaming availability; a U.S. version of Taskmaster and broadcast of the British version on The CW were not successful.[44] Horne stated that adding international versions to the service may occur at a later date.[45]

International versions of the programme have been made in Belgium (as Het Grootste Licht) (literally "The Greatest Light", but meaning "The Brightest Bulb"),[47] Sweden (as Bst i Test) ("Best in Test"),[48] Norway (as Kongen befaler) (literally "The King Commands", Norwegian for Simon Says)[49][50] and Spain (as Dicho y hecho) ("Said and Done").[51] In Denmark the programme is titled Stormester ("Grandmaster") and premiered on 25 August 2018.[52] In April 2017, a US version with Reggie Watts as the Taskmaster and Horne as the assistant was announced, made by Avalon, the same production company for the UK version and originally aired on Comedy Central on 27 April 2018.[50] A German version featuring Atze Schrder as the Taskmaster was commissioned by RTL in 2017; two episodes were recorded but not broadcast.[53][54]

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