Taskmaster Series 6 has got off to a strong start, with overnight figures suggesting the opening episode on Wednesday night peaked with more than 778,000 viewers; the highest overnight rating in the show's history.

The figures represent very strong ratings for channel Dave, and the viewing figure will climb higher once catch-up viewing and repeats are factored in.

UKTV says that the show also performed well with the audience demographic that advertisers are most keen to reach. "Taskmaster was also watched by more 25-34-year-olds than any other channel at 9pm last night, with the show's 11.9% share of the demographic up from a 2.1% slot average, beating BBC One and ITV."

Series 6 sees Alice Levine, Asim Chaudhry, Liza Tarbuck, Russell Howard and Tim Vine competing in challenges set by Greg Davies and Alex Horne.

The format, which has been won multiple awards, has now been extended to series comprising of 10 episodes, with a further three series already ordered. Additionally, an American version of the format has just launched in the States, which sees Alex Horne acting as the assistant to host Reggie Watts.

Taskmaster will battle it out at the BAFTAs later this month in the Best Comedy Entertainment Programme category.

Episode 1 is available now on demand via UKTV Play, and will be repeated on Sunday at 10pm. Episode 2, which features challenges involving darts and rain hats, will be shown on Wednesday at 10pm.

The producers have also released some outtakes: