Taskmaster
- TV comedy
- Channel 4 / Dave
- 2015 - 2024
- 160 episodes (17 series)
TV format in which Greg Davies and Alex Horne set a group of comedians various outlandish challenges. Also features Romesh Ranganathan, Frank Skinner, Roisin Conaty, Josh Widdicombe, Tim Key and more.
- Continues on Thursday on C4 at 9pm with Series 17, Episode 5
- Catch-up on Series 17, Episode 4
Streaming rank this week: 8
Episode menu
Series 11, Episode 1 - It's Not Your Fault
Prize task: The best thing you can carry, but only just.
* Mike Wozniak: A tune for a song featuring facts about animals. - 5
* Lee Mack: A representation of his children. - 4
* Sarah Kendall: A stolen bar fridge. - 3
* Jamali Maddix: A slightly hot potato. - 2
* Charlotte Ritchie: Her bedding. - 1
Task 1: Do the most impressive thing under this table with one hand. You must be looking at the camera and waving with your other hand throughout your impressive thing. You have 15 minutes to prepare for your impressive thing, then a minute in which to do your impressive thing. Your time starts now.
* Mike: Plays the Taskmaster theme tune on a balalaika. - 5
* Sarah: Gives Alex a makeover. - 4
* Lee: Attempts to make a feast. - 3
* Jamali: Spinning a cushion. Greg later gives him a bonus point after saying that he could also do it, but fails to do so. - 3
* Charlotte: A coin walk. - 2
Task 2: Catch the rat. Most ingenious catching of the rat wins. You must be at least three metres from the rat when you catch it. The rat will run over the red green in 30 minutes from now.
* Lee - 5
* Mike and Sarah - 3
* Jamali - 1
* Charlotte: Disqualified for not being three metres away. - 0
Task 3: Deliver all the plates to Alex. When carrying the plates, you must travel by scooter or bicycle or hoverboard. For every plate fallen or broken, you will have 20 minutes added to your time. Fastest wins. You may start moving plates in three minutes from now.
* Lee: 0:01:20 - 5
* Sarah: 0:02:29 - 4
* Mike: 0:03:02 - 3
* Charlotte: 0:05:12 - 2
* Jamali: 3:08:00 - 1
Live task: Stack your buckets so that they are taller than you, then put one beanbag on top of the buckets. You may not leave your spot at any point. Fastest wins.
* Sarah - 5
* Charlotte, Jamali, Lee and Mike: Keep knocking down each others' towers, and thus don't reach the required height. - 0
Final scores
* Sarah - 18
* Lee and Mike - 17
* Jamali - 7
* Charlotte - 5
Broadcast details
- Date
- Thursday 18th March 2021
- Time
- 9pm
- Channel
- Channel 4
- Length
- 60 minutes
Repeats
Show past repeats
Cast & crew
| Greg Davies | Host / Presenter |
| Alex Horne | Host / Presenter |
| Sarah Kendall | Self |
| Lee Mack | Self |
| Jamali Maddix | Self |
| Charlotte Ritchie | Self |
| Mike Wozniak | Self |
| Alex Horne | Writer |
| Tim Key | Task Consultant |
| Andy Devonshire | Series Director |
| Andy Cartwright | Series Producer |
| Richard Allen-Turner | Executive Producer |
| James Taylor | Executive Producer |
| Jon Thoday | Executive Producer |
| Rob Aslett | Executive Producer |
| Andy Devonshire | Executive Producer |
| Alex Horne | Executive Producer |
| Dan Trelfer | Edit Producer |
| Vicky Winter | Line Producer |
| Thomas Perrett | Editor |
| Mark Sangster | Editor |
| Rebecca Bowker | Editor |
| James Dillon | Production Designer |
| Sam Montague | Director of Photography |
| Will Charles | Lighting Designer |
| Dru Masters | Composer |
| Tom Howe | Composer |
| Martin Rosten | Graphics |
Videos
Outtake: Have you ever shat in a bath?
From the first episode of Taskmaster series 11, Greg Davies poses the question - have you ever shat in a bath?
Featuring: Greg Davies, Alex Horne, Sarah Kendall, Lee Mack, Jamali Maddix, Charlotte Ritchie & Mike Wozniak.
Mike Wozniak wobbles on a hover board
Mike Wozniak attempts to transport some plates using a hoverboard.
Featuring: Alex Horne & Mike Wozniak.
Outtake: When Jamali broke his leg
Jamali Maddix recalls the time at school he broke his leg from riding an electric scooter.
Featuring: Greg Davies, Lee Mack & Jamali Maddix.
Lee Mack's genius attempt at catching a rat
The contestants aim to catch a rat that really does not want to be caught.
Featuring: Alex Horne, Sarah Kendall, Lee Mack, Jamali Maddix, Charlotte Ritchie & Mike Wozniak.
Difficult tasks without looking
The task is to do the most impressive thing under this table with one hand...
Featuring: Greg Davies, Alex Horne, Sarah Kendall, Lee Mack, Jamali Maddix, Charlotte Ritchie & Mike Wozniak.
Press
A new series of Taskmaster began, which has every promise to match the highs of the last. Chief among the promiseers in series 11 is Sarah Kendall, the driest of Aussies, yet we also have grumpy Jamali Maddix, Lee Mack and the like, and the mix works (again) wonderfully well, crushing together those who will solve an impossible problem in methodical fashion and those who will throw proven natural laws to all 13 winds. Trapping a giant motorised rat in a net from three metres away, conveying 24 unbroken dinner plates on a hoverboard through a hangar, inviting a helium balloon to behave - never mind Taskmaster, this should be the primary task for all diplomats and wannabe 007s. As ever, creator Alex Horne and Taskmaster Greg Davies fashion great humour from abject failure. I think Greg's resolutely kind demolition of Charlotte Ritchie - "you didn't think your left hand was for anything?" - represents a touchstone in anthropology.
Euan Ferguson, The Observer, 21st March 2021Taskmaster review
As easy as keeping a cushion spinning on a finger.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail, 19th March 2021TV review: Taskmaster, Series 11, Episode 1
This opening episode was one of the strongest out of all of them, and I'd be amazed if by the end this wasn't seen as one of the best, right up their with series 5 and 7.
Alex Finch, Comedy To Watch, 19th March 2021Taskmaster brought theatrical silliness to panel shows
The Greg Davies-fronted show is a hit for Channel 4 after making the leap from Dave, but execs took some convincing that it could work, creator Alex Horne tells Isobel Lewis.
Isobel Lewis, The Independent, 18th March 2021