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Taskmaster is a celebrity gameshow which I’ve never seen before, but which I figured I’d give a go now it’s on Channel 4 with Series 10.
Well, they’re sort-of celebrities. I’ve heard of Johnny Vegas, Katherine Parkinson, and Richard Herring, but not Daisy May Cooper, nor Mawaan Rizwan. I couldn’t pick either of them out in a police line-up.
However, that’s less relevant, since the chosen 5 for each episode are given bizarre… well, tasks to do. In the first episode – labelled God’s Haemorrhoid for no reason – these involve being given some balls in order to knock a coconut off a stick, which leads to a prize which then may or may not help in the subsequent task of moving pints of beer from a phone box to a caravan, whilst not walking on the grass from where you collect them.
It will make sense when you watch it, but given that they have an hour (including adverts) to complete everything assigned to them, there aren’t as many tasks to master as there could be, because they take forever to actually get anything done.
Plus, as an intro, they’re asked what they would enjoy putting in their mouth. For Johnny Vegas, it’s Gaviscon, to quell any burning, and he recounts another comedian ‘cutting out the middle man’ by putting that stuff over a kebab. That does solve a problem.
I enjoy Greg Davies in Man Down, but he could do without being all shouty and bossy in this. Similarly, co-presenter Alex Horne could do without his bizarre facial distortions. Maybe Vegas put his Gaviscon bottle on Horne’s chair before he sat down?
For me, one episode is more than enough, but no doubt, Taskmaster will be a massive hit and run for another 10 series.
Please do give us another Man Down, though. It’s been three years since the last series.
Taskmaster begins on Thursday October 15th on Channel 4 at 9pm. The series isn’t available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but you can buy Taskmaster: 220 Extraordinary Tasks for Ordinary People (Paperback), Taskmaster Board Game and Taskmaster Expansion Pack Card Game.
After broadcast, each episode will be on All4.
Episode Score: 4/10
Presenters: Greg Davies, Alex Horne
Contestants: Johnny Vegas, Katherine Parkinson, Richard Herring, Daisy May Cooper, Mawaan Rizwan
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.