British panel show/game show hybrid Taskmaster has developed a strong cult following both in and outside the UK, spawning numerous spin-off series globally. The show’s format consists of five comedians being filmed completing ridiculous tasks over a period of months in order to please the Taskmaster Greg Davies and his assistant “Little” Alex Horne (who is in fact the show’s creator) and then discussing and watching the tasks in front of a live studio audience.
Unlike other panel shows, Taskmaster maintains a consistent cast throughout the run of each season, allowing the audience to grow to love and appreciate the contestants whether they were initially familiar with them or not. There are no bad seasons of UK Taskmaster, but of the 16 seasons to date, these are the very best.
Taskmaster is available to stream on Pluto TV in the United States.
Watch on Pluto
10 Series 15 (2023)
Cast: Frankie Boyle, Ivo Graham, Jenny Eclair, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, and Mae Martin
The most recent season of Taskmaster, series 15, features a cast that is highly engaged in the competition, which makes for very funny viewing considering how worthless the ultimate prize (a sculpture of Greg’s head) is. Ivo, Kiell, and Mae in particular take their (and other contestants’) performances in tasks very seriously, with Mae overachieving and Ivo falling behind despite his enthusiasm.
Series 15 features many excellent tasks, with the one in which contestants must drive a boat proving to be a particular highlight. Additionally, allowing audiences to see a much more relaxed and friendly version of Frankie Boyle, a comedian known for his stand-up career’s vulgarity and aggression, exemplifies much of what is so special about Taskmaster‘s format.
9 Series 11 (2021)
Cast: Charlotte Ritchie, Jamali Maddix, Lee Mack, Mike Wozniak, and Sarah Kendall
Despite taking place under social distancing guidelines, Taskmaster Season 11 doesn’t suffer from its restrictions. The whole cast is strong, but Mike Wozniak consistently steals the show with hilarious moments such as his attempt to “undermine” a toy vole (“You’ve got no chutzpah!”) and his microphone gruesomely picking up the sound of him popping a hemorrhoid.
Other great moments in the season include Sarah completely forgetting to “activate Jamali” until halfway through a team task, Lee attempting to catch a falling jelly with his mouth and Charlotte, star of the UK’s original TV series of Ghosts, being plagued by Greg‘s running joke that she acts like a children’s TV presenter.
8 Series 9 (2019)
Cast: David Baddiel, Ed Gamble, Jo Brand, Katy Wix, and Rose Matafeo
Series 9 is unique due to featuring one of the show’s most passionate and competitive cast members (Ed Gamble), as well as two of its most laissez-faire (Jo Brand and David Baddiel), competing alongside the delightfully enthusiastic Rose Matafeo and the hilariously dry Katy Wix.
The season is especially notable due to a very funny task in which Jo and David’s team is contrasted with the others for taking vastly different approaches: Katy, Ed, and Rose show great energy and move around the location as quickly as possible, while Jo and David care so little about time they calmly brew drinks to enjoy.
7 Series 13 (2022)
Cast: Ardal O’Hanlon, Bridget Christie, Chris Ramsey, Judi Love, and Sophie Duker
Series 13’s cast has a fantastic energy, bringing positivity, attitude, and great approaches to tasks – both successful and unsuccessful. Featuring Chris Ramsey‘s adorable positivity, Judi Love‘s constant attempts to talk herself into getting more points, and Ardal‘s surprising competitiveness, the season has everything that makes Taskmaster great (and proves why the British show deserves a wider audience).
Sophie Duker excels as consistently intelligent and capable, and the season additionally features one of Taskmaster‘s most stylish costumes in Bridget Christie‘s old West-inspired suit and hat. With many excellent moments, it is hard to choose series 13’s best, but Bridget’s melancholy short film about Laika the dog stands out as particularly notable.
6 Series 1 (2015)
Cast: Frank Skinner, Josh Widdicombe, Roisin Conaty, Romesh Ranganathan, and Tim Key
Unlike many reality series that take several seasons to find their identity, Taskmaster began almost fully formed with a terrific first season. The season set the precedent for future casts, consisting of a mix of newer and more established comedians, and begins with strong tasks even though they are overall more basic than in subsequent seasons.
Two of the most memorable moments of not only Series 1, but Taskmaster as a whole, come courtesy of Romesh Ranganathan – his ‘Tree Wizard’ song and his bizarre move of smashing a watermelon on the ground to eat it. As the blueprint for the show to follow, Taskmaster series 1 is a great season of TV.
5 Series 4 (2017)
Cast: Hugh Dennis, Joe Lycett, Lolly Adefope, Mel Giedroyc, and Noel Fielding
Series 4 of Taskmaster features one of the show’s best teams in the duo of Mel and Hugh (who she calls “Desky”) who had been friends since their university days. The show contrasts their team frequently with the comparably youthful chaos brought by Lolly and Joe, to amusing results.
Although he doesn’t fit as neatly into either camp, series winner Noel Fielding, host of feel-good competition seriesThe Great British Bake Off, excels due to his wild creativity and artistic talent and completes the cast perfectly. This strong cast and its well-designed tasks make Series 4 one of Taskmaster‘s best.
4 Series 2 (2016)
Cast: Doc Brown, Joe Wilkinson, Jon Richardson, Katherine Ryan, and Richard Osman
Despite only having 5 episodes compared to later seasons’ 10, Series 2 contains many stand-out moments. One challenge, in which the contestants are tasked with impressing a mayor, yielded particularly hilarious results as the comedians attempted to bribe the mayor, sing to him, and Richard Osman even performed a juggling trick for him.
More than anything though, the hilarious specter of ‘Potatogate’ looms large over Series 2 – a legendary challenge failure in which Joe Wilkinson was set up to believe he had won before being crushed by the reveal that he had inadvertently broken a key rule and therefore been disqualified from the task. Series 2 is fantastic, and its early season simplicity adds to rather than detract from its quality.
3 Series 14 (2022)
Cast: Dara Ó Briain, Fern Brady, John Kearns, Munya Chawawa, and Sarah Millican
One of the most recent Taskmaster series, Series 14 has one of the show’s all-time best casts. Every contestant contributed memorable quotes and performances, especially in the songwriting task in which Fern‘s “It’s me Fern Brady, I’m the rightful queen” song was one of the strongest moments, and Greg’s reaction to Sarah’s song was genuinely heartwarming.
Featuring great tasks from John‘s secret saboteur mission to the contestants writing short plays and then performing each other’s scripts, Series 14 shows that despite having so many seasons, Taskmaster is managing to only get better as it goes along.
2 Series 7
Cast: James Acaster, Jessica Knappett, Kerry Godliman, Phil Wang, and Rhod Gilbert
The cast members of Taskmaster Series 7 have vastly different approaches to tasks which results in excellent contrasts, from Jessica Knappett‘s joyful enthusiasm, to Kerry Godliman‘s efficient and no-nonsense attitude, to Rhod Gilbert jumping at every opportunity to humiliate Greg and Alex.
The season is stellar, featuring hilarious outbursts and rants from James Acaster, Jessica Knappett falling off the stage (resulting in it being renamed ‘The Knappett’ in future seasons) and Phil Wang competing in a shockingly revealing bright yellow costume. As a result, Series 7 of Taskmaster is one of the TV show’s funniest and most essential seasons.
1 Series 5
Cast: Aisling Bea, Bob Mortimer, Mark Watson, Nish Kumar, and Sally Phillips
Commonly considered the best season of Taskmaster, Series 5’s energy is decidedly lighthearted and silly. Series 5 contains many tasks that encourage creativity from its contestants, which prompts truly wild submissions from Bob Mortimer and Sally Phillips (who US viewers may know as Minna Häkkinen from the popular political comedy series Veep) in particular.
The season culminates in perhaps the best task in the show’s history, in which the teams are challenged to write a song about a stranger. The task results in a hilarious take-down from Aisling, Bob, and Sally and a surprisingly good song from the delightfully bromantic duo of Mark and Nish. With its warmth and charm, Series 5 is the very best of Taskmaster so far.
.jpeg)