117-457: Taskmaster is a British comedy panel game show created by comedian and musician Alex Horne and presented by both Horne and Greg Davies . In the programme, a group of five celebrities – mainly comedians – attempt to complete a series of challenges, with Horne acting as umpire in each challenge and Davies, the titular "Taskmaster", judging the work and awarding points based on contestants' performances. The concept for
234-670: 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. A German version featuring Atze Schröder as the Taskmaster was commissioned by RTL in 2017; two episodes were recorded but not broadcast. In 2019 it was announced a New Zealand version would be produced, hosted by Jeremy Wells and Paul Williams . Five series have been broadcast in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Finnish network MTV3 aired
351-440: 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
468-445: A "safety net" guaranteed minimum income should the revenue fall too low, funded by large insurance payments made to the ITV companies. Such a subsidy was never required, however, and these premiums were phased out by the government in 1998. After the link with ITV was cut, the cross-promotion which had existed between ITV and Channel 4 also ended. In 2007, owing to severe funding difficulties,
585-419: A Clue since 1972, The News Quiz since 1977, My Word! from 1956 to 1988, and My Music from 1967 to 1994. The British version of What's My Line? may have been the first television panel show in the UK, with an original run from 1951 to 1963 and several remakes in later years. The word game Call My Bluff aired from 1965 to 2005, the charades show Give Us a Clue ran from 1979 to 1992, and
702-509: A Secret and To Tell the Truth . At times, they were among the top ten shows on U.S. television, and they continue to experience occasional revivals . All three Goodson-Todman primetime shows were cancelled by CBS in 1967 amid ratings declines and trouble attracting younger viewers, although the programs were consistently profitable by being among the cheapest television shows to produce. Their cancellations came as attention to demographics and
819-465: A Secret is about secrets ; To Tell the Truth , Would I Lie to You? and The Unbelievable Truth deal with lies ; and It Pays to Be Ignorant and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue are parodies . Some panel shows are variations of classic parlor games. Twenty Questions is based on the parlor game of the same name, Give Us a Clue is modelled after charades , and Call My Bluff and Balderdash are based on fictionary . Frequently,
936-532: A bin. Most spectacular throw wins." There were 20 tasks in total. A new series of Hometasking, started during another lockdown in the UK, began on 14 January 2021, featuring tasks previously performed on the TV show. On 15 October 2020, an official podcast began. It is hosted by Ed Gamble , the winner of Series 9, who comments on each featured episode with a special guest. Initially it focused on Series 10, with each podcast released immediately after each Taskmaster episode
1053-534: A charades show on NHK General TV from 1953 to 1968; and 私の秘密 ("My Secret"), based on I've Got a Secret on NHK General TV from 1956 to 1967. Currently, a wide variety of Japanese variety shows are popular, and many of them feature owarai comedians, Japanese idols , and other celebrities playing games. Some games involve bizarre physical stunts. Brain Wall , adapted in English-speaking countries as Hole in
1170-509: A focus on younger viewers gained currency among advertisers. The departures of these three New York–based shows were also part of a mass migration of television production to Los Angeles, leaving only one primetime show produced on the East Coast. Later years saw several successes in the format, with Match Game ; The Hollywood Squares ; Win, Lose or Draw ; Celebrity Sweepstakes ; Password and Pyramid primarily running in
1287-430: A golden statue of Davies' eyebrows. 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
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#17328766473501404-528: 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 . For the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Horne conducted another stage show titled Taskmaster II at the Gilded Balloon with
1521-559: A lexicographer only ever identified as Mary. Whiteley opened the show with the words: "As the countdown to a brand new channel ends, a brand new countdown begins." On its first day, Channel 4 also broadcast the soap opera Brookside , which often ran storylines thought to be controversial; this ran until 2003. After three days, ITV chiefs called for founding chief executive Jeremy Isaacs to resign due to poor ratings. Critics called it "Channel Bore" and "Channel Snore". At its launch, Channel 4 committed itself to providing an alternative to
1638-947: A linguistic game on ORTF and TF1 from 1969 to 1981; L'Académie des neuf ("The Academy of Nine"), based on Hollywood Squares on Antenne 2 from 1982 to 1987; Cluedo , based on the board game Cluedo/Clue on France 3 from 1994 to 1995; Burger Quiz on Canal + from 2001 to 2002; Incroyables Expériences ("Incredible Experiences"), about scientific experiments on France 2 and France 3 from 2008 to 2012; and Canapé quiz ("Sofa Quiz"), an adaptation of Hollywood Game Night on TMC in 2014. German panel shows include 7 Tage, 7 Köpfe ("7 Days, 7 Heads"), Genial daneben ("Idiot Savant"), Kopfball ("Headball"), Die Montagsmaler ("Pictionary"), Noch Besserwissen ("Even Better Knowledge"), Pssst … (similar to I've Got A Secret ), Die Pyramide (the German version of Pyramid ), Quizfire , Sag die Wahrheit ("Tell
1755-576: A local French language adaptation of Taskmaster . In 2014, Super Channel ordered 36 episodes of a panel show called Too Much Information . A revival of Match Game aired on The Comedy Network from 2012 to 2014, the news quiz Front Page Challenge aired on CBC Television from 1957 to 1995, and the charades show Party Game aired in syndication from 1970 to 1981. French panel shows include Vendredi tout est permis ("Friday, Everything Goes"), an improv game on TF1 since 2011. Earlier panel shows include Le Francophonissime ,
1872-711: A local version Suurmestari [Grandmaster] starting on 12 April 2020. An international adaptation, Direktor svemira [Director of the Universe], by Croatian broadcaster RTL , began to air on 24 November 2021. Portugal's RTP1 announced in 2021 that a Portuguese version would start broadcasting in early 2022, hosted by Vasco Palmeirim and Nuno Markl . Network 10 's Australian version debuted in February 2023, hosted by Tom Gleeson and Tom Cashman . Franchise no longer airing Status unknown A tie-in book, Taskmaster — 200 Extraordinary Tasks for Ordinary People ,
1989-462: A loose adaptation of BBC Radio 4 's The News Quiz . HIGNFY , as the show is sometimes known, began airing in 1990, and has been the most-viewed show of the night, regularly attracting as much as a 20% audience share . The show's success grew after its transfer from BBC Two to the flagship BBC One in 2000. After HIGNFY' s success, panel shows proliferated on British TV. Notable example include QI on various BBC channels since 2003, Mock
2106-472: A nationwide television channel for the first time. Since then, carriage on digital cable , satellite and digital terrestrial has introduced Channel 4 to Welsh homes where it is now universally available. After some months of test broadcasts, the new broadcaster began scheduled transmissions on 2 November 1982 from Scala House, the former site of the Scala Theatre . Its initial broadcasts reached 87% of
2223-562: A nationwide television channel. The network's headquarters are in London and Leeds , with creative hubs in Glasgow and Bristol . Before Channel 4 and S4C, Britain had three terrestrial television services: BBC1 , BBC2 , and ITV , with BBC2 the last to launch in 1964. The Broadcasting Act 1980 began the process of adding a fourth; Channel 4 was formally created, along with its Welsh counterpart , by an act of Parliament in 1982. The notion of
2340-418: A non-acting role for Tom Keating in his series On Painters . Channel 4 co-commissioned Robert Ashley 's television opera Perfect Lives , which it premiered over several episodes in 1984. The channel often did not receive mass audiences for much of this period, as might be expected for a station focusing on minority interests. During this time, Channel 4 also began the funding of independent films, such as
2457-518: A panel of celebrities, largely writers and intellectuals, but also actors and politicians. Listeners would mail in questions, winning prizes for stumping the panel. U.S. panel shows transferred to television early in the medium's history, with the first known example being Play the Game , a charades show that aired on DuMont and ABC beginning in 1946. The celebrity charades concept has been replicated numerous times since then. The most popular adaptation
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#17328766473502574-471: A panel show features recurring panelists or permanent team captains, and some panelists appear on multiple panel shows. Most shows are recorded before a studio audience. The first known example of a panel show in the world is the radio program Information Please , which debuted on 17 May 1938 on the NBC Blue Network . An evolution of the quiz show format, Information Please added the key element of
2691-407: A positive review in 2016, praising the show as the "crowning jewel" of original programming on Dave , and approving of the design of the tasks and the range of approaches that contestants demonstrate. Mead believed that the second series was an improvement on the first, but criticised that the first three series had only one female contestant apiece. Panel game A panel show or panel game
2808-834: A public service broadcaster with a specific remit, it is afforded free carriage on the terrestrial platforms, in contrast with other broadcasters such as ITV. Channel 4 is available outside the United Kingdom; it is widely available in the Republic of Ireland , the Netherlands , Belgium and Switzerland . The channel is registered to broadcast within the European Union/EEA through the Luxembourg Broadcasting Regulator (ALIA). Since 2019, it has been offered by British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) to members of
2925-552: A remit of public service obligations which it must fulfil. The remit changes periodically, as dictated by various broadcasting and communications acts, and is regulated by the various authorities Channel 4 has been answerable to; originally the IBA, then the ITC and now Ofcom . The preamble of the remit as per the Communications Act 2003 states that: The public service remit for Channel 4
3042-432: A second commercial broadcaster in the United Kingdom had been around since the inception of ITV in 1954 and its subsequent launch in 1955; the idea of an "ITV2" was long expected and pushed for. Indeed, television sets sold throughout the 1970s and early 1980s often had a spare tuning button labelled "ITV 2" or "IBA 2". Throughout ITV's history and until Channel 4 finally became a reality, a perennial dialogue existed between
3159-480: A semi-annual celebrity quiz. There are many other games featuring celebrities within Japan's variety genre. Prime Minister Ōta is a show featuring many comedians and politicians debating fictional proposals in a sort of game show version of a legislative chamber. Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation . It
3276-405: 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
3393-500: 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 . 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
3510-429: A spin-off called Junior Taskmaster with contestants aged between 9 and 11, consisting of eight episodes with 9th series contestant Rose Matafeo as the Taskmaster and 11th series contestant Mike Wozniak as her assistant. Junior Taskmaster follows similar children-oriented spin-off programmes on Channel 4 such as Junior Bake Off and Teen First Dates . Another spin-off of Taskmaster , titled Foodmaster ,
3627-696: A subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the station is now owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation, a public corporation of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport , which was established in 1990 and came into operation in 1993. Until 2010, Channel 4 did not broadcast in Wales , but many of its programmes were re-broadcast there by the Welsh fourth channel S4C . In 2010, Channel 4 extended service into Wales and became
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3744-466: 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;
3861-450: A theme 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 . Most tasks are recorded with each contestant separately in a house in Chiswick , London. However, Alex Horne's initial plan was to carry out
3978-542: 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 on Big Brother , and his envy of his close friend Tim Key winning
4095-470: Is Play the Game , a charades show in 1946. The modern trend of comedy panel shows can find early roots with Stop Me If You've Heard This One in 1939 and Can You Top This? in 1940. While panel shows were more popular in the past in the U.S., they are still very common in the United Kingdom . While many early panel shows stuck to the traditional quiz show format in which celebrities tried to get
4212-462: Is publicly owned but, unlike the BBC , it receives no public funding and is funded entirely by its commercial activities, including advertising . It began its transmission in 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in the United Kingdom. At the time, the only other channels were the licence -funded BBC1 and BBC2 , and a single commercial broadcasting network, ITV . Originally
4329-441: Is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participate. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz ; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on Match Game and Blankety Blank ; or do both, such as on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me . The genre can be traced to 1938, when Information Please debuted on U.S. radio. The earliest known television panel show
4446-532: Is also broadcast in Belgium , Sweden , South Africa , Norway , Finland , Australia , Denmark , New Zealand , Croatia and Portugal . In Australia, SBS Viceland started to air Taskmaster episodes on 27 July 2020. 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,
4563-656: Is centred around food. Former contestant Ed Gamble hosted a non-broadcast pilot in July 2023. Taskmaster is a comedic game show, in which a group of five contestants – mainly comedians, but sometimes including other well-known television personalities – compete against each other by completing tasks assigned to them. In each episode, contestants are shown tackling a series of tasks, supervised and sometimes assisted by Horne. Davies then judges each contestant's performance in each task to determine how many points they receive, generally ranking them from one to five points. The contestant with
4680-466: Is more relaxed, as "if someone doesn't do something well we really enjoy it so he can be himself". 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. Production designer James Dillon is responsible for the studio and filming locations as well as
4797-509: Is set to continue for at least three more series until 2026. 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 , premiered on Channel 4 on November 8, 2024, Additionally,
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4914-440: Is the provision of a broad range of high quality and diverse programming which, in particular: The remit also involves an obligation to provide programming for schools, and a substantial amount of programming produced outside of Greater London . Channel 4 was carried from its beginning on analogue terrestrial, the standard means of television broadcast in the United Kingdom. It continued to be broadcast through these means until
5031-519: The British Armed Forces and their families around the world, BFBS Extra having previously carried a selection of Channel 4 programmes. The Channel 4 website allows people in the United Kingdom to watch Channel 4 live. Previously, some programmes (mostly international imports) were not shown. Channel 4 is also provided by Virgin Mobile 's DAB mobile TV service, which has the same restrictions as
5148-466: The COVID-19 pandemic and a period of lockdown in the UK, Alex Horne organised a series of tasks in the style of Taskmaster for the public to perform and record in their own homes. Entries were submitted on Twitter and compilation videos, including scoring of the ten best entries by Greg Davies, were published by the Taskmaster YouTube channel. The first task was "Throw a piece of A4 paper into
5265-516: The Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2009. 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. He then presented their efforts as part of a two-hour show at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe titled The Task Master , which focused on demonstrating the differing attempts by
5382-475: The GPO , the government , the ITV companies and other interested parties, concerning the form such an expansion of commercial broadcasting would take. Most likely, politics had the biggest impact leading to a delay of almost three decades before the second commercial channel became a reality. One benefit of the late arrival of the channel was that its frequency allocations at each transmitter had already been arranged in
5499-581: The Merchant Ivory docudrama The Courtesans of Bombay . In 1987, Richard Attenborough replaced Edmund Dell as chairman. In 1988, Michael Grade became CEO. In 1992, Channel 4 faced its first libel case which was brought by Jani Allan , a South African journalist, who objected to her representation in Nick Broomfield 's documentary The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife . After control of
5616-582: The BBC and independent companies. Initially, limited frequency space meant that Channel 4 could not be broadcast alongside S4C, though some Channel 4 programmes would be aired at less popular times on the Welsh variant; this practice continued until the closure of S4C's analogue transmissions in 2010, at which time S4C became a fully Welsh channel. With this conversion of the Wenvoe transmitter group in Wales to digital terrestrial broadcasting on 31 March 2010, Channel 4 became
5733-538: 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. Horne stated that adding international versions to the service may occur at a later date. Starting from series 16, new episodes are available on YouTube worldwide one day after their broadcast in
5850-462: The Horn as part of its daytime block of sports news and discussion shows. While presented as being a roundtable debate show , the series does contain some game show-like elements; the panel of sports journalists earn points from the host based on the strength of their points and arguments in specific topics (and may also mute panelists, if needed), with the lowest scorers eliminated at points throughout
5967-517: The IBA from the ITV regional companies, in return for which each company had the right to sell advertisements on the fourth channel in its own region and keep the proceeds. This meant that ITV and Channel 4 were not in competition with each other, and often promoted each other's programmes. A change in funding came about under the Broadcasting Act 1990 when the new corporation was afforded the ability to fund itself. Originally this arrangement left
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#17328766473506084-555: The Internet live stream. Channel 4 is also carried by the Internet TV service TVCatchup and was previously carried by Zattoo until the operator removed the channel from its platform. Channel 4 also makes some of its programming available "on demand" via cable and the internet through the Channel 4 VoD service. During its first decade, Channel 4 was funded by subscriptions collected by
6201-476: The Races , E4 and More4 . Partially in reaction to its new "populist" direction, the Communications Act 2003 directed the channel to demonstrate innovation, experimentation, and creativity, appeal to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society, and include programmes of an educational nature which exhibit a distinctive character. On 31 December 2004, Channel 4 launched a new visual identity in which
6318-488: The Street , Without A Trace , Home Improvement , Frasier , Lost , Nip/Tuck , Ally McBeal , Dawson's Creek , Oz , Sex and The City , The Sopranos , Scrubs , King of The Hill , Babylon 5 , Stargate SG-1 , Star Trek: Enterprise , Andromeda , Family Guy , South Park and Futurama . In the early 2000s, Channel 4 began broadcasting reality formats such as Big Brother and obtained
6435-548: The Truth", the German version of To Tell the Truth ), Typisch Frau – Typisch Mann ("Typical Woman – Typical Man"), Was bin ich? ("What am I?", the German version of What's My Line? ) and Was denkt Deutschland? ("What Does Germany Think?"). Early Japanese panel shows include 話の泉 ("Source of the Story"), based on Information Please on NHK Radio 1 from 1946 to 1964; 二十の扉 ("Twenty Doors"), based on Twenty Questions on NHK Radio 1 from 1947 to 1960; ジェスチャー ("Gestures"),
6552-575: The UK. International versions of the programme have been made in Belgium (as Het Grootste Licht ) (literally "The Greatest Light", but meaning "The Brightest Bulb"), Sweden (as Bäst i test ) ("Best in Test"), Norway (as Kongen befaler ) (literally "The King Commands", Norwegian for Simon Says ) and Spain (as Dicho y hecho ) ("Said and Done"). In Denmark the programme is titled Stormester ("Grandmaster") and premiered on 25 August 2018. In April 2017,
6669-583: The United Kingdom, where they have found continued success since the BBC adapted its first radio panel shows from classic parlor games. Perhaps the earliest UK panel show is the BBC radio adaptation of Twenty Questions , which debuted on 28 February 1947. Panel shows can have decades-long runs in the UK: Twenty Questions lasted until 1976, while Just a Minute has remained on the air, and had Nicholas Parsons as host from 1967 until 2019. Other long-running games on radio include I'm Sorry I Haven't
6786-413: The United Kingdom. The first voice heard on Channel 4's opening day of 2 November 1982 was that of continuity announcer Paul Coia who said: "Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to be able to say to you, welcome to Channel Four." Following the announcement, the channel played a montage of clips from its programmes set to the station's signature tune, "Fourscore", written by David Dundas , which would form
6903-491: The Wall , has comedians attempt to jump through oddly shaped holes in moving walls without falling into water, DERO and its successor TORE have celebrities solve mental and physical challenges to escape traps and hazards or presumably die trying, VS Arashi has a team of celebrities compete against J-pop group Arashi and their Plus One guest(s) in physical games, Nep League has various celebrity teams competing in various quizzes that test their combined brainpower in
7020-907: The Week on BBC Two from 2005 to 2022, 8 Out of 10 Cats on Channel 4 since 2005, Would I Lie to You? on BBC One since 2007, and the annual special, The Big Fat Quiz of the Year on Channel 4 since 2004. On the radio, The News Quiz , Just a Minute , I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and The Unbelievable Truth are among the most popular and long-running panel shows, all of which air on BBC Radio 4. British comedy panel shows feature mainly male guests. A 2016 study that analysed 4,700 episodes from 1967 to 2016 found that 1,488 of them had an all-male lineup, and only one an all-female cast. The proportion of women rose from 3% in 1989 to 31% in 2016. Australian panel shows include advertising-focused The Gruen Transfer and its various spinoffs on ABC1 since 2008,
7137-524: The Week . 8 Out of 10 Cats is based on opinion polling ; What's My Line? is about occupations ; Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Face the Music center on music ; A League of Their Own , A Question of Sport and They Think It's All Over are sports -themed; Was It Something I Said? , Quote... Unquote and Who Said That? feature quotations ; My Word! involves wordplay ; I've Got
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#17328766473507254-419: The ability to subsidise the main network through any profits made on the corporation's other endeavours, which have in the past included subscription fees from stations such as E4 and Film4 (now no longer subscription services) and its "video-on-demand" sales. In practice, however, these other activities are loss-making, and are subsidised by the main network. According to Channel 4's published accounts, for 2005
7371-407: The basis of the station's jingles for its first decade. The first programme to air on the channel was the teatime game show Countdown , produced by Yorkshire Television , at 16:45. The first person to be seen on Channel 4 was Richard Whiteley , with Ted Moult being the second. The first woman on the channel, contrary to popular belief, was not Whiteley's Countdown co-host Carol Vorderman , but
7488-407: The caravan featured from series four onwards, having been past known for designing the original set for The Crystal Maze . Taskmaster's theme music was written and performed by The Horne Section , a jazz band led by Horne. In the studio, other than while attempting the live task, the contestants sit on a row of chairs in alphabetical order of forename from left to right. Key The British show
7605-408: The celebrity guests buzzing in to earn points from the host for punchlines and responses in various segments. In 2024, a reboot of the show, now titled After Midnight and hosted by Taylor Tomlinson , premiered on CBS . The streaming service Dropout has received attention for many of its shows' similarities to panel shows, notably Game Changer . Panel shows are particularly popular in
7722-550: The changeover to digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom was complete. Since 1998, it has been universally available on digital terrestrial, and the Sky platform (initially encrypted, though encryption was dropped on 14 April 2008 and is now free of charge and available on the Freesat platform) as well as having been available from various times in various areas, on analogue and digital cable networks. Due to its special status as
7839-633: The channel broadcast the direct-to-TV documentary film Beyond Citizen Kane , in which it displayed the dominant position of the Rede Globo (now TV Globo ) television network, and discussed its influence, power, and political connections in Brazil. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Channel 4 gave many popular and influential American comedy and drama series their first exposure on British television, such as Friends , Cheers , Will & Grace , NYPD Blue , ER , Desperate Housewives , Homicide: Life on
7956-476: The channel sought government help and was granted a payment of £14 million over a six-year period. The money was to have come from the television licence fee, and would have been the first time that money from the licence fee had been given to any broadcaster other than the BBC. However, the plan was scrapped by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport , Andy Burnham , ahead of "broader decisions about
8073-485: The contestants before revealing who won based on their performances. Mike Wozniak was announced as the winner of The Task Master . 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
8190-600: The corporation but the sale was blocked by the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable . In 2016, the future of the channel was again being looked into by the government, with analysts suggesting several options for its future. In June 2021, the government of Boris Johnson was considering selling the channel. In April 2022, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport acknowledged that ministerial discussions were taking place regarding
8307-410: The day. In November 2009, Channel 4 launched a week of 3D television , broadcasting selected programmes each night using stereoscopic ColorCode 3D technology. The accompanying 3D glasses were distributed through Sainsbury's supermarkets. On 29 September 2015, Channel 4 revamped its presentation for a fifth time; the new branding downplayed the "4" logo from most on-air usage, in favour of using
8424-401: The daytime and airing in their greatest numbers during the '70s and '80s. These panel shows marked a shift in the format: whereas CBS' primetime shows had panelists guessing secrets about the guests, these new shows largely featured civilian contestants playing games with celebrity partners, or competing to either predict how the panelists will respond to a prompt or question, or determine whether
8541-527: The early 1960s when the launch of an "ITV2" was anticipated. This led to good coverage across most of the country and few problems of interference with other UK-based transmissions; a stark contrast to the difficulties associated with Channel 5 's launch almost 15 years later. At the time the fourth service was being considered, a movement in Wales lobbied for the creation of dedicated service that would air Welsh language programmes, then only catered for at off-peak times on BBC Wales and HTV . The campaign
8658-705: The existing channels, an agenda in part set out by its remit which required the provision of programming to minority groups. In step with its remit, the channel became well received both by minority groups and the arts and cultural worlds during this period under Isaacs, during which the channel gained a reputation for programmes on the contemporary arts. Two programmes captured awards from the Broadcasting Press Guild in March 1983: best comedy for The Comic Strip Presents …Five Go Mad in Dorset, and best on-screen performance in
8775-431: The fields of Japanese, English, General Knowledge, Etc., and AKBingo! similarly features members of pop group AKB48 and others competing in physical challenges and quizzes. Other shows include 日本語探Qバラエティ クイズ!それマジ!?ニッポン ("Is it really!?"), a celebrity word game; くりぃむクイズ ミラクル9 ("Miracle 9"), a show somewhat similar to Hollywood Squares; Numer0n , a celebrity numbers game; and オールスター感謝祭 ("All Star Thanksgiving"),
8892-569: The first cast of five contestants for the first series was announced, and the studio-based segments of the programme — where footage of the contestants' attempts at completing tasks at the Taskmaster House was screened, and prize tasks and live tasks were conducted, in front of a studio audience — were filmed at the Clapham Grand . The involvement of veteran comedian Frank Skinner , who agreed to join after meeting Horne for lunch, helped to entice
9009-459: The first episode, Filipa Jodelka of The Guardian described Taskmaster as a panel show with an "edgy parlour-game twist". Jodelka praised the "molten-hot banter" between contestants and Davies, and compared the arbitrary awarding of points to QI and Numberwang . Also reviewing "Melon Buffet", Ellen Jones of The Independent praised the show as entertaining despite its "informal and cheap-looking" style. Wesley Mead of Den of Geek wrote
9126-700: The future framework of public service broadcasting". The broadcasting regulator Ofcom released its review in January 2009 in which it suggested that Channel 4 would preferably be funded by "partnerships, joint ventures or mergers". As of 2022 , it breaks even in much the same way as most privately run commercial stations through the sale of on-air advertising, programme sponsorship, and the sale of any programme content and merchandising rights it owns, such as overseas broadcasting rights and domestic video sales. For example, as of 2012 its total revenues were £925 million with 91% derived from sale of advertising. It also has
9243-494: The general public, but later series avoided this in order to prevent coming across as a "prank show". Some tasks are vetoed by producers for pragmatic reasons, such as "paint the biggest thing red". Others do not turn out as expected, such as "burst all these bubbles [on a massive roll of bubble wrap] – fastest wins", which had been attempted in three different series but not shown in any of them, as "it always ends with people jumping on it for hours". When asked why he did not present
9360-502: The highest score in each episode wins a collection of prizes submitted by the contestants themselves as one of the tasks; the one with the highest cumulative score at the end of a series wins a trophy. In the main series, the trophy is a golden bust of Davies. Series winners also qualify for future "Champion of Champions" episodes, where the trophy is the golden statue of the rest of Davies' body. A series of "New Year's Treat" episodes featuring celebrities other than comedians has as its trophy
9477-413: The improv game Whose Line Is It Anyway? aired from 1988 to 1998. Current British panel shows have become showcases for the nation's top stand-up and improv comedians, as well as career-making opportunities for new comedians. Regular comics on panel shows often go on to star in sitcoms and other TV shows. The modern British panel show format of TV comedy quizzes started with Have I Got News for You ,
9594-526: 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. 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). Channel 4 also announced
9711-576: The introduction, "Welcome to Whose Line Is It Anyway , the show where everything's made up and the points don't matter." QI ' s opaque scoring system is purportedly a mystery even to its creator, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue dispenses with points altogether, and many other shows mention points only occasionally or at the end, instead of continuously displaying scores in front of players. Panel shows can have any number of themes. Many are topical and satirical , such as Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! , Have I Got News for You , The News Quiz and Mock
9828-468: The last time, after 32 years as a main presenter on the programme, making Snow one of the UK's longest-serving presenters on a national news programme. Channel 4's parent company, Channel Four Television Corporation , was considered for privatisation by the governments of Margaret Thatcher , John Major and Tony Blair . In 2014, the Cameron-Clegg coalition government drew up proposals to privatise
9945-458: The launch of Channel 4 HD, but the fourth HD slot was given to Channel 5 instead. On 2 November 2007, the station celebrated its 25th birthday. It showed the first episode of Countdown , an anniversary Countdown special, as well as a special edition of The Big Fat Quiz . It use the original multicoloured 1982–1996 blocks logo on presentation, and idents using the Fourscore jingle throughout
10062-636: The logo is disguised as different objects and the "4" can be seen from an angle. Under the leadership of Freeview founder Andy Duncan , 2005 saw a change of direction for Channel 4's digital channels. The company made E4 free-to-air on digital terrestrial television , and launched a new free-to-air digital channel called More4 . By October, Channel 4 had joined the Freeview consortium. By July 2006, Film4 had likewise become free-to-air and restarted broadcasting on digital terrestrial. Venturing into radio broadcasting, 2005 saw Channel 4 purchase 51% of shares in
10179-633: 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 . 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's South Terminal 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
10296-538: The music quiz Spicks and Specks on ABC1 from 2005 to 2011 and again since 2014, news quiz Have You Been Paying Attention? on Network Ten since 2013, and tabloid quiz Dirty Laundry Live on ABC1 and ABC2 since 2013. News quiz Good News Week aired on ABC1 from 1996 to 1998 and on Network Ten from 1999-2000 and again from 2008 to 2012, sports quiz A League of Their Own aired on Network Ten in 2013, and pop culture quiz Tractor Monkeys aired on ABC1 in 2013. Currently running New Zealand panel shows include
10413-415: The news quiz 7 Days since 2009, Have You Been Paying Attention? New Zealand since 2019, Taskmaster New Zealand since 2020, and Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee since 2023. CBC Radio One currently broadcasts two long-running radio panel shows: The Debaters , which debuted in 2006, and Because News , which debuted in 2015. In 2022, Noovo began broadcasting Le maître du jeu ,
10530-512: The now defunct Oneword radio station, with UBC Media holding on to the remaining shares. New programmes such as the weekly, half-hour The Morning Report news programme were among some of the new content Channel 4 provided for the station, with the name 4Radio being used. As of early 2009, however, Channel 4's future involvement in radio remained uncertain. Before the digital switchover , Channel 4 raised concerns over how it might finance its public service obligations afterward. In April 2006, it
10647-463: The other contestants to take part in the programme. 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. The filming location for the studio-based segments of the show was changed to Fountain Studios for series two, and again to Pinewood Studios from series five onwards, using a studio set resembling
10764-476: The panelist answered a question correctly. Later, Nickelodeon premiered the youth-oriented panel game Figure it Out in 1997, the American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? had a primetime run from 1998 to 2004 on ABC and a revival in 2013 by The CW , while Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! has become a popular weekend show on NPR since 1998. Since 2002, the sports channel ESPN has broadcast Around
10881-414: 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. 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
10998-484: The programme was first created by Horne for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010; he later secured a deal with Dave to adapt it for television with the first episode premiering in 2015. After the ninth series in 2019, the programme was acquired by Channel 4 . The programme has completed seventeen series as well as three Champion of Champions specials and five New Year Treat one-offs by January 2025, and
11115-412: The right answers and win, the primary goal of modern panel shows is to entertain the audience with comedy, with the game or quiz structure providing subjects for the comedians to joke about. Panel shows also feature comedic banter, friendly ribbing and camaraderie among the panelists. Scoring is often deemphasised in panel shows. The American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? acknowledged this with
11232-455: The rights to broadcast mass appeal sporting events like cricket and horse racing . This new direction increased ratings and revenues. The popularity of Big Brother led to the launches of other, shorter-lived new reality shows to chase the populist audience, such as The Salon , Shattered and Space Cadets . In addition, the corporation launched several new television channels through its new 4Ventures offshoot, including Film4 , At
11349-434: The sale of Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel's chief executive, Alex Mahon, expressed disappointment at this, saying that its vision for the future was "rooted in continued public ownership". In January 2023, Michelle Donelan confirmed that the plans to sell Channel 4 were scrapped and that it would remain in public ownership for the foreseeable future. Channel 4 was established with, and continues to hold,
11466-454: 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. A subscription streaming service, Taskmaster SuperMax+ , debuted in March 2022. It allows worldwide access to
11583-530: The shapes from the logo in various forms. Four new idents were filmed by Jonathan Glazer , which featured the shapes in various real-world scenes depicting the "discovery" and "origins" of the shapes. The full logo was still occasionally used, but primarily for off-air marketing. Channel 4 also commissioned two new corporate typefaces, "Chadwick", and "Horseferry" (a variation of Chadwick with the aforementioned shapes incorporated into its letter forms), for use across promotional material and on-air. In June 2017, it
11700-400: The show filmed before a studio audience were tested in a pilot. A series of six hour-long episodes was commissioned by Dave in September 2014 with Davies and Horne attached, initially with the episodes intended to be shown in any order. Rosen later determined the show should be arranged in an order, pointing out that "this was a show you record and transmit in the same order". In February 2015,
11817-406: 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." Horne and Greg Davies had never worked together before Taskmaster ; 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
11934-440: The show. In September 2019, a paperback edition was published, with 20 new tasks. As well as writing additional tasks, Horne removed the expiration date of 31 December 2019 where it appeared, and replaced tasks that had a set completion date. In September 2021, a new book titled Bring Me The Head of the Taskmaster — 101 Next-level Tasks (and Clues) that Will Lead One Ordinary Person to Some Extraordinary Taskmaster Treasure
12051-413: The show. The winner receives 30 seconds at the end of the show to discuss any topic unopposed. In 2015, ABC announced primetime revivals for Match Game , which ran from 2016 until 2021, and To Tell the Truth , which ran from 2016 to 2022. From 2013 to 2017, Comedy Central aired @midnight , an internet culture and social media -themed panel game which used a more quiz show-styled presentation—with
12168-562: The station passed from the Channel Four Television Company to the Channel Four Television Corporation in 1993, a shift in broadcasting style took place. Instead of aiming for minority tastes, it began to focus on the edges of the mainstream, and the centre of the mass market itself. It began to show many American programmes in peak viewing time, far more than it had previously done. In September 1993,
12285-440: The tasks in the comedians' houses, saying in an interview: "I didn't realise how impractical that would be both in terms of cost – and their lives." Filming tasks takes roughly one day per contestant per episode, filming around eight tasks a day, with the days of filming spread out across several months. Before the studio filming, at Pinewood Studios , contestants are forbidden to discuss their tasks and are not shown any footage from
12402-422: The tasks, so that studio reactions are genuine. Horne designs the tasks to avoid the need for any specialist equipment, so that "people at home [are] able to do the same things". Initially, they planned to have Horne show the right way to complete the task after showing the contestants' attempts, but this was abandoned as "it supposed there was a right way". He also notes that some tasks in the first series involved
12519-407: 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; however, the aspects of
12636-484: Was Pantomime Quiz , airing from 1947 to 1959, and having runs on each of the four television networks operating at the time. Other charades shows have included Stump the Stars ; Movietown, RSVP ; Celebrity Charades ; Showoffs and Body Language . TV panel shows saw their peak of popularity in the 1950s and '60s, when CBS ran the three longest-running panel shows in prime time : What's My Line? , I've Got
12753-657: Was announced that Alex Mahon would be the next chief executive, and would take over from David Abraham , who left in November 2017. On 31 October 2017, Channel 4 introduced a new series of idents continuing the theme, this time depicting the logo shapes as having formed into an anthropomorphic "giant" character. On 25 September 2021, Channel 4 and several of its sub-channels went off air after an incident at Red Bee Media's playout centre in west London. Channel 4, More4 , Film4 , E4 , 4Music , The Box , Box Hits , Kiss , Magic and Kerrang! stopped transmitting, but 4seven
12870-421: Was announced that Channel 4's digital switch-over costs would be paid for by licence fee revenues. In July 2007, Channel 4 paid £28 million for a 50% stake in the TV business of British media company EMAP , which had seven music video channels. On 15 August 2008, 4Music was launched across the UK. Channel 4 announced interest in launching a high-definition version of Film4 on Freeview, to coincide with
12987-423: Was broadcast. Episode 12 of the podcast focused on the 2021 "New Year Treat", and then from episode 13 onwards it returned to the very beginning starting with Taskmaster Series 1 Episode 1, returned to "real-time" episodes during the broadcast run of series 11, 12 and NYT 2022 before returning to the older series after the newer series concluded. A second official podcast, called Taskmaster: The People's Podcast ,
13104-635: Was criticised by the National Deaf Children's Society, which complained to the broadcasting watchdog. A new subtitling, signing and audio description system had to be built from scratch. The service eventually began to return at the end of October. In June 2022 after a six-month long investigation, Ofcom found that Channel 4 had breached its broadcast licence conditions on two grounds: Missing its subtitles quota on Freesat for 2021 and failure to effectively communicate with affected audiences. On 23 December 2021, Jon Snow presented Channel 4 News for
13221-590: Was launched in April 2022. It was initially hosted by Series 8 champion Lou Sanders and comedy writer Jack Bernhardt. In September 2023 it was announced that series 15 contestant Jenny Eclair would be replacing Lou Sanders' role as host of the podcast. The hosts chat with Taskmaster fans as well as with cast and crew members. Andrew Billen of The Times gave a five-star review of the show's first episode, "Melon Buffet", calling it "funny, revealing, and glorious" and comparing it to The Generation Game . In another review of
13338-517: Was not impacted. The incident still affected a number of the channels by 30 September. The London Fire Brigade confirmed that a gas fire prevention system at the site had been activated, but firefighters found no sign of fire. Activation of the fire suppression system caused catastrophic damage to some systems, such as Channel 4's subtitles, signing, and audio description system. An emergency backup subtitling system also failed, leaving Channel 4 unable to provide access services to viewers. This situation
13455-491: Was released. It offered readers the chance to win a real-world Taskmaster prize. The board game Taskmaster was released in autumn 2019, initially selling out. It contains 200 task cards, along with secret tasks that individual players must perform, and video tasks featuring Alex Horne. On 29 November 2023, Taskmaster VR was announced. Taskmaster VR , the first project of game studio Scallywag Arcade, released on Meta and Steam on 19 June 2024. From March to June 2020, during
13572-478: Was taken so seriously by Gwynfor Evans , former president of Plaid Cymru , that he threatened the government with a hunger strike were it not to honour the plans. The result was that Channel 4 as seen by the rest of the United Kingdom would be replaced in Wales by S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru, meaning "Channel Four Wales" in Welsh). Operated by a specially created authority , S4C would air programmes in Welsh made by HTV,
13689-457: Was written by Alex Horne and published by Penguin Random House on 6 September 2018. Task 185 in the book provided the latitude and longitude of a Buckinghamshire park, with instructions to meet there at midday on 14 September 2019 for a picnic and Taskmaster tour. The event was attended by around 1,800 people, with Horne himself present to show attendees filming locations from
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