Now show goes out without subtitles

Taskmaster has been hit with transmission problems for the second time in as many weeks.

The show went out last night with no subtitles, a week after Channel 4 aired the incorrect edit with all the swear words bleeped out.

Viewers took to Twitter to complain about the issue, as well as the colour, with one telling the broadcaster: ‘You showed the "wrong" version of #taskmaster last week, no subtitles this week. Also this week the picture looked cloudy! Please sort these issues out for next week.’

Other comments included ‘What the hell @Channel4? Why aren’t your subtitles working? Are you expecting me to watch Taskmaster without the subtitles and understand what’s going on?’ and ‘Terrible pale colour, sound and NO subtitles? Third of this house can't watch it now!’

Series creator and on-air lickspittle Alex Horne apologised for the issue, saying: ‘No idea what happened but we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen next week. And we’ll sort this episode on All4 to get them on there ASAP.’

The issue - which also affected Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back and other shows across several broadcasters –  was down to the company responsible for transmitting the programmes.

Red Bee Media said the problems are related to an incident last Saturday when ‘fire suppression systems’ were activated at the company's headquarters in London.

In a statement today, the company told viewers: ‘We are sorry for the continued disruption of broadcasts and television schedules throughout the week after Saturday’s incident in the Broadcast Centre in London.

‘We share your frustration and are working tirelessly towards a solution.

‘We are very aware that there continue to be problems with providing subtitles on some of our customers' programmes, and we understand the challenges this creates for deaf and hard of hearing viewers, as well as for other people who are reliant on the service,"

‘Our audio description services are also being affected on some programmes and this is causing challenges to blind and visually impaired viewers.

‘Please know that we continue to do everything in our power to resolve all issues caused by the incident and we will continue to keep you updated.’

The problems also meant that E4 was forced to repeat Wednesday night's episode of Married At First Sight yesterday, instead of playing the series finale as planned.

Earlier in the week, Channel 4 said: ‘Sadly we’re still experiencing some tech issues which means some viewers may have problems watching our channels or access services. Sorry for the ongoing disruption – we’ll let you know here as and when we have updates.’

Channel 4 nabbed Taskmaster from Dave in 2019, in a three-year, six-series deal.

Published: 1 Oct 2021