Who's in Taskmaster series 16?

Next batch of contestants revealed

The contestants have been named for the 16th series of Taskmaster.

Revealed as the 15th run came to an end tonight, the next batch of comedians facing Alex Horne’s ridiculous challenges will be:

Julian Clary

The 64-year-old alternative comedy pioneer and ‘renowned homosexual’ – who came to prominence performing in bondage-type attire under the name The Joan Collins Fan Club. Now a mainstream presenter, panto stalwart and children’s author

Lucy Beaumont

Comedian and co-writer of Meet The Richardsons, Dave’s sitcom offering a fictionalised version of her married life with fellow comic Jon Richardson. The 39-year-old also wrote the comedy Hullraisers and recently co-hosted Jon & Lucy's Odd Couples.

Sam Campbell

Offbeat comedian who won the main award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2018 and at the Edinburgh Fringe last year. The 30-year-old was a regular in Sky’s recently axed paramedic comedy series Bloods and has also appeared in Stath Lets Flats and Pls Like.

Sue Perkins

Follows her longstanding double-act partner – and former Great British Bake Off co-host – Mel Giedroyc into the Taskmaster house. Last year the 53-year-old made the adventure travel series Perfectly Legal for Netlflix and hosts the panel show Nature Table for Radio 4.

Susan Wokoma

The comedy actress, 35, came to fame as Cynthia in Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum. Subsequent roles have included Edith in Enola Holmes, Raquel in E4’s Crazyhead, Mabel in Year Of The Rabbit and the lead role of Fola in BBCs’ Cheaters, which aired last year. She is currently shooting a romcom film about abortion – which she also wrote – called Three Weeks. It also marks her first film as a director.

Greg Davies will return as the Taskmaster and Horne – the series creator – as his sidekick.

Channel 4 has committed to six more series of the show – two a year until at least 2026. It is the broadcaster’s second most popular programme after Gogglebox. The May 18 episode, the most recent for which the figure is available, has attracted 2.2million viewers within a week of transmission.

It was recently been announced that previous contestants Rose Matafeo, and Mike Wozniak would be taking the same roles in the child-focused spin-off Junior Taskmaster.

Taskmaster production credits

Made by: Avalon
Executive producers: Alex Horne, Richard Allen-Turner, Rob Aslett, James Taylor, Jon Thoday and Andy Devonshire
Series director: Andy Devonshire
Series producer: Andy Cartwright
Commissioned for Channel 4 by: Tom Beck, head of live events and Phil Harris, head of entertainment and events.

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Published: 1 Jun 2023