The concept for 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.

[3] 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.

Taskmaster was the brainchild of comedian Alex Horne, whose idea was inspired by The Crystal Maze, his work on Big Brother,[6] and his envy of his close friend Tim Key winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2009.

[7][8] He then presented their efforts as part of a two-hour show at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe titled The Task Master,[9] which focused on demonstrating the differing attempts by the contestants before revealing who won based on their performances.

[11] For the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Horne conducted another stage show titled Taskmaster II at the Gilded Balloon with a similar format.

[8][12][13] 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.

[14] 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.

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.

[17] The involvement of veteran comedian Frank Skinner, who agreed to join after meeting Horne for lunch,[18] helped to entice the other contestants to take part in the programme.

[27] 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.

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.

To complete tasks, contestants often have to apply a level of logic, creativity, or lateral thinking in order to achieve the end goal.

Tasks are mostly pre-recorded before an episode's broadcast; 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.

[30] However, Alex Horne's initial plan was to carry out 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.

He adds that in the pilot, Davies acted as a "dictator figure cross with everyone", but his tone in the show is more relaxed, as "if someone doesn't do something well we really enjoy it so he can be himself".

[34] 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 is also broadcast in Belgium, Sweden, South Africa, Norway, Finland, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Croatia[36] and Portugal.

However, 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.

[60] Franchise no longer airing   Status unknown A German version featuring Atze Schröder as the Taskmaster and Carsten van Ryssen [de] was commissioned by RTL in 2017; two episodes were recorded but not broadcast.

[63][64] A tie-in book, Taskmaster — 200 Extraordinary Tasks for Ordinary People, was written by Alex Horne and published by Penguin Random House on 6 September 2018.

[65] 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.

[70] From March to June 2020, during 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.

[71][72][73][74] 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.

[78] The main event consisted of a series of tasks recreating the rooms of the Taskmaster house; hallway, lounge, shed, lab, and the filming studio/theatre.

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.

[81] Wesley Mead of Den of Geek wrote 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.