Taskmaster Retrospective: UK Series 03

The third series, a year later, only had five episodes

Taskmaster:  UK Series 3

Year:  2016

Channel:  Dave

Contestants:  

Al Murray

Dave Gorman

Paul Cowdhry

Rob Beckett

Sara Pascoe

Number of Episodes:  5

Notes:

The early series only had a few episodes- 6 for series 1, 5 for series 2 and 3.  The longer series (now ten episodes each) helps- storylines build up both between the performers and between them and the Taskmaster.  There are callbacks to previous tasks, and more memorable moments in the longers series.  So the earlier series are hurt by the short running time- you don't learn enough about the contestants as much.

Series 3 has some good contestants- Al Murray constantly trying to buy his way into winning tasks, Rob Beckett (working on no sleep with a newborn) getting weird in his ideas, Paul Chowdry taking the role of the guy who can't win- but it also lacks in the infighting of series 2 or the initial feel of series 1.

On the positive side, Greg Davies starts introducing his assistant as "Little Alex Horne", beginning the abuse Davies will heap on Horne for years to come.

Portrait Decor:  

Series 3 went with a Roy Lichtenstein style for the portrait behind the desk.  

Best task of the season:

"Surprise Alex when he emerges from the shed in one hour." A simple, creative task that lets the contestants get weird.  There's some clever responses (Al and Rob are excellent), and I think more episodes could have given them more chances to be weird.

Worst task of the season:

"Fill this egg cup with your own sweat."  I don't like tasks involving body fluids.  But making one (and only one) of the contestants constantly speak in a different accent every time during the task is pretty funny.

Trivia:

* Sara Pascoe mentioned that her boyfriend is a huge Queen fan.  Her (now ex-) boyfriend is John Robins, who latered appeared in series 17- dressed as Freddy Mercury

* This is the first series where Alex is referred to as "Little Alex Horne"

Contestant Rankings:

1. Richard Osman (Season 2)
2. Katherine Ryan (Season 2)
3. Tim Key (Season 1)
4. Al Murray (season 3)
5. Josh Widdicome (Season 1)
6. Rob Beckett (Season 3)
7. Joe Wilkinson (Season 2)
8. Jon Richardson (Season 2)
9. Sarah Pascoe (Season 3)
10. Romesh Ranganathan (Season 1)

Season Ranking:

1. Season 2
2. Season 1
3. Season 3

Taskmaster Retrospective: UK Series 02

The second series, a year later, only had five episodes

Taskmaster:  UK Series 2

Year:  2016

Channel:  Dave

Contestants:  

Doc Brown

Joe Wilkinson

Jon Richardson

Katherine Ryan

Richard Osman

Number of Episodes:  5

Notes:

Having found the formula in series 1,  they kept the main formula but tinkered on the edges in series 2.  A new series prize- a bust of Greg's head- was now awarded.  The series prize is beautifully cheesy and fits in perfectly for the show.  Alex Horne became less of a pure straight man and started developing into the weird persona that he has since locked in on.  

Another good cast.  Richard Osman brought lateral thinking to the tasks and started the trend of searching for the loopholes to complete the tasks in ways that weren't expected.  Joe Wilkinson is both very funny and normally very bad at tasks (which makes the potato task heart-breakingly tragic)

Portrait Decor:  

The decor of the house changed with each series.  It's most noticeable in the office room of the house, specifically in the portrait behind the desk.  In series 1, the portrait of Davies was similar to an Andy Warhol painting.  In series 2, the portrait is of Greg Davies' head in a Dali-like surreal scene...

Best task of the season:

"Get this potato into the golf hole. You may not touch the red green." It's a deceptively difficult task that leads to a lot of poor choices- and then the tragedy of Joe Wilkinson.  This task should have been in one of the later episodes, after Joe's failings in other tasks were established.  It also shows just how ruthless the contestants can be.

Worst task of the season:

"Impress this Mayor.  You have twenty minutes."  - even for seasoned performers, being put on the spot to impress one stranger is intimidating.  It's not a bad task- jsut very time-consuming and not as funny as the other tasks on the show.

MVP Contestant:

Richard Osman- he and Ryan were great in the tasks, but Osman had a lot more lateral thinking, coming up with workarounds that sometimes bombed but were often very clever.   

Contestant Rankings:

1. Richard Osman (Season 2)
2. Katherine Ryan (Season 2)
3. Tim Key (Season 1)
4. Josh Widdicome (Season 1)
5. Joe Wilkinson (Season 2)
6. Jon Richardson (Season 2)
7. Romesh Ranganathan (Season 1)
8. Frank Skinner (Season 1)
9. Roisin Conaty (Season 1)
10. Doc Brown (Season 2)

Season Ranking:

1. Season 2
2. Season 1