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