Five new famous faces are set to take on a string of bizarre challenges in series 20 of Taskmaster
Greg Davies and his trusty sidekick Alex Horne have a fresh set of faces from the world of comedy and showbusiness lined up ready to join them for series 20 of Taskmaster.
Five new celebrities have signed up to take part in the Bafta award-winning game show where they must undertake a series of bizarre challenges and then face the Taskmaster (Davies) and his assistant (Horne) for the final judgement.
Created by Horne, series 19 of the show has just finished airing on Channel 4, with Ghosts star Mathew Baynton announced as the winner.
Now, thoughts have turned to the next season. No date has yet been announced for when the new series will air on Channel 4, but five willing participants have stepped up to take on the tasks.
Ania Magliano
Ania Magliano is a comedian and writer who was nominated for the Sky Arts Breakthrough award last year.
She has written for Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Chicken Shop Date, Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, Newsjack and The Now Show.
And she has appeared in the shows The Stand Up Sketch Show and The Comedy Guide to Life, and on the podcasts The Comedian’s Comedian, Off Menu, Secret Artists and Fakes and Frauds.
Maisie Adam
Stand-up comedian Maisie Adam is signed up for series 20 of Taskmaster.
The 31-year-old, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, won the Amused Moose National New Comic award in 2018 and has toured with a series of shows, including Appraisal last year.
She is a regular on comedy panel shows including: 8 Out of 10 Cats, Mock the Week, QI, Have I Got News for You, Would I Lie To You?, Richard Osman’s House of Games, Roast Battle, and The Last Leg.
And she has written for Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Rob Beckett’s Savage Socials.
Phil Ellis
Comedian Phil Ellis is best known for the BBC Radio 4 show Phil Ellis is Trying, which he starred in and wrote.
He won the Edinburgh Comedy Award Panel prize in 2014 for Funz and Game and the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality for Phil Ellis’s Excellent Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023.
He has also appeared on television in The Russell Howard Hour, Drunk History (UK), Roast Battle, The Tez O’Clock Show, and Redknapp’s Big Night Out.
Reece Shearsmith
Reece Shearsmith rose to fame as a member of The League of Gentlemen.
The comedian, actor, writer and magician, 55, has gone on to co-write and appear in Psychoville and Inside No.9. He has also appeared in Catterick, Horrible Histories, Chasing Shadows and Good Omens. On film, he has had roles in Saltburn, The World’s End and Shaun of the Dead.
And on stage, he has starred in The Producers, Ghost Stories, Absent Friends, Hangmen and The Unfriend.
Sanjeev Bhaskar
Actor and comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar is well known to television audiences from his appearances in Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No 42, which he also co-wrote, and The Indian Doctor.
More recently, he has starred as DI Sunil “Sunny” Khan in the cold case detective series Unforgotten.
He has appeared on the silver screen Anita and Me, Scoop, Absolutely Anything, Yesterday and the Paddington movies.
