Taskmaster gets interactive gameshow spinoff, Your Time Is Now

Channel 4 is piloting Your Time Starts Now, a brand-new play-at-home gameshow spin-off from the creator of Taskmaster.

• New Taskmaster Spin-Off: Channel 4 has commissioned a pilot for Your Time Starts Now (working title), a fresh gameshow set entirely within the Taskmaster universe.
• Creative Team: The show is created and developed by Taskmaster mastermind Alex Horne alongside Andy Devonshire, the founding series director of The Apprentice, The Great British Bake Off, and Taskmaster.
• The Format: Five households from across the UK will compete against each other from their own living rooms, tackling a series of eccentric, devious tasks that test their speed, creativity, teamwork, and lateral thinking.

The upcoming project builds on previous interactive formats from the same creators. It follows the blueprint of Horne’s 2018 BBC series The Button and the viral lockdown sensation HomeTasking, which kept global audiences entertained in 2020. This new iteration brings that same living-room ingenuity directly to Channel 4, allowing ordinary families and friends to experience the frantic pressure usually reserved for celebrities.

The pedigree behind the new show is substantial. The Button earned widespread critical praise during its run, with The Radio Times calling it a “genuinely interesting new game show concept” that was “surprisingly simple and effective.” Digital Spy hailed it as “another addictive triumph” from the Taskmaster creators, while The i Newspaper labeled Horne a “game-show genius.” The Times also praised the format’s originality for taking place in real living rooms rather than a traditional shiny television studio. Meanwhile, the digital-only HomeTasking accumulated over 6 million views on YouTube, reaching viewers in 125 countries from the US to Mongolia.

Alex Horne, creator and host, said: “I’ve had the pleasure of being in the room while countless comedians have tried and usually failed on Taskmaster and I’ve learnt that for the most part, that lot are sneaky loveable idiots. With Your Time Starts Now, I’m now excited and intrigued to see how the rest of the country can cope doing simple things under the pressure of time-constraints, dogged rivals and my own snarky gaze. Good luck people of the UK. I shall be watching.”

Jon Thoday, Executive Producer at Avalon, said: “After years of being asked by fans about a little-known show we produced nearly 10 years ago called The Button and following the success of HomeTasking in lockdown, we are delighted Channel 4 has given us the opportunity of seeing if combining the spirit of those shows may bring more comedy gold from the brilliant minds of Alex Horne and Andy Devonshire.”

Tom Beck, Head of Live Events and Commissioning Editor said: “Wildly inventive, properly funny and rooted in real people being brilliant (and, occasionally, absolutely rubbish), Your Time Starts Now feels perfectly Channel 4. It’s an utterly distinctive celebration of British family life in all shapes and sizes, and I can’t wait see how our families get on as they try and tackle Alex and Andy’s ludicrous tasks. Why should comedians get all the fun?”

Andy Devonshire, Director and Executive Producer, added: “It’s a beautiful gift to have the chance to bring the joy and mischief of Taskmaster into homes and see how families cope with a direct dose of Alex Horne’s invention.”