- Alex Horne‘s Your Time Starts Now has been given a full series commission, following a successful pilot
- The Channel 4 show will see households across the UK tackle the Taskmaster star’s tasks in their own homes
- Horne says: “I think it’s going be very fun for everyone, and that’s got to be a good thing”
Following a successful non-broadcast pilot, Channel 4 have commissioned a full series of the new play-at-home gameshow, Your Time Starts Now. The series is devised and developed by Alex Horne, creator and co-host of BAFTA and Rose D’Or winning Taskmaster and Andy Devonshire, founding series director on shows including The Apprentice, The Great British Bake Off and Taskmaster.
Set in the Taskmaster universe, the new show builds on the at-home ingenuity of earlier incarnation The Button, which Horne devised and narrated in 2018, and HomeTasking, which saw Horne on a mission to entertain a world stuck in 2020‘s lockdown. Your Time Starts Now will see UK households compete against one another while tackling a host of his typically devious tasks without ever leaving their homes. Five teams of friends and families across the UK will need to display creativity, lateral thinking, speed, knowledge and teamwork if they want to win. Each task has a cash reward and the household with the most money at the end of the episode has a choice to leave with their winnings or play for double that amount the following week, meaning someone could win a potential cash prize of millions at the end of the series.
Horne said: “I often hear about friends, families, colleagues and teammates doing our tasks on holidays or at weddings, Scout camps and Christmas dinners, but I seldom hear that these people have sought permission to do so. Now, finally, we will harness the country and be able to set challenges within a rigorous framework so that the rules are properly adhered to, everyone is judged appropriately and the best rightfully rewarded. Also, I think it’s going be very fun for everyone, and that’s got to be a good thing”.
Jon Thoday, executive producer at Avalon, says: “It’s an absolute delight to have the backing of Channel 4 to realise a new show from Alex Horne and Andy Devonshire and their amazing team”.
Tom Beck, Head of Live Events and the show’s commissioning editor, adds: “The pilot delivered laughter, warmth, comedy and families arguing over why they’d failed to nail an obviously ludicrous task. It’s joyful! Roll on the series.”
Devonshire, who also directs and executive produces, comments: “Time waits for no one, so you may as well be doing tasks. This is a chance for everyone to have a go without leaving the house”.
In the meantime, the phenomenally successful Taskmaster returns for its 22nd series on 3rd September. The contestants are Chloe Petts, Isy Suttie, Matt Lucas, Nina Conti and Richard Ayoade.
