Ed Gamble gives verdict on Taskmaster channel hop

Ed Gamble thinks moving ‘Taskmaster’ to Channel 4 is a "great" opportunity.
The 33-year-old comedian – who won the ninth season of the popular comedy panel show when it concluded earlier this month – heaped praise on the team at UKTV’s Dave for launching and supporting the series since 2005, but he believes the big switch from Dave will allow the programme to be "seen by more people".
During a Reddit AMA, he said: "Dave did such an amazing job – from commissioning the show to promoting it and letting them have artistic freedom.
"But nobody can deny that any opportunity for the show to be seen by more people is anything other than great."
On Friday (22.11.19) it was confirmed the programme – which sees Greg Davies act as the titular Taskmaster alongside assistant Alex Horne as they judge comedians on several tasks for the chance to take home the crown – will be heading for a new home.
Creator Alex Horne tweeted: "Hello! Taskmaster is moving. To Channel 4. I promise the show won’t change & there’ll be the same amount of personal and professional humiliation.
"Thank you to everyone at UKTV for looking after us so brilliantly for 9 series. V excited. But now I have to go and clean the house."
The 41-year-old comedian – who first ran the show as a live Edinburgh Festival Fringe performance – also confirmed the news in a statement.
He added: "We’ve had an amazing nine series on Dave and I’d like to thank UKTV for letting us do such ridiculous things for so long. Greg [Davies] and I are looking forward to getting started on a new series for Channel 4 from next year.
"It seems like the right time to move to a channel with a broader audience and I can reassure people who like the show that it won’t be changing one bit and I’ll still be forced to do things no one should ever have to do."
Greg said: "For the first time in our working relationship I agree with little Alex Horne. The nine series on UKTV have been a joy and I would echo his thanks to all involved.
"I do take issue with the notion that the show will remain exactly the same however as I have made it my personal mission to break his spirit. I will remain even handed with contestants of course, but it really is going to get unpleasant for him. Peace."