Taskmaster has announced its series 19 lineup, including stars from Ghosts, The Good Place and a former Strictly contestant.
Following in the footsteps of his Ghosts castmates Charlotte Ritchie, Lolly Adefope and Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Mathew Baynton is one of five comedians hoping to impress Greg Davies and his co-host Alex Horne over the course of the next series.
In addition to his role as melodramatic Regency-era romantic poet Thomas Thorne on Ghosts, Mathew's TV appearances include Horrible Histories, Yonderland, The Split and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder.
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He also played evil chocolatier Felix Fickelgruber in the 2023 movie Wonka, which was co-written by his Ghosts and Horrible Histories collaborator Simon Farnaby.
Mathew recently starred as Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream at London's Barbican theatre, reprising the role in which he made his debut with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
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TV presenter and podcaster Rosie Ramsey has also signed up for Taskmaster's new series.
Rosie presents the award-winning podcast Shagged Married Annoyed alongside her husband Chris Ramsey (who finished second in Taskmaster series 13). The couple have also hosted two series of a chat show together for the BBC.
Rosie's TV credits include the Strictly Come Dancing 2022 Christmas special, where she and her pro dance partner Neil Jones finished joint second on the judges' leaderboard.
She's also appeared on Michael McIntyre's quiz show The Wheel, and was part of the team which hosted the 2024 edition of Comic Relief.
Taskmaster also welcomes Jason Mantzoukas for its 19th series, whose extensive list of TV credits includes The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Star Trek: Prodigy.
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Mantzoukas is also co-host of the podcast How Did This Get Made?, where he's previously spoken about his love of Taskmaster – praising how it encourages comedians to solve challenges in ways that are entertaining rather than necessarily correct.
Horne had previously teased that someone "who's a big name overseas" would be appearing in Taskmaster series 19, and Mantzoukas was one of several US stars rumoured ahead of the announcement.
Fatiha El-Ghorri and Stevie Martin complete the lineup for Taskmaster's next series.
According to Hyphen, El-Ghorri started her stand-up career just over a decade ago, after taking a 12-week course in comedy writing and performance following her second divorce.
Her recent acting credits include guest appearances on Mr Bigstuff and We Are Lady Parts.
El-Ghorri also previously took part in series two of the Dave comedy challenge show Outsiders alongside former Taskmaster contestants Phil Wang and Joe Wilkinson.
Martin's acting credits include Starstruck and Breeders. She recently took her latest stand-up show Clout to Edinburgh.
Martin hosts BBC Radio 4's open-door sketch show DMs Are Open, and recently confirmed that submissions are now open for a new series. She also co-hosts the podcast Nobody Panic with Tessa Coates.
She previously teamed up with her sister, the campaigner Gina Martin, for a podcast titled Might Delete Later.
Taskmaster series 19 is coming soon to Channel 4.
Kate (they/she) is a freelance writer, editor, digital editorial trainer and data technician who first joined Digital Spy as an overnight freelance sub-editor in January 2011, after studying a postgraduate diploma in journalism at Salford University while working part-time as a social researcher.
In July 2013, Kate joined the DS staff team as chief sub-editor and following six years as the site's managing editor, their role expanded to incorporate Hearst UK's entertainment portfolio (including Digital Spy and its sibling titles Best and Inside Soap) between late 2024 and early 2026.
Kate has worked as a writer and editor since 2006, with bylines syndicated across the Hearst network and at organisations including Metro. They started their career as a TV production runner for the BBC and contributed to various music websites, blogs and zines while based in Manchester.
During her time at DS, Kate has previously been a freelance sub-editor and chief sub-editor.
Kate's team at Digital Spy were proudly nominated in the Best Subbing/Production Team category at the BSME Talent Awards 2022. Over the years, she has contributed to coverage of many, many Prime Days and Black Friday/Cyber Monday, and was part of the team that launched the DS weekly TV newsletter in November 2019 – followed by the Top of the Shops e-commerce newsletter in May 2024.
Kate's screen passions include Taskmaster (their biggest career regret remains turning down the opportunity to visit the house), nature documentaries, and live sport (up there with the greatest of all soap operas although if asked to choose, it's Corrie… every time).
Her highlights while working at DS have included interviewing Stevie Nicks on the red carpet for her documentary In Your Dreams, sitting at a press roundtable with Formula 1 commentary icon Murray Walker, watching a life-sized LEGO car being driven around Silverstone, writing an album-by-album retrospective of Lady Gaga's genre-defying career for Living Legends, and raising awareness of receiving and understanding a late-in-life ADHD diagnosis through the lens of Bianca and Freddie's EastEnders storyline.
Upon remembering to log off the internet, Kate enjoys live theatre, dance and comedy, appreciating nature, baking (badly), tending a recently-rented allotment (equally badly) and pampering one very spoiled rescue cat named Jolene.
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