Format sees five households compete against each other to complete tasks

Channel 4 is to pilot a Taskmaster spin-off from Avalon, which will see households compete against each other.

Your Time Starts Now (w/t) was devised and developed by Taskmaster creator and host Alex Horne and follows on from a report in April from our sister title Broadcast that the series was in development. Filming is expected to take place mid-October.

The format features five teams of families and friends from across the UK compete with each other while they tackle a host of Horne’s typically devious tasks without ever leaving their homes.

They will need to display creativity, lateral thinking, speed, knowledge and teamwork if they want to win.

The series expands the Taskmaster universe, which saw a children’s version aired in 2024, and builds on the at-home ingenuity of Horne’s 2018 BBC format The Button, which he created and narrated, and HomeTasking (YouTube) that saw the comedian on a mission to entertain the world during lockdown in 2020.

Your Time Starts Now (w/t) was commissioned by Tom Beck, C4’s head of live events, and is exec produced by Horne and his long-time Taskmaster collaborator Andy Devonshire, who will also serve as director. Richard Allen-Turner, Jon Thoday and James Taylor also exec produce for Avalon.

Beck 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?”

Thoday added: “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 C4 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.”

Horne stated: “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.”