FANS of the Channel 4 comedy show Taskmaster are set to enjoy 'hair-raising moments' and comedians under pressure as the show – hosted by Wem native Greg Davies – returns to our screens.

Greg will once again be joined by fellow comedian Alex Horne, with series 11 contestants including 'Not Going Out' star Lee Mack, stand-up hero Jamali Maddix, 'Ghosts' actor Charlotte Ritchie, 'Man Down' star Mike Wozniak, and Bafta-nominated actor and comedian Sarah Kendall.

A show initially conceived at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Taskmaster rapidly garnered a cult following, built upon the simple premise of comedians making fools of themselves through the medium of improvised comedy.

Ahead of the new series Taskmaster creator Horne describes the show as a 'great excuse' to get together.

"Getting together in the studio was the one chance to chat," said Horne. "So, it was a really fun atmosphere and if you've got someone like Lee Mack in there, it's always going to be funny, I suppose.

"He's so quick-witted. And it makes everyone raise their game a bit."

Alex says viewers will have nothing to worry about with the latest batch of contestants.

"I always feel slightly anxious when you say goodbye to the last set of contestants and everyone's got to really love them and now there's a new five that have got to impress," added Alex. "I think this lot settles in straight away, so I think the fact Lee's there, wearing an Evel Knievel outfit, doing a task, means you're automatically invested.

"And the other four, whether you know them or not, are really, really funny and competitive people. So I'm not worried about this one at all."

And on what kind of tasks viewers can expect from series 11, Horne says there is 'a good mix'.

"You've got simple ones like there's a big rat and you've got to catch it in the best way, that's a nice simple one," explained Horne. "Then you've got some really complicated ones where you've got to do something with one hand while the other hand is under the table – something like that.

"It's a good mix, I think."

And on whether the show still works in a socially distanced environment, Horne says it merely added to the scale of the challenges.

"I mean, if you watch an old episode of ours, people are sat on top of each other. It's so mad, it looks so reckless," he said.

"We have filmed in a big open space this series – you'll see, a big airport hangar, which was great because it meant there was a bit more scale to it and a bit more epic.

"Plus, it's easier social distancing wise… They can't touch each other but two metres is fine, we're so used to it now, we're so used to seeing it."

Taskmaster returns to Channel 4 at 9pm on Thursday, March 18.