Taskmaster’s New Year Treat 2025 Line-Up Confirmed!
Bring in the New Year with footballer David James, The Royle Family star Sue Johnston, pop star Melanie Blatt and more on the yearly Taskmaster special.
This must be a Taskmaster first. Of the five celebrities taking part in the 2025 New Year’s Treat, three are bona fide letters-after-their-name Commanders, Members or Officers of the Order of the British Empire: money expert Martin Lewis CBE, former England footballer David James MBE and acting national treasure Sue Johnston OBE. Whether having eaten cucumber sandwiches at Buckingham Palace will help or hinder them in their attempt to nail a jelly to a wall or whatever high jinks Greg Davies and Alex Horne have planned this yuletide, remains to be seen.
Mathematician and TV presenter Professor Hannah Fry will be joining that trio in the annual one-off special featuring non-comedians. She’ll be there alongside pop singer Melanie Blatt of All Saints. Never ever has Melanie thrown a potato into the hole without touching the red green, but there’s a first time for everything.
Let’s find out a bit more about the quintet who’ll be competing to win a golden pair of Greg Davies’ eyebrows while viewers at home munch their way through Christmas leftovers and very likely nurse a little hangover.
Melanie Blatt
All Saints singer Melanie Blatt’s agent has been busy booking her on celebrity formats in recent years. She’s been a Celebrity MasterChef finalist, competed in Celebrity Race Across the World, and was one of the celebrity judges on The X Factor New Zealand. Now, she faces the greatest celebrity challenge of all – no, not pretending to laugh at the jokes on Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel, but doing the one-off Taskmaster special.
Martin Lewis
Financial journalist Martin Lewis CBE is the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com and the presenter of The Martin Lewis Money Show and The Martin Lewis Podcast as well as a regular money correspondent on ITV magazine and daytime shows. Will he whip Greg’s investments portfolio into shape in exchange for extra points? Let’s wait to see.
David James
Former England goalkeeper turned pundit, presenter and charity fundraiser, David James MBE is one of the few Taskmaster contestants tall enough to almost be able to stand eye-to-eye with Greg Davies. He’s a regular face on celebrity formats, from Strictly Come Dancing (see above) to Pointless Celebrities, Celebrity Mastermind, Richard Osman’s House of Games, The Chase and many more.
Sue Johnston
Sue Johnston OBE is a famous face from Brookside, The Royle Family, Waking the Dead, Downton Abbey,and recently, Ben Wheatley’s Channel 4 zombie horror Generation Z. Surely the Taskmaster will show due deference to her national treasure status and just give Sue all the points right at the start?
Professor Hannah Fry
Mathematician, science communicator and TV presenter Prof. Hannah Fry is another familiar face who’s fronted multiple documentaries, given the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures and recently, presented BBC satirical news show Have I Got News For You? As with all of Taskmaster’s most educated contestants (Hugh Dennis, David Baddiel…), should we expect some extreme stupidity?
Taskmaster’s New Year’s Treat 2025 is expected to air in early January 2025 on Channel 4.