Cast revealed for Taskmaster UK series 16

The cast for the sixteenth series of Taskmaster UK has literally just been announced, so here's your quick guide to who they are, and what they're best known for:

Julian Clary

Julian is a British actor, comedian, novelist, and presenter. He began appearing on television in the mid-1980s, and found major success in 1989 with his high-camp game show, Sticky Moments with Julian Clary. In 1992, he starred alongside Lee Simpson in the audience participation sitcom Terry and Julian, and appeared in the film Carry On Columbus. In 1996, he hosted All Rise for Julian Clary, in which he played a judge in a mock courtroom setting. Between 1998 and 2001, he co-hosted three series of the show Prickly Heat, alongside Davina McCall, and then Denise van Outen. In 1999, he became a team captain on the quiz show It's Only TV... but I Like It, alongside Phill Jupitus and Jonathan Ross. In 2004, he earned third place in the dance competition show Strictly Come Dancing. In 2006, he co-presented The All Star Talent Show, alongside Myleene Klass and Andi Peters. In 2007, he presented The Underdog Show, in which celebrities and children trained rescue dogs to compete in obedience and agility trials. In 2012, he won the tenth series of Celebrity Big Brother. In 2013, he was a judge on the entertainment series Your Face Sounds Familiar, alongside Emma Bunton. In 2015, he published the first of his The Bolds series of children's books, featuring a family of hyenas disguised as humans. He has appeared in numerous Christmas pantomimes, becoming a regular star of the London Palladium pantomimes in particular, and was inducted onto the Palladium's Wall of Fame in 2019.

Lucy Beaumont

Lucy is a British actor, writer, and comedian. In 2011, she was a finalist on So You Think You're Funny and, in 2012, she won the BBC Radio New Comedy Award. In 2013, she won the Chortle Award for Best Newcomer, and appeared on BBC Three's Live at the Electric. Between 2014 and 2018, she co-wrote and starred in the BBC Radio 2 sitcom To Hull and Back, alongside Maureen Lipman. In 2015, she married fellow comedian Jon Richardson, and also appeared as a guest on Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, hosted by Alan Davies. In 2016, she was a guest on the panel show QI and, in 2017, she presented the BBC Two documentary Welcome to Hull – City of Culture 2017. In 2018 and 2019, she was a regular guest on the Dave panel show Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier, hosted by her husband. In 2019, she performed her comedy show Space Mam at the Edinburgh Festival, and then around the UK. In 2019, she was the team captain for the University of Hull's team on Christmas University Challenge, and made her first appearance on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, alongside Jon Richardson, Sean Lock, and Bob Mortimer. Since 2020, she has co-written and starred in the documentary-style sitcom series Meet the Richardsons, alongside her husband. In 2022, the first series of her sitcom Hullraisers was broadcast on Channel 4, and she appeared in an episode of The Weakest Link, hosted by Romesh Ranganathan. In 2023, she guested on episodes of The Last Leg and Have I Got News For You.

Sam Campbell

Sam is an Australian stand-up comedian and actor who performs live stand-up comedy, as well as creating online comedy shows. He made a short comedy series which was broadcast on Comedy Central Australia, and appeared as a guest on ABC TV’s The Checkout. He won the Best Newcomer award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2015, and the Most Outstanding Show award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2018. In 2022, he won the Best Comedy Show award at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, for his show entitled Comedy Show. This same year, he was also a writer and actor on the cult TV show Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. In 2023, Comedy Show was also nominated in the Best Stand-up category at the UK National Comedy Awards.

Sue Perkins

Sue is a British actor, radio broadcaster, comedian, presenter, and writer. She came to fame through her comedy partnership with Mel Giedroyc. Mel and Sue wrote for French & Saunders, before co-hosting the daytime show Light Lunch, and an early evening version titled Late Lunch (1997-1998). In 2002, Sue appeared on the second UK series of Celebrity Big Brother, and hosted the second series of the news panel show Good Evening, Rockall. In 2003, she joined the Channel 4 morning show RI:SE, and wrote for Jennifer Saunders' sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. In 2007, she and the food critic Giles Coren appeared in the series Edwardian Supersize Me, in which they spent a week eating like a wealthy Edwardian couple. This led to the follow-up series The Supersizers Go..., The Supersizers Eat..., and Giles and Sue Live the Good Life. In 2008, she won the reality TV series Maestro, in which she learned to become a musical conductor. Between 2010 and 2016, she and Mel Giedroyc were reunited on screen as co-presenters of The Great British Bake Off. She made two appearances in the show World's Most Dangerous Roads, driving the Dalton Highway in Alaska with Charley Boorman (2011), and the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam and Laos with Liza Tarbuck (2012). She subsequently hosted several travel shows, including The Mekong River with Sue Perkins (2014), Kolkata with Sue Perkins (2015), Japan with Sue Perkins (2019), and Perfectly Legal (2022). In 2016, she began hosting the panel show Insert Name Here, and co-presented the game show The Big Spell, alongside Joe Lycett and Moira Stuart. In 2021, she earned fifth place as 'Dragon' in the second series of The Masked Singer. In 2021, she was announced as the new permanent host of BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute, after Nicholas Parson's death.

Susan Wokoma

Susan is a British actor, writer, and director. Her TV appearances have included the film adaptation of Half of a Yellow Sun (2013), The Inbetweeners 2 (2014), and Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Crashing (2016). In 2016, she won Best Supporting Actor at the BBC Audio Drama Awards, for her performance in the radio adaptation of Three Strong Women. In 2017, she made her West End theatre debut alongside Martin Freeman and Tamsin Greig in the comedy Labour of Love, won the RTS Best On-Screen Performance award for her role in Crazyhead, and was named a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit by an international jury. In 2018, she wrote, starred in, and associate-produced the comedy short Love The Sinner. She was reportedly in the writers' room for the second series of the Netflix original series Sex Education (2020), and co-wrote an episode of series two of Romesh Ranganathan’s sitcom The Reluctant Landlord (2019). In 2019, she starred in the comedy Year of the Rabbit alongside Matt Berry and Freddie Fox, and played Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. In 2020, she starred in the comedy Truth Seekers, and joined the cast of the movie adaptation of Enola Holmes, alongside Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, and Helena Bonham Carter. In 2022, she had a leading role in the drama Cheaters, and also began directing her first feature film, Three Weeks, which she also wrote and is starring in.

The countdown now begins for the start of this next series (presumably some time in September 2023), when we'll see this fresh batch of contestants struggle to complete pointless tasks, in pursuit of a worthless trophy, for our delight and amusement.