The comedian behind Channel 4’s bizarre celebrity gameshow Taskmaster says he often comes up with whacky ideas for the series while walking his dog in Bucks.

Alex Horne, 46, is best-known for being the brains behind Taskmaster – which nonetheless sees him relegated to the role of assistant to titular master Greg Davies as he dolls out strange tasks to celebrity contestants in a bid to win back their forfeited possessions.

Horne, who also leads comedy band The Horne Section, has lived in Chesham for more than two decades, and while he hasn’t been shy about shouting-out his hometown (he is director of Chesham United FC, after all), you may not be aware of the important role the Bucks market town plays in keeping his BAFTA-winning TV show ticking along after 18 seasons.

Speaking on the BBC’s Three Counties Radio yesterday, Thursday, September 12, the dad-of-three said he regularly dreams up ideas for future episodes of the series while out and about on his home turf – whether that be walking through the Chiltern hills or popping into the odd shop along the High Street.

Questioned on how he comes up with some of the outlandish tasks on the show – which have included repurposing a cement mixer and tying yourself up as securely as possible – Horne said: “It’s mainly me and my dog.

“We walk around the hills of Chesham and Amersham and just come up with stupid things.

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“I used to be a comedian as my main job, but for the last 10 years I’ve had to come up with the set-up to a joke and get these other comedians to make it funny.

“Or sometimes I’ll just wander into a hardware shop and look around and think, ‘Ooh, we’ve not used a sieve. We could do a task with sieve.’”

The professional funny man added that while half of the series is filmed in London, he tries to arrange as many on-location shoots around Bucks as possible – if for no other reason than “so I can get home quicker.”

“I live in Chesham, the production co-ordinator lives in Little Chalfont and somebody else lives in Amersham, so we always make sure to film some days around here.

“We’ve done Chesham United, we’ve done the Scout Hut and a few of the pubs. It’s lovely putting Chesham on the television map, slightly.”

The new series of Taskmaster aired its first episode on Channel 4 yesterday. You can catch up now on https://www.channel4.com.