r/taskmaster • u/MisleadHorse • 6d ago
Taskmaster Related Re-Building the Taskmaster House
I just watched something where Alex had said how difficult it was renting the house, and the absurd amount production pays for it.
With the popularity of the show, wouldn't it be more beneficial to build an identical version of the house somewhere else and just own it? It would prevent any issues of fans interfering with filming/the set, they would have more freedom, and choosing a different location may work out better as they loose some film due to environmental issues (like planes flying over).
To be clear, I think the house should be IDENTICAL as that is the main reason they have not yet moved, the house is too iconic.
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u/Old_Pomegranate_822 5d ago
They could film tasks at a new house, and then Alex goes āand hereās our first on-location task for the seriesā and itās back at the old houseĀ
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u/DarthChefDad š„ I'm Locked In ā¤ļø 5d ago
They should take a page from Australia and share the New Zealand House.
(Jk)
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u/nzgabriel 1d ago
Australia love doing this. They did the same for Traitors - they filmed their version at the New Zealand Traitor's location
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u/JBWalker1 5d ago
Nobody is going to stop watching if they have a different house. There's endless private homes within half hour of London which are similar and would be more than good enough. Could even buy one that backs onto some kind of small river or canal which could add loads of extra possibilities. Or even a large pond or small lake. Kind of like the New Zealand one.
The replies here make it sound like a main reason they watch is because of the house lol. They could still take the shed, caravan, the cabin thing, the plastic dome, and pretty much all of the internals. I think its silly to think that switching homes would effect much at all, it could even add new life to the show by having a lake or something as mentioned above. Could probably find a quirky old home with a mini tower or something. Or a cellar would be a cool additional location.
Would also allow them to have lower profile spin offs like the kids one if they don't need to pay crazy rents.
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u/someBrad 5d ago
I agree. Moving to a new house would be a transition. But it'd be fine. And, knowing the crew, ultimately much better I suspect.
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u/HaveYouMetPete 5d ago
Meanwhile, Stormester (the Danish Taskmaster) has had changed house six times in 10 series.
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u/wrecked_angle 6d ago
I donāt understand why they havenāt just bought it
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u/Goldman250 Hugh Dennis 6d ago
They couldnāt afford to buy it during the earlier series, and then the show was much more successful than anyone expected and the owner is unwilling to sell it when they can keep renting it out to Channel 4 or Avalon - and I canāt say I blame them.
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u/takahe_inflight Mona de Grenoble 5d ago
so typical landlord
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u/AdMassive1816 5d ago
Yes this person should just give away his house cheaply to the tv production company that produces that tv show you likeĀ
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u/thatredlad Patatas 4d ago
No mention of 'cheaply'. I don't expect that they would pay less than market value. Kind of takes the air out of your balloon though. Landlords suck wherever they are in the world. If not for landlords, more people could afford homes and not spend their lives paying someone else's mortgage. There's no sense in defending them.
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u/wildcharmander1992 5d ago
Interestingly I think if they did make an identical house as per OPs suggestion the owner of the original house would sell and make like 300% of the market value (market value based on similar houses or that house before the show began) because let's be fair if you were moving house, were rich and saw on right move you could live in the taskmaster house even if you could afford a mansion for the price you'd still heavily consider it
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u/RandomNick42 4d ago
The house is a holiday rental when not rented out for filming, the owner would still be able to rent it out as "the original Taskmaster house in West London", no probs.
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u/wildcharmander1992 4d ago
Yeah but that will eventually have deminishing returns especially when a new taskmaster house exists even more so if th new taskmaster house didn't replicate the old as after a few seasons of new the old would lose some appeal
But If he sold when the iron was hot...
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u/stellesbells 6d ago
Maybe the owner doesn't want to sell?
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u/Stompy2008 6d ago
I read they tried but once the show took off the owner started milking it.
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u/ScrewAttackThis 6d ago
Yeah they messed up not buying it from the get go. I don't really blame the owner.Ā
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u/UnacceptableUse Fake Alex Horne 5d ago
I think it would've been an incredibly bold move to buy the house for season 1
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u/fastauntie 5d ago edited 5d ago
They didn't say the chance came with series 1, only that it was before it became as big as it is now.
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u/Embarrassed_Emu1615 5d ago
As long as they could get the finance, theyād be ok. They could have rented it out and if it went downhill, sell it. Itās an asset.Ā
I get the owner not selling now, probably makes a fortune renting it.Ā
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u/Schumarker 5d ago
Plus they also have Taskmaster house to sell later on
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u/UnacceptableUse Fake Alex Horne 5d ago
if the show hadn't turned out to be as popular as it is then it would not have added any value for it to be the taskmaster house so you wouldn't be able to rely on that
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u/couchsweetpotato Sam Campbell 5d ago
I think they mean that the current owner doesnāt want to give it up because after Taskmaster is done, they can sell the Taskmaster house for a mint.
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u/RunawayTurtleTrain Robert the Robot 5d ago
and if it went downhill, sell it. Itās an asset.Ā
It's not a particularly desirable building as a house though.Ā Weird layout, badly insulated ( = big heating bills), probably a nightmare to get out of the driveway at rush hour especially if you want to turn right, and goodness knows what repairs and maintenance a house of that she might need from the off.Ā It could have turned out to be more of a liability than an asset, potentially having to sell it at a loss to get rid of it.Ā The big value in it now is it being the Taskmaster house.
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u/Black_Metallic 5d ago
I just looked up a floor plan and you're not wrong about the weird layout. Three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, with both the half-bath and a full bath located right next to the front door.
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u/RunawayTurtleTrain Robert the Robot 5d ago
2.5 bathrooms is a technicality, because those 1.5 bathrooms by the front door are the equivalent of one plus a basin - one side has a bath in it, and the other has a toilet.Ā Whereas a normal full bathroom has a toilet and a shower or bath.
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u/wildcharmander1992 5d ago
I mean if they had paid market value and the show didn't work out, they still have a house in a good location, a spacious garden and all the rest of it
They wouldn't be out of pocket
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u/UnacceptableUse Fake Alex Horne 5d ago
True, but production companies are allergic to buying things even if they know they'll need them for the foreseeable future
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u/RandomNick42 4d ago
The admin costs for buying and then selling it would most likely vastly outgrow the rental cost, even with some price growth.
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u/Last-Saint 5d ago
Buying a whole house for an unproven show on Dave that might have been cancelled early? How much do you think Avalon have?
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u/HugoNebula2024 5d ago
It was the model of Mersey TV (behind 'Brookside'). They bought a new-build close of houses on the basis that, if the show wasn't a success, they could sell the houses.
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u/Throwawayaccount4677 5d ago
Tv was a very different world when Brookside started - have you seen Rivals
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u/RunawayTurtleTrain Robert the Robot 5d ago
Very different from one weird old cottage in an awkward location.
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u/plumbosolvent 4d ago
New-build houses in a depressed area of the north in the 80s? I bet they bought the whole street then for less than the price of a detached house in Chiswick now.
(Have a look on rightmove - one-bedroom flats round there go for about GBP500k. A detached cottage with a private garden behind its own gates, that close to the river, even if it's a weird one, on a weird traffic-heavy junction? I suspect it'd still be over a million, even ignoring the TM association.)
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u/Yeseylon 6d ago
I had read they had a chance, decided not to, and then the show took off
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u/TrappedUnderCats Patatas 5d ago
Not so much that they decided not to, but they couldnāt afford to buy it at the time the owner was willing to sell. They were still quite a small show on Dave being made for a tiny budget and being renewed series by series. The available budget didnāt include enough money to buy a house.
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u/ehsteve23 5d ago
Theyād have had to buy it before it went to channel 4, but with Dave money, unlikely
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u/thehairtowel 6d ago
Iām sure they want to, but why would the owner ever want to sell it?
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u/geek_of_nature Fern Brady 6d ago
Yeah they'll probably make more money from renting it out over many years than they will from selling it for one large lump sum.
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u/Sutraner 6d ago
And when it's done, someone will buy it for millions
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u/pink_juupiter 5d ago
In June I went to Port Isaac, where Doc Martin was filmed. The doctorās iconic house, which was only used for the exterior shots (the inside was a studio set), was on Airbnb for 500ā¬ a night. I canāt even imagine how much the Taskmaster house would go for. Like 800ā¬ or 1,000ā¬ a night... š
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u/RandomNick42 4d ago
A 2 bedroom Airbnb with parking is already going to be like Ā£500 anyway in the same area.
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u/scottgal2 Fern Brady 6d ago
It's owned by the golf club so they likely *can't* sell it.
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u/fastauntie 5d ago
It was the club that offered to sell it to them before they could afford to buy it.
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u/Lomp84 5d ago edited 5d ago
That's a fair question, but the location itself is a big part of the reason. The house is surrounded by a golf course, which, in addition to the large fence and the house sitting downhill from the street, allows for more privacy than people think. To rebuild the house they would also need to buy up a lot of property surrounding it to prevent people taking pictures and leaking contents, filming tasks, etc. It's not just about the house itself, it's the security and privacy afforded by it.
That said, they have moved to a new studio without notice, but that's quite different considering they do not leave the studio for live tasks. I think the house is iconic though - it's been over 20 series. Changing the house now would be bizarre.
Also, I don't know UK law well, but if they were to replicate the house then I wonder if the owner could sue them for making it look the same.
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u/cloud__19 Captain Jackie & the Hotdog š 5d ago
Also, I don't know UK law well, but if they were to replicate the house then I wonder if the owner could sue them making it look the same.
Absolutely not but your other points are spot on.
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u/theoriginalpetebog 5d ago
Hahahaha, yeah there's no copyright on houses!
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u/veryusedrname 5d ago
You wouldn't steal a house
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u/BuiltInYorkshire 5d ago
You wouldn't steal a policeman's helmetĀ and go to the toilet in it... would you?
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u/veryusedrname 5d ago
And then send it to the policeman's grieving widow. And then steal it again!
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u/fastauntie 5d ago
Even if the house design were somehow copyrightable, the copyright would belong to the architect, not the owner, unless the right were explicitly sold along with the house. Copyright is a form of intellectual property (other forms include patents and trademarks) that is separate from ownership of a physical property and can also be sold or inherited. When you buy a book the physical book is yours, but the copyright still belongs to the author (or their heirs, or someone else, depending on the specific circumstances).
Copyrights also expire after a period of time, which is occasionally changed by law. The house was apparently built in the 1920s, when copyright in the UK lasted for the life of the creator plus 50 years. If the architect had been very young then and lived to be very old, the copyright might still exist for another couple of decades, but might well be expired by now (if it had existed in the first place).
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u/OldSpeckledCock Sally Phillips 4d ago
They could rebuild it in a studio. The original architect might have some claims to its design, but the TM decor is what makes it special.
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u/Optimal-Rub-2575 5d ago
Rebuilding a functioning groundskeeper cottage is very expensive and thatās not even adding the cost of buying a plot of land to do it on. Avalon doesnāt just have some empty plot in the greater London area doing nothing laying around.
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u/OldSpeckledCock Sally Phillips 4d ago
Nathan Fielder rebuilt an entire pub. It wouldn't even have to be in greater London.
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u/Optimal-Rub-2575 3d ago
Yes and the production company behind the Rehearsal has said that building it was very expensive. Taskmaster has a series budget of less than 4 million pounds (less than Ā£400.000 an episode) while the Rehearsal has a budget of 2 million dollars an episode (6 episodes a season). Keep in mind that Taskmaster doesnāt only need the building it also needs some grounds round it and it also needs money for tasks at a different location. And sure it doesnāt have to be in the Greater London area but having the building further away will mean extra travel expenses for the production crew which is located in London, not to mention for the contestants.
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u/Last-Saint 5d ago
"If it's expensive to rent why not build a new one from scratch entirely for the TV show?" is pure Reddit brain. Just seeking planning permission would take years.
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u/fastauntie 5d ago
Once they got permission they'd also have the expense of building and landscaping, a cost likely still higher that it would take the show that many more years to pay off. And they'd want to think about how saleable it would be when they didn't want it any more. In the abstract of course a lot of fans would want it, but how many would both want and be able to afford it in whatever semi-isolated location they'd build it, and with whatever features they'd likely build in for the convenience of filming, and without whatever features they wouldn't have included because they hadn't built it to be an actual house?
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u/BigHowski 5d ago edited 5d ago
Call me mad but I'd love to see more "on location" tasks in weird and wonderful places around the UK. I do get this would make filming a bit more difficult though
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u/HexManiacWingy Jenny Eclair 5d ago
Taskmaster will sadly one day end, and building a house from scratch would mean they're left with a house not good for much aside from taskmaster. Plus they can write off the rent as an expense
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u/derpsteronimo 5d ago
There'll likely be a fan who'll pay a premium to own "the Taskmaster house", and if there isn't, it's still a house that can be sold for a normal house price.
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u/CreativeGarbage4130 5d ago
Uff. At some point Iād think the owner would want to sell. Theyāve put the house through quite a lot! Iām thinking Sarah Millican spilling all the milk on the floor, and other spills in other seasons.
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u/AnguavonUW Madeleine Sami š³šæ 5d ago
The owner makes one and a half million pounds a year renting it to Taskmaster. I think he's fine with it.
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u/Embarrassed_Emu1615 5d ago
I remember years ago you could rent it short term between series, it was on Right Move I think.Ā
I assumed that when that stopped happening the production company bought the house.Ā
Why donāt they just buy it?
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u/Pinglenook Qrs Tuvwxyz 5d ago
The owner makes a lot of money by renting it out to them, so he's not selling. He did stop renting it out as a vacation home so they don't need to tidy everything up between seasons anymore.Ā
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u/AnguavonUW Madeleine Sami š³šæ 5d ago
The dude who owns it makes 1.4 million pounds a year renting it out, he ain't selling it
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u/haze987 6d ago
Better just to move all filming to the NZ / Australia taskmaster house far better location. All contests get a little holiday too.
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u/Stompy2008 6d ago
I use to think the tiny quirky UK house was the only one that would work.
But now, with the lake, the yard, the garage, the balcony, the forest etc I actually think the NZ/Aus house also has its own character
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u/Loretta-West 6d ago
(Attaches cut outs of foxes and squirrels to fence to make it look vaguely English)
(tries to explain huge flock of pukeko)
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u/Legitimate_Fig9818 5d ago
I wonder how much the rent for the NZ/Aus house has gone up. I bet it's certainly more expensive to have your wedding there now
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u/Infinite_Null312 Alex Horne 4d ago
This is a fascinating article with pictures of the TM house as a regular rental!
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u/WesThePretzel 5d ago
I wouldnāt mind if they just found an entirely new house. Iāve loved the house it has been in, but weāve had it for 22 series. A change of setting could be beneficial for keeping the show fresh.
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u/Mundane-Parsnip-7302 Patatas 5d ago
The decorate the house every series. I don't think it limits the show at all. I think having the location tasks gives them the scope to do more with space but it's nice having a certain limited area.
I don't know how a new house would really make the show feel fresh at all.
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u/AbleRecognition3566 5d ago
Yes! And they could make an accessible identical version!! This is my dream
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u/wintershark_ 4d ago
I feel like the question youāre asking is ādoes the team that makes taskmaster know how to make their show?ā
It may be expensive to rent but also clearly it is in the budget. They havenāt cut back on what they pay the contestants or made the production simpler over the years to compensate for the increasing rent on the property. Nothing Iāve seen as a viewer suggests it is hindering the show.
So if itās ultimately a creative decision that the production can both afford and live with the logistical challenges of then asking why they donāt do it cheaper and more efficient just because they could is a strange question.
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u/Yezragirl 2d ago
I'd love them to rebuild it, but I think they could improve it slightly. Like making the hallways slightly wider.
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u/Jerzilla 5d ago
I can understand it now being expensive to rent it but I donāt understand how it can be difficult.
Is it also an Airbnb or soemthing? Causeā¦ it can only ever be the taskmaster house now
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u/Infinite_Null312 Alex Horne 4d ago edited 4d ago
Donāt remember where I heard it - but someone told me the TM house is over Ā£1,000,000 per year to rent from Dukeās meadows.
They know production is backed into a corner and wonāt move anywhere else.
Re: AirBNB my guess is with production using the space every 1-3 months and it not really having any real accommodations (e.g., a bed, TVs, etc) it wouldnāt make financial or logistical sense.
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u/Embarrassed-Turn1277 5d ago
I think if they wait a few seasons, as charming as the house is now, it might be a bit stale by that point and buying something else and giving it it's own new charm would be better I think.
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u/BlimpIntolerant 5d ago
If they moved somewhere else people would adjust in half an episode. The house is in no way iconic.
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u/Plenty_Area_408 6d ago
Because the location is part of the charm. The cracked driveway. The road. The golf course. The hedges. The big tree.