Junior Taskmaster review: The latest offshoot from the ever-expanding Taskmaster empire makes this stupid, capricious and cruel life bearable

This was a new series from the ever-expanding Taskmaster empire – with New Year specials, board games and 'live experiences' already bringing juvenile silliness to the world.

It would be easy to dilute the main brand, to induce task-fatigue even, with all these new spin-offs, but it is the genius of Taskmaster that it can continue to find new and stupid ways for people to make fools of themselves – or be revealed as geniuses of lateral thinking.

And Junior Taskmaster – hosted by Rose Matafeo and her assistant Mike Wozniak - is, happily, no exception.

Last week's first episode saw the pint-sized problem-solvers attempt to get the biggest number of different things into Mike's hat while he sat spinning on a turntable – the catch being that they couldn't step onto the fabled 'red green', and had to throw stuff from a distance.

Anyone who has been watching Taskmaster for a while will know that it came up with one of the greatest moments in TV history, involving the 'red green', a potato and Joe Wilkinson's toe, so it was no surprise that assistant Mike could reveal some transgressions to the youngsters in the studio.

That's one of the elements that made Junior Taskmaster such an engaging watch.

It made very few concessions to the youth of the participants – you could see all of the tasks being used in the original, adult version, while points were awarded and taken away with the same lack of respect for any rules.

Meanwhile, the youngsters had clearly taken on board the lack of respect shown to the grown-up Taskmaster's assistant, little Alex Horne, and treated the moustachioed Mike with a similar level of contempt.

And it minted several new catchphrases, aphorisms which you could live your life by – from “cool plus cool equals impressive”, to “that's what it's all about, having fun and being judged by an adult woman” and “that old lyrical curveball”.

Even the kids, all aged from nine to 11, weren't as stage school-y or precocious as you might have expected and reacted admirably to some gentle goading from the Taskmaster and her assistant.

Yes, Matafeo is a more smily, big-sisterly presence than the lowering, lumbering Greg Davies, but she and Mike Wozniak strike a terrific balance between encouraging the youngsters and also taking the mickey.

It's a wonderful, silly watch, and something the whole family can enjoy and shows no sign that the Taskmaster empire is over-extending itself.

To reinforce that impression, the latest series of the original Taskmaster (Channel 4, Thurs, 9pm) came to an end this week, with the awarding of Greg's golden head.

Every series you fear that the latest crop of contestants will somehow fail to live up to expectations, and every year that fear is proved unfounded.

From Andy Zaltzman's cricket get-up, to Emma Sidi's enthusiasm, Jack Dee's morose amusement, Rosie Jones' scatalogical obsession and Baba Aleshe's general befuddlement, this series was again a tour de force of the absurd.

Right down to the final task, which saw Jones cosplay as a goose-wrangling Frenchwoman and Jack Dee construct a cardboard aeroplane, there was more invention, ingenuity and acute psychological insight here than in the vast majority of the stuff that makes it to TV.

And Greg Davies – the “lord high priest of silver foxes” – seems just as hilariously taken with the whole enterprise as the very first episode.

If life really is stupid, capricious and cruel – and it definitely is – then Taskmaster and its newest offshoot make it bearable.