Matt Lucas reveals why he turns down most TV gigs – and changed his mind for one show

Matt Lucas has revealed the reason he says no to most TV offers that come his way – and why he changed his tune when it came to his latest project.

Once one of the biggest names in British comedy, the Little Britain co-creator’s on-screen appearances have been few and far between since he stepped back from presenting The Great British Bake Off.

But Lucas, 52, has now broken that spell, as he’s appearing as a contestant on Channel 4’s Taskmaster .

And while talking about the show, the comic – who made a brief appearance on The Masked Singer earlier this year – revealed the criteria that’s kept him off TV for a while.

The Little Britain co-creator said that he sought out “challenging” projects now that he didn’t feel like he “absolutely had to do” TV PA Wire “I’m not retiring, but I started when I was 18 and I’m 52 now, and it’s been great. So when something new comes along, I think, are the people nice? Will there be a sandwich involved?” he told The Mirror .

“At this point in my career, when something comes my way, I mostly think, are the people nice? Is it something a bit challenging? Because I’ve been very lucky in my career and there aren’t many things left that I feel I absolutely have to do.”

Explaining that he’d find reality shows like Big Brother or I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! to be “a bit stressful”, he continued: “But I was told that with Taskmaster you’ll have fun and you’ll do things you haven’t done before – and that’s exactly what appealed to me.”

Former Bake Off presenter Lucas is competing on the upcoming series of Taskmaster Getty Fronted by Greg Davies and Alex Horne, each 10-episode series of Taskmaster sees a group of five comedians individually taking part in a set of wacky physical and mental challenges pre-recorded at the “Taskmaster House”.

The footage of the different ways they approach each challenge is then showed to a live studio audience, with points adding up over each episode and the series champion eventually being awarded.

Lucas is appearing on series 22 alongside comedians Chloe Petts, Isy Suttie, Nina Conti and Richard Ayoade; previous contestants have included Romesh Ranganathan, Katherine Ryan, Richard Osman, Aisling Bea, Daisy May Cooper, Armando Iannucci, Reece Shearsmith and Kumail Nanjiani.