Sarah Millican: Comedian talks taking part in Taskmaster ahead of Yorkshire tour dates

The goal: to win back their forfeited possessions – and retain some dignity. “It’s quite a solitary job being a stand-up, so doing this was like having a gang…” quips Millican, 47, who first found fame having won the comedy award for Best Newcomer at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. “I was never in a gang – of course I wasn’t, look at me!” the Geordie star quickly adds.

“So just being in a room being with other comics was brilliant. We’d all have a drink afterwards with the crew and all the comics ended up in a little gang together and everybody else was mixing. It’s just the way we are, we all just hone in on each other.”

Millican, who is bringing her Bobby Dazzler tour to Yorkshire in the coming weeks, with dates in Halifax, Harrogate and Sheffield, says she was no stranger to the show.

"I’ve watched it from day one. Sometimes when you do programmes, you have to watch it the night before because you think, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, and there’s going to be really complicated rules that I’m not going to know, and I don’t want to look like I’m flailing.’ But this was easy, because I’d already watched it, I knew exactly how it worked.

"Although, even when you know the show well, you still have no idea how you’re going to react. It’s a bit like when you learn to drive, and you think, ‘I’m going to be great at this,’ but you don’t know, because it’s not like anything else you’ve done...You have no idea what your brain’s going to do when you get in the room.”

Millican used to gig with Davies, but their relationship for Taskmaster was one she describes as “sort of snidey”. “I’m much more likely to grass to the teacher than to shout at a kid and that’s exactly what it was like. I know he’s the Taskmaster and all that, but it’s Greg. I used to gig with Greg. But then sometimes he’d be really mean.”

As for her strategy on the show, having fun was key and trying to be funny was also part of it, she says. "I also checked under every table. Every single task.

"And on at least one task that did pay off. Is there anything better than finding something that a man couldn’t find? I didn’t realise that was so high up on my list of things I love to do, but it was.”

Previous contestants have described Taskmaster as a bit like having therapy, because they find out new things about themselves. Millican doesn’t entirely agree.

“I already know myself pretty well,” she says. “I know the flaws; I have worked them all out. I’ve mined them for comedy for years!"

Taskmaster returns to Channel 4 on Thursday, September 29. Millican is at Harrogate Royal Hall on September 24, Victoria Theatre, Halifax on September 26, and City Hall, Sheffield on October 5 and 6.