''Sorry, I Didn't Know'' is a British

panel show A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

broadcast on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, in which panelists answer questions about Black history. A pilot aired on

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...

in 2016 and the first series of four episodes aired in October 2020, as part of

Black History Month Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, and more recently ...

. The programme is hosted by

Jimmy Akingbola James Olatokunbo Akingbola (born 7 April 1978) is an English television, theatre and film actor. Early life Jimmy Akingbola was born in London to parents of the Yoruba tribe who had emigrated from Nigeria. In 1996, Akingbola started at the A ...

and has team captains

Chizzy Akudolu Andrea Chizoba "Chizzy" Akudolu (born 7 October 1973) is a British actress. Career In 2002, Akudolu was one of eight new comedy performers who won the BBC Talent Initiative, The Urban Sketch Showcase. All eight performed a comedy sketch sho ...

and

Judi Love Judy Veronica Thomas (born 4 June 1980), known professionally as Judi Love, is an English stand-up comedian and presenter. She began her stand-up career in 2011 but came to prominence as a panellist on the ITV talk show ''Loose Women''. As well a ...

. A second series of five episodes began in October 2021. A third series premiered on 2 October 2022, with Akingbola, Akudolu, and new team captain

Eddie Kadi Eddie Kadi (born 18 May 1983 in Kinshasa) is a British-Congolese comedian, presenter and actor. Early life A resident of South-West London since 1992, he is a past student of Fulham Primary School, Henry Compton Secondary School, William Morris ...

Format

The host

asks two teams questions relating to Black history. Rounds variously show panelists attempting to finish a famous quote, work out the name of a Black person from yes/no questions, identify whether a fact presented by the other team is true or false, work out who invented particular technologies and when or match descriptions of people to their faces. In the final round, "General 'Tupidness", panelists buzz in to answer trivia questions about Black figures. Different round structures were used in the 2016 pilot. Akingbola commented that the show inverts the norm of comedy panel shows which have white men as team captains and women or BAME people as "token" panelists.

Production

The series was created by

Fraser Ayres Fraser Stuart Ayres (born 1980) is an English actor, best known for his role as Clint in the BBC comedy series '' The Smoking Room''. Ayres first joined the youth core at the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester and has done other television includ ...

and Minnie Ayres. The presenter Jimmy Akingbola served as producer. Akingbola found presenting to be "fun and yet surreal"—his previous background was in acting. The programme is produced by Triforce Productions, which Akingbola and Fraser Ayres co-founded. In October 2016, it was announced that

commissioned a pilot, along with three other programmes featuring BAME comedians, to be aired in the run-up to the November 2016

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Af ...

, which recognise excellence in

black music Black music is a sound created, produced, or inspired by black people, people of African descent, including African music traditions and African popular music as well as the music genres of the African diaspora, including Caribbean music, Lati ...

. The pilot aired on

on 3 November 2016 at 8:30p.m. to an estimated 157,000 viewers. In May 2020, Akingbola commented on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that the show had been rejected by ITV, the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, Channel 5 and

Sky UK Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

and that the production company was now looking to get the show commissioned in the United States. In July 2020, he told ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' that the rejections were sometimes without comment and sometimes described the show as "a bit niche". The show was one of four shows commissioned for

as part of the 2020

, celebrated in October in the United Kingdom. The others were '' Alison Hammond: Back To School'', '' Craig &

Danny Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to the male name Daniel. It may refer to: People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist *Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer *Danny Baker (born 1957), English journalis ...

: Funny, Black and on TV'' and '' IRL with Team Charlene''. ITV additionally ran documentaries and other programmes relating to Black History Month, and a series of "It's all about" idents made by Black artists. It was Triforce Productions's first primetime programme and the first directing credit for Jan Genesis. The first series ran for four episodes. The show's commissioning followed a resurgence of the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

movement after the May 2020

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...

. Akingbola said that he did not think audiences had changed substantially since the pilot in 2016, only that "the need to serve them properly has increased exponentially" as the Black Lives Matter movement brought "a spotlight to the lack of inclusion". He criticized the pigeonholing of the programme as a "black show", aiming to disprove that "that black content does not appeal to mainstream audiences". Akingbola said that he hoped to see "non-tokenised shows throughout the year" in future. He said that the crew would "love to have the opportunity" to be renewed for a second series and that the programme "wasn't made just for October". In June 2021, ITV announced that it had renewed the series for another five episodes, which aired the same October. A third series of five episodes was filmed at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith in June 2022, to be broadcast in October of the same year. Jimmy Akingbola and team captain Chizzy Akudolu return, although it is unknown if Judi Love is part of the latest series. Guests include White Yardie,

Shaun Wallace Shaun Anthony Linford Wallace (born 2 June 1960) is an English barrister, lecturer and television personality. He is one of the six "chasers" on the ITV quiz show '' The Chase''. Wallace is a part-time lecturer and visits schools, colleges and ...

Russell Kane Russell Kane (born Russell David Anthony Grineau; 19 August 1975) is an English writer, comedian, and actor. He has 4 times been nominated at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, winning the Best Comedy Show award in 2010. Although known mainly for st ...

and Verona Rose. In June 2023, ITV commissioned the programme for a fourth series. The new series, set to air in the Autumn of 2023, will be moved to a new primetime slot.

Episodes

Pilot (2016)

The pilot was presented by Jimmy Akingbola, with team captains

and

Jo Martin Jo Martin (born 29 April) is a British actress. She played Natalie Crouch in the BBC One sitcom ''The Crouches'', which aired between 2003 and 2005. She joined the cast of ''Holby City'' in 2019 as neurosurgeon Max McGerry. Martin portrayed an ...

. It aired on

in the timeslot of 8:30p.m. on Thursday under the title ''I'm Sorry, I Didn't Know''.

Series 1 (2020)

The first series of four episodes premiered during

. It aired on

on Tuesdays at 10:45p.m. The host was Jimmy Akingbola and Chizzy Akudolu and

served as team captains.

Series 2 (2021)

As with the first series, the second aired on ITV during Black History Month with Akingbola as presenter and Akudolu and Love as team captains. It was moved to the timeslot of 10:20p.m. on Sunday.

Series 3 (2022)

The third series will air during Black History Month with Akingbola as presenter and Akudolu and Kadi as team captains.

Reception

Steve Bennett reviewed the 2016 pilot positively, praising that Akingbola has an "innate authority" and the panelists "deliver as dependably and flippantly as any of the big panel shows". He described the questions as "at the smart end of the spectrum" for panel shows and found the programme "informative". Following the pilot, the programme was nominated for a 2017 Creative Diversity Network Award for Outstanding Entertainment Programme; the judges called it "distinctive" and "bold", praising it for "breaking open general assumptions around casting as well as content", though the award was given to ''

The Last Leg ''The Last Leg'' (known during its first series as ''The Last Leg with Adam Hills'' and in Australia as ''Adam Hills: The Last Leg'') is a British comedy and late-night television talk/sketch show that originally ran alongside the 2012 Summer Pa ...

''.

References

External links

* * * {{UKGameshow, Sorry,_I_Didn%27t_Know 2016 British television series debuts 2010s British comedy television series 2020s British comedy television series 2010s British game shows 2020s British game shows British panel games English-language television shows ITV panel games