Sorry, I Didn't Know

Synopsis

A panel game about black history.

The rounds were nothing unusual. We began with "What's Your Game?". Here are some faces from history; points if you know who they are and what they did.

Then came The World Wide Web of Lies. Each panellist reads out a "fact" – a short story, a little anecdote. The other team is to determine whether it's a fact, or something made up down the pub at lunchtime yesterday.

After the break, they play "Who's On the Hat", yes-no questions against the clock to work out who is on your hat. And there's the inevitable buzzer round to ramp up the tension for the last few minutes. Points, winner, closing credits.

Sorry, I Didn't Know may have lacked originality. But it's got bags of attitude, and it's comedy from start to finish. There was a running joke about aviators and space pioneers being the first people to be pulled over at 20,000 feet. It's just a little glimpse into black culture, and television doesn't show much black culture.

The first face on the board was Ira Aldridge, and he prompted a brief discussion about playing Othello in Shakespeare. Is it a role that only black people can play? Conversely, is it the only role that black people can play? The discussion isn't deep, it's not a debate so much as a run of one-liners, but we can tell the panel knew what they were talking about. The wit and humour hid a cogent and informative chat on the topic.

Entertainment, and just a little education, and more than a dash of culture.

Inventor

Mr and Mrs Ayres, who also produced the show

Theme music

Al Hutton

Trivia

Part of a short season to promote the MOBO Awards on ITV2, it took nearly four years for another series for a four-part series to air - this time as part of Black History Month.

See also

Weaver's Week review

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