The entire Triforce Creative Network were delighted to hear the news that Eddie Kadi, our friend and team captain on ‘Sorry I Didn’t Know’, has been announced as a contestant on BBC show Strictly Come Dancing!
It’s been a great year for Eddie, returning for series 4 of SIDK and landing nominations for his role in it. He was up for both the prestigious Royal Television Society Best Breakthrough Award and Best Breakthrough Presenter at the Edinburgh TV Awards. He is also in production for his own documentary with Channel 4.
Eddie is one of the hardest working people around and has hosted both the official red carpet show for BET International and BET Africa in Los Angeles as well as being main stage host for the Afro Nation Festivals across the world.
He has hosted the prestigious MOBO Awards and appeared on numerous TV formats including Blankety Blank, The National Comedy Awards, Tonight with Target, +44 Presents: The Noughties Podcast, Don’t Hate the Playaz, and Road to Afro Nation: David Live. He also fronts The Official Afrobeats Chart Show on BBC Radio 1Xtra and is a Team Captain on ITV’s entertainment format Sorry I Didn’t Know.
On hearing the news, Eddie said, “WOW. Anyone who knows me, understands that music and dance is so important and central to who I am. I’m so unbelievably proud and honoured that Strictly and the BBC have asked me to join the 2023 Team. I promise you, I’m going to give it everything I’ve got. This is going to be a VIBE.”
We know you’ll smash it, Eddie, and we’ll all be cheering you on!
TriForce Productions Present: Sorry, I Didn’t Know…
History, with a touch of colour…
We’re very excited that ‘Sorry, I Didn’t Know…’ the comedy panel show about Black history is returning this year for season 4!
TriForce needs YOU!
We’ll be filming the show at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith July 14-16 and once more this year we have FIVE shows to chose from.
The show is a hilarious comedy panel show, unearthing everything you didn’t know about black history. We’ve all heard of Mary Seacole and Martin Luther King, but did you know that the first self-made female millionaire was black? Or that the inspiration for the character Monostatos in Mozart’s The Magic Flute’ was black classical composer Joseph Bologne?
We’ve got an amazing panel lined up for the show, including our host Jimmy Akingbola, the lovely Chizzy Akudolu and Eddie Kadi as team captains, and a whole heap of hilarious guests!
Tickets are FREE!
For more information and to reserve your ticket click on the link below.
From DEADLINE, by Max Goldbart – June 21, 2023 1:15am
EXCLUSIVE: Jimmy Akingbola-hosted Sorry, I Didn’t Know, the UK’s first quiz show centered on Black history, has been recommissioned and shifted away from ITV’s Black History Month schedule.
TriForce Productions’ panel show has run for three seasons during the October commemorative month in the UK but ITV is showing its commitment to the four-parter by moving it later in the Autumn.
The fourth outing of the RTS-nominated entertainment format will likely air in November and this time will be series produced by BET Awards producer Jonte Richardson.
In Sorry, I Didn’t Know, which is hosted by Peacock’s Bel-Air star Akingbola and filmed in front of a live audience, team captains Chizzy Akudolu and Eddie Kadi lead guests who answer questions about Black history. The show started life as an ITV 2 pilot in 2016 before being commissioned four years later as the UK TV industry experienced a reckoning amidst the Black Lives Matter protests. It attracts a few hundred thousand viewers per episode and has been greeted warmly by critics.
The creators have previously praised ITV for taking a chance on the series when other networks turned it down and the recommission comes at a tricky time more generally for UK panel shows in the wake of Mock the Week and Late Night Mash (formerly The Mash Report) being culled.
TriForce founder Fraser Ayres (In the Long Run) returns for Season 4 to lead a writing team featuring Viv May (Have I Got News For You) and Mark Boutros (8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown), while Aida Abdul-Raheem joins as trainee.
“We’re very proud to be working with ITV to not only deliver authentically Black, yet commercial programming outside of Black History Month, but also to be creating unprecedented pathways for talent that directly address the lack of diversity in senior roles,” said Fraser Ayres, who is EP alongside Minnie Ayres and Akingbola.
TriForce also made ITV’s critically-acclaimed documentary Handle with Care, which explored Akingbola’s experiences growing up in the British care system, with another in the strand currently being worked up.
Bel-Air star Jimmy Akingbola’s heartwrenching Handle with Care doc has been picked up by Peacock in the U.S.
Handle with Care, which debuted on ITV in the UK and is produced by TriForce Productions, sees Akingbola tell the story of his upbringing after he was adopted by parents of a different ethnicity to his own. He also meets others who have experienced the British care system, including the likes of Save Me star Lennie James and athlete Kriss Akabusi, in order to build up a picture.
The doc tells a “positive story” of growing up in care, Akingbola recently told Deadline.
He will be familiar to Peacock subscribers, having played Geoffrey the butler in the first two seasons of the NBCUniversal streamer’sThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot, which was recently renewed for a third series.
Akingbola said Peacock is the “natural home” due to the “parallels between my own personal story and that of Bel-Air.”
“When art imitates life, the result can be an inspiring, educational and revelatory story for the ages,” he added.
Akingbola’s other credits include Kate & Koji, In the Long Run and Ted Lasso. He is a co-founder of TriForce, which is run by fellow co-founders Fraser Ayres and Minnie Ayres.
TriForce Productions is taking a positive approach to projects made by diverse talent, tackling challenging subjects without turning them into clickbait, according to co-founder Fraser Ayres.
Triforce’s Handle With Care: Jimmy Akingbola for UK broadcaster ITV
UK-based TriForce worked across three productions spanning three different genres last year, namely documentary Handle With Care: Jimmy Akingbola for UK commercial broadcaster ITV; Dead Canny, a sitcom pilot for UKTV-owned Dave; and panel show Sorry, I Didn’t Know, also for ITV.
Renewals are a key pillar of any development slate, but as co-founder Fraser Ayres points out, programming fronted by black talent is often less likely to return compared to other kinds of programming.
That’s what made making a third season of Sorry, I Didn’t Know in 2022 so satisfying and Ayres is hopeful of a fourth run for the studio format, which celebrates black history and achievement.
While a new home is being sought for Dead Canny, which follows a questionable young psychic who has the ability to see dead people, Handle With Care is being developed as a returning format with ITV, reveals Ayres, who as well as being CEO and co-founder of TriForce is also an actor, writer and showrunner.
The show began with an episode focusing on Ayres’ fellow TriForce co-founder and actor Jimmy Akingbola, who as well as hosting Sorry, I Didn’t Know, can be seen playing Geoffrey Thompson in Bel-Air, Peacock’s gritty, modern-day reinterpretation of 90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
The deeply personal film traces the journey of Akingbola, who, at the age of two, was uprooted from his Nigerian family and fostered by a white British family who raised him alongside their birth children.
As the title suggests, Handle With Care aims to approach subjects such as foster care – which in other hands might be framed in a ‘clickbait-y’ way to draw in viewers – with consideration and show them in a more positive light.
The result was a film that the press described as “raw” and “extremely moving,” with ITV now keen to develop the format into a strand of films that focus on the different lived experiences of well-known, diverse figures in a warm and positive way.
“What our content shows is a shift from broadcasters in terms of the kind of content they’re commissioning, which is really positive. Previously, when those kinds of experiences are shown, it’s through the lens of oppression and often not made by the people from those demographics.
“Actually, black people don’t really want to see those stories. They’re important, like Black History Month is important, but I’m tired of seeing people being whipped. I want to see our kings and queens and pioneers. Our success speaks to that shift,” says Ayres.
Crucial to Ayres was that TriForce was allowed to produce these projects on its own, rather than being asked to coproduce with or have its hand held by a prodco with a longer credit list but an inevitably less diverse workforce.
TriForce focuses on developing diversity and inclusivity (D&l) on- and off-camera and, via its not-for-profit arm TriForce Creative Network, is behind Dandi, described as the one-stop D&l support service for the entertainment industry that represents a database of more than 25,000 people.
This means that as well as ensuring its productions are crewed by a diverse and inclusive workforce (“Our crew photos are quite different to other people’s crew photos,” says Ayres), the organisation is helping others – more than 70 production companies, broadcasters and global streamers – commit to the pledges made in recent years to make the UK media industry more representative.
Shows Dandi has supported include Bridgerton, Gangs of London, I Hate Suzie, Killing Eve, Stath Lets Flats, Taskmaster and Trigger Point.
Meanwhile, TriForce’s development slate was given a financial boost in late 2022 after TriForce was chosen as one of the prodcos to receive backing from UK commercially funded public service broadcaster Channel 4’s Emerging Indie Fund, which will see it receive a range of support and guidance to help supercharge its business.
Programming that appeals internationally is a priority and Ayres says TriForce is in conversation with a US studio about factual and factual entertainment projects, as well as scripted.
“I guess everything we do is quite worthy, in one way or another,” laughs Ayres. “That is our ethos and at our core. But we are unique in the way we find those interesting ways of presenting issues and stories.”
Channel 4 have released the names of the 10 emerging indies selected to receive funding and support as part of their 2022 Emerging Indie Fund programme. Triforce Productions is delighted to announce that we have been awarded the fund for Factual Entertainment! Here’s what Channel 4 had to say about the award in their recent news release…
Channel 4 to support N&R-based indies through its 2022 Emerging Indie Fund
Ten independent production companies from across the UK are set to receive support from Channel 4’s 2022 Emerging Indie Fund to help boost their growth, and an additional seven will receive special awards from the broadcaster.
The ten indies, from Bedfordshire, Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Gateshead, Leamington Spa, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield, have secured main awards from the fund and as a result will receive a range of support and guidance to help supercharge their businesses.
Channel 4’s Director of Commissioning Operations Emma Hardy said: “The Emerging Indie Fund continues to make a real difference, providing practical support and helping small N&R-based production companies grow and become more established. We look forward to working with our new cohort and helping them to nurture their businesses and build stronger foundations in the nations and regions.”
Companies in the Emerging Indie Fund benefit from a range of support which includes: financial assistance for slate development; regular access to a Channel 4 Commissioning Editor; regular contact with Channel 4’s Head of Indie Relations Rebecca Thompson; development workshops; expert advice from a variety of departments within Channel 4 – commercial affairs, legal department and advertising funded programming teams; and advice from a business development consultancy.
Rebecca said: “We were impressed by the overall standard of applications and are excited to be working with this talented and diverse cohort of indies.
“Previous iterations of the Emerging Indie Fund have been transformative for indies, and we look forward to supporting this year’s indies with their company growth and helping them to expand their networks and establish working relationships with the channel.”
Each award is focused on a specific genre and includes drama, specialist factual, news & current affairs, entertainment, factual entertainment, daytime and features, digital, documentaries and comedy.
Seven independent production companies to receive discretionary awards are from Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Maidenhead, Sheffield, Shotton in Wales and Stroud. These companies will also gain access to 4Producers’ networking events, development workshops and funds to help towards development of programme ideas. They will also benefit from regular access to Head of Indie Relations, Rebecca Thompson.
Launched in 2020, the Emerging Indie Fund was specifically developed to help nurture up and coming indies, widen their networks and relationships and help them move on to the next level of their development. The fund’s focus is to support indies based in the Nations & Regions.
Companies from the 2021 Emerging Indie Fund secured a number of developments and commissions which included Mist’Driven (Crash Productions), Love My Face (Flabbergast), Made in Dubai (Angel Eye), the second series of Living Wild (Full Fat) and the second series of Secret Services (Zandland).
Indies to have secured main awards as part of the 2022 Emerging Indie Fund are:
Digital – HopSkip Studios (Belfast)
Drama – Hill 5.14 (Bedfordshire)
Documentaries – Kailash Films Ltd (Cardiff)
Digital – Cloud Break Pictures (Edinburgh)
Comedy – Motif Pictures (Gateshead)
Daytime & Features – Common Story (Leamington Spa)
Specialist Factual – ClockWork (Leeds)
Entertainment – ARKID (Manchester)
Factual Entertainment – Triforce (Nottingham)
News & Current Affairs – Hey Sonny Films (Sheffield)
Production companies which secured discretionary awards are:
Enderley Pictures (Stroud)
ENON Films (Sheffield)
feral Inc (Edinburgh)
Osprey TV (Shotton, Wales)
Particle6 (Maidenhead)
Slate Works (Somerset and Devon)
Specky Productions Ltd (Glasgow)
The 2021 Emerging Indie Fund companies were –
Angel Eye Media (Bristol); Below the Radar TV (Belfast); Black Camel Pictures (Glasgow); Crash Productions (Cardiff); Fabel Productions (Belfast); Hatchling Films (Manchester); Full Fat TV (Birmingham); Honey Bee Media (Bristol/Surrey); Postcard Productions (Wales); Springboard (Birmingham); Title Role Productions (Manchester); and Zandland (Liverpool/Burnley).
The 2020 Emerging Indie Fund companies were –
Button Down (York); Channel X Hopscotch (Glasgow); Chatterbox (Brighton); Chwarel (Criccieth, North Wales); Drummer (Bristol); Fired Up Films (County Down, Northern Ireland); Hello Mary (Brighton); Indefinite Films (Bristol); Salamanda (Stockport); Screendog (Brighton); and Strident (Belfast).
TriForce Productions in the UK is developing its one-off documentary for ITV, Handle with Care: Jimmy Akingbola, as a returning format focusing on sensitive subjects.
Handle With Care: Jimmy Akingbola aired in November last year on ITV and traced the journey of Akingbola, who, at the age of two, was uprooted from his Nigerian family and fostered by a white British family who raised him alongside their birth children.
Akingbola (Bel-Air) is a co-founder of TriForce and also hosts the company’s ITV panel show Sorry, I Didn’t Know.
Fraser Ayres, MD and co-founder of TriForce, told C21 the producers are looking to tell other personal stories and lived experiences of diverse personalities in the potential returning factual strand Handle with Care.
“We’ve spoken to ITV and we’re in development at the moment for a strand on different subjects,” Ayres said, adding that individuals are attached to the project whilst declining to reveal more details.
The actor, writer and showrunner added that the producer would continue to approach difficult subjects that in other hands might be framed in a “clickbait-y” with consideration and show them in a more positive light.
It comes after TriForce’s development slate was given a financial boost in late 2022 after it was chosen as one of the prodcos to receive backing from UK commercially funded public service broadcaster Channel 4’s Emerging Indie Fund, which will see it receive a range of support and guidance to help supercharge its business.
TriForce focuses on developing diversity and inclusivity (D&I) on- and off-camera and, via its not-for-profit arm TriForce Creative Network, is behind Dandi, described as the one-stop D&I support service for the entertainment industry that represents a database of more than 25,000 people.
Shows Dandi has supported include Bridgerton, Gangs of London, I Hate Suzie, Killing Eve, Stath Lets Flats, Taskmaster and Trigger Point.
Anna Costello, the talented writer behind the hit show “Dead Canny” has just won the Rising Star award at the Royal Television Society North East & the Border Awards 2023. This is a huge achievement for Anna, who has been recognised for her exceptional talent and contribution to the UK TV & Film industry.
From a young age, she knew that she wanted to pursue a career in writing, and she was determined to make her dream, a reality. After completing her degree in Creative Writing, Anna landed her first job as a junior writer on a popular television show. She worked tirelessly, learning everything she could about the industry and honing her craft. Her hard work paid off, and she was soon promoted to head writer, where she was able to put her own unique stamp on the show. She began writing for theatre, where she discovered a love for comedy and the power of laughter to bring people together. It was during this time that she began to develop the concept for “Dead Canny”, a dark comedy about a small town in the North East where everyone knows everyone else’s business.
“Dead Canny” had great reviews for its quirky characters and hilarious storylines. The show was praised for its clever writing, and as an emerging writer, Anna ‘s talent is being recognised. The success of the show led to award nominations.
Anna has proven that with hard work, dedication, and a passion for your craft, anything is possible. We can’t wait to see what Anna has in store for us in the future and we are excited to follow her journey as she continues to rise to the top of her field.
Good things come in threes! We’re back with a third season of Sorry I Didn’t Know! on your screens every Sunday in October, on ITV.
What a joy it was to be back in the studio with familiar faces and new ones. Jimmy Akingbola returns as host, while Chizzy Akudulu and Eddie Kadi take to the captains’ chairs with a whole heap of comedic chemistry! Join them and our fantastic guests as we uncover more hidden Black history. You’ll be surprised it’s true and then unsurprised you were never told it!
Starting Sunday 2 October @ 10.20pm on ITV, and running throughout Black History Month. #BHM
TriForce Productions has been nominated for two prestigious Royal Television Society North East & the Border Awards 2023. The company’s nominations for Comedy Entertainment and Breakthrough Talent (Eddie Kadi) for “Sorry I Didn’t Know”.
“Sorry I Didn’t Know” is a comedy panel show that tests the knowledge of celebrities on black history, culture, and achievements. The show has been praised for its ability to educate and entertain, and for providing a platform for black voices in the entertainment industry. TriForce Productions has been nominated for the Rising Star award for its work on “Sorry I Didn’t Know”. This nomination is a testament to the company’s commitment to promoting emerging talent and providing opportunities for people from all backgrounds to break into the industry.
The nominations for Comedy Entertainment and Breakthrough Talent (Eddie Kadi) are a testament to our commitment to showcasing diverse perspectives and giving underrepresented voices a platform in the industry. The Rising Star nomination is a recognition of the company’s efforts to support emerging talent and provide opportunities for people from all backgrounds to break into the industry.
TriForce Productions is leading the way in creating programming that is both entertaining and thought-provoking, and that reflects the diversity of the UK. The company’s success is proof that there is an audience out there for diverse programming and that there is a hunger for stories that reflect the experiences of people from all backgrounds.
