I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue is a BBC radio comedy panel game. Billed as "the antidote to panel games", it consists of two teams of two comedians being given "silly things to do" by a chairman. The show was launched in April 1972 as a parody of radio and TV panel games, and has been broadcast since on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, with repeats aired on BBC Radio 4 Extra and, in the 1980s and 1990s, on BBC Radio 2. The 50th series was broadcast in November and December 2007.
The show's panel (including guest panellist Jeremy Hardy, top middle) with host Jack Dee (bottom row, left) in 2010.
(L-R) Ross Noble, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Humphrey Lyttelton, producer Jon Naismith, Graeme Garden and Barry Cryer during a 2005 recording. Naismith is sitting in the chair reserved for "Samantha".
Rob Brydon (centre) chairs the Newcastle recording of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. Also pictured are Tim Brooke-Taylor (low left) and Colin Sell (top left). The chair next to Brydon with the microphone is 'used' by "Samantha"
Humphrey Lyttelton and producer Jon Naismith during a 2005 recording of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue at the Edinburgh Fringe.
A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participate. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on Match Game and Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. The genre can be traced to 1938, when Information Please debuted on U.S. radio. The earliest known television panel show is Play the Game, a charades show in 1946. The modern trend of comedy panel shows can find early roots with Stop Me If You've Heard This One in 1939 and Can You Top This? in 1940. While panel shows were more popular in the past in the U.S., they are still very common in the United Kingdom.
A recording of radio panel show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, featuring, from left, announcer and scorekeeper Carl Kasell; host Peter Sagal; and panelists Adam Felber, Roxanne Roberts and Keegan-Michael Key before a live audience.
Panellists and host John Charles Daly on What's My Line?, in 1952