Delighted and excited to kick off a new series of the show with the much loved actor, Jimmy Akingbola.

Years ago I was lucky enough to see Jimmy on stage at the Crucible Theatre, in Blue/Orange, and since then his career has gone from strength to strength.

Whilst continuing to work prolifically on stage, including a memorable performance as Othello at the Hammersmith Lyric, Jimmy has developed a reputation as a scene-stealing comedy actor on TV; you might know him as crack-fiend Mick, from the BBC 1's Rev, or Valentine the exuberant DJ in in Sky One's In The Long Run, created by and starring Idris Elba.

More recently, Jimmy has taken on hosting duties in the comedy panel show Sorry I Didn't Know, which has been commisioned by ITV to mark Black History Month this October.

In his Mixtape Assembly, Jimmy reflects on the music, lyricism, and poetry that has inspired him to become the renowned actor he is today.

He talks about listening to the Wu-Tang Clan in his dressing room to get him hyped up to perform Chekov, ponders what Shakespeare would have made of Grime music's clashing culture, and reveals the time he had to hide from a sword-wielding angry mob who stormed the Birmingham Rep in 2004, whilst Jimmy was performing in the controversial play Behsti, or Dishonour, by British Sikh playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti...

TRACKLIST:

1. Wu-Tang Clan: Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F' Wit2. Wu-Tang Clan: Triumph 3. Wu-Tang Clan: Can It Be All So Simple4. William Shakespeare: Aaron's speech in Titus Andronicus, Act 5 Scene 15. Black Slate: Amigo6. Akala: Comedy, Tragedy, History7. The Five Stairsteps: Ooh Child8. Bashy: Black Boys9. Stevie Wonder: You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

Check out Jimmy's choices on the Spotify playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2TPgnGwj14zaGjJfiqUjrj?si=Vxk-Z1pzSQCoaPM7BQdhpw

Big up Clive from Accounts for the theme music, and Suspence and Janai for the backing vocals ;-)

Photo by Joseph Sinclair