Black British Comedy: Desmond’s and the Changing Face of Television

Abstract

For most viewers in most countries and in most periods, watching television has involved looking at the faces of other people — people they have not usually met in person, (Frosh 90)

When Desmond’s was launched by Channel 4 on 5 January 1989, it was the first situation comedy series in Britain to be created and scripted by a black writer of African Caribbean descent. It was a landmark series in a number of ways, notwithstanding the fact that it remains Channel 4’s longest-running situation comedy series, but also for the acting credentials of its cast. The celebrated actor Norman Beaton starred as Desmond Ambrose, a grumpy barbershop owner from Guyana, while Desmond’s long-suffering wife Shirley was played by another stalwart figure of British post-war theatre, Carmen Munroe (who, together with Mona Hammond, Yvonne Brewster and Inigo Espejel, had founded Talawa Theatre, Britain’s premier black-led company, only four years previously). Set in the south-east London area of Peckham in Desmond’s barbershop, the premises are used as a gathering place for his family of three children Michael (Geff Francis), Gloria (Kim Walker), Sean (Justin Pickett), his friend Porkpie (Ram John Holder) and Porkpie’s adversary, the African perpetual student Matthew (Gyearbuour Asante), and a variety of locals.