Desmond's

Desmond's

Desmond's Titles
Genre Sitcom
Created by Trix Worrell
Starring Norman Beaton
Carmen Munroe
Ram John Holder
Gyearbuor Asante
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 6
No. of episodes 71 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Al Mitchell
Humphrey Barclay
Producer(s) Humphrey Barclay
Charlie Hanson
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time 70x25 min
1x50 min
Release
Original network Channel 4
Picture format 4:3
Original release 5 January 1989 (1989-01-05) – 19 December 1994 (1994-12-19)
Chronology
Followed by Porkpie

Desmond's is a British television situation comedy broadcast by Channel 4 from 1989 to 1994. With 71 episodes, Desmond's became Channel 4's longest-running sitcom.[1] The first series was shot in 1988, with the first episode broadcast in January 1989. The show was made in and set in Peckham, south-east London, England and featured a predominantly Black British Guyanese cast.

Conceived and co-written by Trix Worrell, and produced by Charlie Hanson and Humphrey Barclay,[2] this series starred Norman Beaton as barber Desmond Ambrose. Desmond's shop was a gathering place for an assortment of local characters.

Notability

While the show was not the first black (or predominantly black) British television situation comedy (The Fosters, 1976-77[3]), it was the first to be set mainly in the workplace,[2] which provided an insight on black family life different from those seen before on British television.[4] The characters had aspirations (Desmond to return to Guyana, Michael to run his own branch of the bank, Gloria to get a job in fashion, Sean to get to university) and were socially mobile.[2] The vast majority of the crew were also black.[5]

Characters

Much of the success of the show came from the dynamics and relationships both within the Ambrose family and the other characters in the show who spent time in the shop.[4]

The Ambrose family

The Ambroses are the central family around which the show was built.

Other characters

Theme song

The series theme song "Don't Scratch My Soca", performed by Beaton was used in the opening credits throughout the entire run. At the beginning of Series 5, the theme received an update, with more percussion. The instrumental was used as the basis for an old song by the Georgetown Dreamers, Desmond's old band in one episode.

Prejudice

Worrell was keen to show that prejudice existed not just between broad ethnic groups, but also within them.[2] While Matthew was the frequent butt of jokes from the West Indian characters, particularly Porkpie and Desmond, he was always keen to point out the strength of African history with his regular interjection, "There's an old African saying...".[4]

Legacy

The show had a unique method of team writing[2] that raised the profile of some writers, notably playwright Michael J. Ellis, who went on to work on other shows, including the BBC's all-black sketch show The Real McCoy, and Worrell himself went on to work in films.

Reruns aired in the USA on BET in the early-1990s. The show continued to be popular, running on NYCTV as part of their Caribbean programming on Sunday nights in the late-1990s. As of January 2007, the network still airs reruns of Desmond's from time to time. From 1997 until late 2000, Paramount Comedy reran the show. Trouble TV, in the U.K., began showing re-runs of Desmond's in September 2007.

Desmond's was featured on the BBC Radio 4 programme Britain in a Box on 11 May 2013.[1]

On 14 January 2013, The Africa Channel International (Sky 209 & Virgin Media 828) relaunched Desmond's - weeknights at 7pm and 11pm.[6] In November 2015, London Live acquired the repeat rights.

The full series was published for viewing on 4oD through YouTube. With 71 episodes produced, it remains Channel 4's longest running sitcom in terms of the number of episodes produced.

Media releases

Region 2 DVD

Channel 4 DVD has released the first two series on DVD in the UK. Series One was released on 1 October 2007.[7] Series Two was released on 14 April 2008.[8]

Region 1 DVD

Visual Entertainment has begun releasing Desmond's on DVD in Canada. To date they have released the first four series of the show on DVD. Series 1 and 2 were released on 27 March 2007.[9] Series 3 was released on 3 November 2009.[10] On 2 March 2010, VEI released Desmond's- The Collection: Series One to Four, a 7-disc set featuring all episodes from the first four seasons.[11]

On demand

All six series are available to stream in the UK on the Channel 4 service 4oD.

Follow-up

Following the death of Norman Beaton in 1994, a spin-off series was made with Porkpie in the title role. This ran for two series in 1995 and 1996.

References

  1. 1 2 Paul Jackson, "Desmond's", Britain in a Box, BBC Radio 4, 11 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Sarita Malik. "Desmond's". Encyclopedia of Television. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
  3. Ali Jaafar, "Fosters, The (1976-77)", BFI Screenonline.
  4. 1 2 3 Ali Jaafar. "Screenonline: Desmond's (1988-94)". Retrieved 2008-02-27.
  5. "Desmond's", British Comedy Guide.
  6. Williams, Hazelann (2013-01-26). "It's about time they brought back Desmond's". The Voice Online. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  7. "Buy Desmond's: Series 1 online at Play.com and read reviews. Free delivery to UK and Europe!". Play.com. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
  8. Archived 1 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  9.  ~ *Desmonds DVD. "Desmonds: The Complete First and Second Series: Amazon.ca: Desmonds: DVD". Amazon.ca. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
  10. "Desmond's DVD news: Announcement for Desmond's - The Complete 3rd Series". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
  11. "Desmond's DVD news: Announcement for Desmond's - The Collection: Series 1 to 4". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 2012-12-26.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, February 10, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.