Desmond's is a British television sitcom broadcast by Channel 4 from 5 January 1989 to 19 December 1994. Conceived and co-written by Trix Worrell, and produced by Charlie Hanson and Humphrey Barclay, Desmond's stars Norman Beaton as barber Desmond Ambrose, whose shop is a gathering place for an assortment of local characters. The show is set in Peckham, London, and features a predominantly black British Guyanese cast. With 71 episodes, Desmond's became Channel 4's longest running sitcom in terms of episodes.

Notability

While the show was not the first black (or predominantly black) British television situation comedy (The Fosters, produced by London Weekend Television, aired 1976–77), Desmond's was the first to be set mainly in the workplace, providing an insight into black family life different from what had been seen before on British television. 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 go to university) and were socially mobile. The vast majority of the crew were also black. Worrell wanted to show that prejudice existed not just between broad ethnic groups, but also within them. The show reveals antagonism between recent African immigrants and established Caribbeans based on their differences in aspirations. While Matthew was the frequent butt of jokes from the West Indian characters, particularly Porkpie and Desmond, he also regularly pointed out the strength of African history with his repeated interjection, "There's an old African saying..." In 1989, Channel 4 described Desmond's as "the most instantly popular home-grown situation comedy in the channel's history," with the series appealing to a broad spectrum of the British public. The series had an average viewership per episode of 3.5 million people. Desmond's continued to perform well in subsequent years, scoring consistently in the channel's Top 20 programmes. By 1993, Desmond's was still considered Channel 4's most popular home-grown sitcom. Speaking about his experiences while visiting Jamaica, Norman Beaton said he was "known in virtually every parish" because of his role in Desmond's.

Creation

While Trix Worrell was at the National Film and Television School, he won a writers' competition organised by Channel 4, which led to producer Humphrey Barclay contacting him about writing a comedy. Although apprehensive about the idea of writing a comedy, Worrell agreed to a meeting with Barclay. While on the bus to the meeting, his bus stopped by the barber shop he went to during his childhood. Worrell got the idea to create a comedy set in a barber's shop that servers more as a community centre, which was the idea he pitched to Barclay.

Production

Desmond's was filmed with a multi-camera setup in front of a live studio audience of three hundred people, with the audience's laughter and reactions recorded into the episode audio. To dispel the misconception that the laughter was a dubbed track added in post-production, an audience participation moment was left in Series 4, Episode 5, "Calypso." In a scene with Desmond writing a song for Shirley with very simple lyrics, the audience shouts out the last word of the verse. Episodes were filmed at the LWT Tower in Lambeth, Central London.

Characters

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

The Ambrose family

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

Other characters

Episodes

During the course of the series, 71 episodes of Desmond's aired between 1989 and 1994. Desmond's ran for 6 series. 70 episodes had a runtime of 30 minutes, while the final episode had a runtime of 60 minutes. The last episode, the Desmond's Christmas Special was already announced as the last ever Desmond's episodes when Norman Beaton died a few days before the transmission of said episode.

Theme song

The series theme song "Don't Scratch My Soca," performed by Beaton, was used in the opening credits throughout the entire run. A version without the vocals was used in the closing credits. At the beginning of Series 5, the theme received an update which added more percussion. The instrumental was used as the basis for a song by The Georgetown Dreamers, Desmond's old band. The full theme was released on Apple Music on June 21, 2021, and as a limited edition 7" vinyl on October 1, 2021.

Accolades

Desmond's won the British Comedy Award for Best C4 Sitcom in 1992. In 1994, Desmond's was nominated for a BAFTA Award under the category of Comedy Programme or Series. Desmond's (Humphrey Barclay Productions) won the Team Award at the 1994 Royal Television Society Programme Awards. Norman Beaton was awarded the Royal Television Society Best Comedy Performer Award for his role as Desmond Ambrose in 1994. A clip from Series 1, Episode 6, "Sad News" was used in the segment celebrating British film and television in the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

Legacy

The show had a unique method of team writing that raised the profile of some writers, such as playwright Michael J. Ellis, who later worked on other shows, including the BBC's all-black sketch show The Real McCoy, and Worrell himself, who became a film writer. Desmond's was featured on the BBC Radio 4 programme Britain in a Box on 11 May 2013. In 2018, the British Film Institute (BFI) partnered with We Are Parable for that year's Comedy Genius season. We Are Parable were commissioned by the BFI to create a barbershop experience to celebrate Desmond's for a project titled The Comedy Cuts Barbershop. A pop-up barbershop inspired by Desmond's was created and toured around various locations in the United Kingdom in 2018 and 2019, including a pre-existing barbershop. The series was screened during these events. In 2019, Channel 4 and Gal-dem collaborated for Black History Month by curating a Black British History collection highlighting the impact of black British content creators on television. Desmond's was one of the six titles covered in this collection.

Streaming

The full series was published for viewing on All 4 through YouTube. With 71 episodes, it remains Channel 4's longest running sitcom in terms of the number of episodes produced. The complete series was added to Netflix UK between 8 October 2021 to 2 October 2023. In the UK, Desmond's is available for streaming via the Channel 4 website.

Re-runs

Home media

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. Series Two was released on 13 April 2008.

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. Series 3 was released on 3 November 2009. On 2 March 2010, VEI released Desmond's- The Collection: Series One to Four, a seven-disc set featuring all episodes from the first four seasons.

On demand

All six seasons are available to stream in the UK on the Channel 4 service All 4 and through the streaming services Amazon Prime and Netflix.

Follow-up

Following the end of Desmond's in 1994, a spin-off series was made with Porkpie in the title role. It ran for twelve episodes over two series in 1995 and 1996.