Desmonds was one of channel 4's most successful U.K sitcoms during the late 80s and what made it so appealing to mainstream and black audiences was the funny- yet well depicted life of a Black family led by 2 Jamaican born parents, Desmond and Shirley and their British born kids, Sean and Gloria.
Desmonds is the name of the barber shop, Desmond Ambrose runs alongside his wife Shirley. There are 4 other supporting characters: Tony, the token Caucasian who is a fellow barber, Porkpie and Matthew, the African who comes across as being very intellectual and offers a philosophical insight on life. Lastly is Desmond and Shirley's other son, the somewhat stuck-up and sophisticated Michael, who works in a bank.
What makes Desmonds different to every other Black sitcom that has been around on television and are on TV today firstly is it is mainly centred on Black British Caribbean culture, as opposed to African American Black culture in the U.S. It was not the first ever Black sitcom to air on TV but it was the first set in a work environment.
Many Black communities in the U.K and England, tend to be either of Jamaican or African descent in contrast to the U.S. Which explains a lot about the differences between Black British culture and Black American culture. Desmonds was a sitcom that showed the lives of a working man and his family and it gave us a glimpse of this infusion of Black British, Caribbean culture with some 'western' aspects and conventions of the sitcom genre.
Secondly, the humour is very quint-essentially British-like-like with a Caribbean flavour to it; it works so amazingly well.
Desmonds is well- written, very funny and the characters are very likable. I think it was a shame that as a result of Norman Beaton's death that the series had to end so prematurely. Had that not happened, then I could've seen it last for a few more series.
Desmond's was a great little sitcom- if you haven't seen it yet, I'd recommend that you do!
Desmonds is the name of the barber shop, Desmond Ambrose runs alongside his wife Shirley. There are 4 other supporting characters: Tony, the token Caucasian who is a fellow barber, Porkpie and Matthew, the African who comes across as being very intellectual and offers a philosophical insight on life. Lastly is Desmond and Shirley's other son, the somewhat stuck-up and sophisticated Michael, who works in a bank.
What makes Desmonds different to every other Black sitcom that has been around on television and are on TV today firstly is it is mainly centred on Black British Caribbean culture, as opposed to African American Black culture in the U.S. It was not the first ever Black sitcom to air on TV but it was the first set in a work environment.
Many Black communities in the U.K and England, tend to be either of Jamaican or African descent in contrast to the U.S. Which explains a lot about the differences between Black British culture and Black American culture. Desmonds was a sitcom that showed the lives of a working man and his family and it gave us a glimpse of this infusion of Black British, Caribbean culture with some 'western' aspects and conventions of the sitcom genre.
Secondly, the humour is very quint-essentially British-like-like with a Caribbean flavour to it; it works so amazingly well.
Desmonds is well- written, very funny and the characters are very likable. I think it was a shame that as a result of Norman Beaton's death that the series had to end so prematurely. Had that not happened, then I could've seen it last for a few more series.
Desmond's was a great little sitcom- if you haven't seen it yet, I'd recommend that you do!
