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RTTP: BBC's Desmond's - A great show from the early 90's

vivftp

vivftp

Member
Oct 29, 2017
19,783
Desmonds-Cast-pic-copy.jpg

Desmond's is a British television situation comedy broadcast by Channel 4 from 1989 to 1994. Conceived and co-written by Trix Worrell, and produced by Charlie Hanson and Humphrey Barclay,[SUP][1][/SUP] 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.
Wiki Page

Lately I've been rewatching the BBC show Desmond's on Youtube. My family used to watch it back in the 90's and it's just as funny and great today as it was back then. It's like a better, more realistic Cosby Show (Bill Cosby's craziness aside) that offers a ton of humor, great family bonding moments and a memorable cast.

As a person who comes from a Guyanese family who immigrated to Canada in the 80's I think this show held a special place for my parents at the time since it was about a Guyanese family who immigrated to England. To this day they watch 1 or 2 episodes a night.

Anyone else use to, or still do watch this show? I love it so much I thought it needed some love and created this thread :)

Here's the first episode on Youtube, this person seems to have the whole series uploaded. A shame they couldn't include the theme song but I've linked that further below.


 
Atrophis

Atrophis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,172
I used to watch it a lot as teen. I've been meaning to check it out again as I think I'd appreciate it and get a lot more out of it now. It's available on UK Netflix. Great show though and a banging theme tune.
 
Humidex

Humidex

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,251
Used to watch Desmond's. Terrific show, great theme tune as well. We won't see anything with as much sincerity now.
www.theguardian.com

Desmond's at 30: 'I wrote it for white people'

The tale of Peckham’s most inept barber is Britain’s most successful black sitcom. On its 30th anniversary, its creator and star talk guns, dominoes – and why more writers of colour need to be heard
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
davidnolan13

davidnolan13

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,544
north east uk
i used to love desmonds back in the day and when i was flicking through netflix and that theme came on ah man its instantly recognisable. i might get round to rewatching it while netflix has it.
 

Deleted member 16516

User requested account closure
Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,427
I rewatched it recently expecting the depiction of black people to be problematic considering the time period it was made in, but no, its still a very respectable and nuanced show that treats black people with a certian degree of respect. Still worth watching.
 

bawjaws

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,586
From my perspective as someone not from the community portrayed in the show, it was amazing to see a black sitcom that promoted positive examples of British black culture and community, especially at a time when the media was creating a shitstorm of negative stories about gang violence and drugs, for example.

And it was a genuinely good show, too, as well as being culturally and historically significant as the first original UK black sitcom. I think I'm going to have to go back and rewatch some episodes.
 
kradical

kradical

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,570
Loved it. Was thrilling for me to see a Guyanese family front and centre on prime time tv
 
IDreamOfHime

IDreamOfHime

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,463
Your 1st sentence says it was a Channel 4 show, haha.

But yes Desmond's was awesome. I also had a soft spot for it's short lived spinoff Pork Pie.
 
slider

slider

Member
Nov 10, 2020
2,720
Watched it when I was younger. It's weird what the passage of time does but having randomly remembered it a little while ago I wondered if it would have aged badly. Glad to hear the positivity about it.
 
Dan Thunder

Dan Thunder

Member
Nov 2, 2017
14,094
Used to watch it as a kid purely for the comedy but through adult eyes it was a hugely progressive series. Shame that it never really saw a huge increase in non-white cultural programming on terrestrial TV. There was stuff like The Real McCoy and Goodness Gracious Me but it's definitely been a slow process. Maybe if it had been on the BBC rather than Channel 4 it might have been seen as a more broad appeal series.

Hopefully the recent commercial and criitical success of the likes of I May Destroy You, Noughts and Crosses and Small Axe on the BBC rather than something like Netflix will go some way to redressing the balance.
 
toy_brain

toy_brain

Member
Nov 1, 2017
2,207
I used to watch it every week when I was a kid, though I can barely remember any of it, other than an episode about buying a TV licence, and maybe there was one where they talked about going to see Jurassic Park?
Oh, and whenever things were taking place in the main Barber's shop set (which felt like most of the show), I always thought "Dude, quit nattering and cut that poor mans hair! He's been sitting there for hours!"
 
Red Liquorice

Red Liquorice

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,083
UK
Yeah watched it at the time, it was on in the post-tea time slot or a bit later 6-8pm? Desmonds, Games Master, Crystal Maze. C4 had me covered as a teenager!
 
OP
OP
vivftp

vivftp

Member
Oct 29, 2017
19,783
Great to see a lot of love for the show around here :)

Also, GREAT episode!

 
Dabanton

Dabanton

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,918
Amazing show. Episodes still standup to viewing.

I actually grew up in Peckham. I remember how excited I was when I got my haircut at the barbers they used for desmonds.
 
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