‘You didn’t go there to get your hair cut!’ – how we made Desmond’s

Trix Worrell, creator and writer

When I was at the National Film and Television School, Channel 4 was running a writers’ competition. Unbeknown to me, one of the actors in a play I’d written and directed sent my script off. When I got the call saying I’d won, I went, “Oh, fuck off!” and hung up, thinking it was a joke.

But I got another call saying Humphrey Barclay, a producer, wanted to talk to me about doing a comedy. I thought: “I don’t really do comedy.” But I went to meet him, because he’s a legend. And on the bus there, we stopped on Queens Road in Peckham, London. I saw this barber’s called Fair Deal that I went to as a kid. It got me thinking.

When I hit Humphrey’s office, I said: “I’ve got this idea set in a barber’s shop.” His face dropped all the way to Australia. He went: “Do you know how many sitcoms I get sent a week set in a barber’s shop?” I went: “This is not a barber’s shop – this is a community centre. This is where people can see, for the first time, a successful Black man running his own business. You don’t go there to get your hair cut! You go there to eat, watch sport and talk bollocks. You might get your haircut – but only if you give yourself three to four hours!”

As soon as we started recording, the reaction was unbelievable. We were shooting in front of a live audience – and when jokes hit, they really went for it. People were laughing so hard, the sound man started complaining. It was so loud, we worried we wouldn’t be able to use the take. We’d have to say to the crowd: “Can you calm it down a bit?”

Black Entertainment Television, a TV network in America, started showing Desmond’s which gave us a great platform. I met Whitney Houston, who told me how much she loved the show. I worked with Diddy. In fact, a lot of rappers were into Desmond’s big time. Ice Cube was a big fan – if you watch his first Barbershop film, it’s not too far from an episode of Desmond’s.

I never wrote Desmond’s for Black people, though. I wrote it for white people. As far as certain newspapers were concerned, Black people patented mugging, but I wanted to show what actually happened behind closed doors. But do you know what gave me the greatest amount of joy about the show? The fact that its largest audience was in Northern Ireland. In a place where there weren’t Black communities, I was able to show them what we were really about.

Ram John Holder, played Porkpie

The BBC had offered me the lead part in a six-episode series, but I chose Desmond’s instead, because I loved the character of Porkpie. I just got him. It was also very attractive to me that Norman Beaton [who played Desmond] was going to be in the show. I’d known him for years and had worked with him before – I knew it would be good if he was involved.

On set, it was such a marvellous, happy ensemble. The way we collaborated with each other and the camaraderie was great. We knew the neighbourhood, we knew those characters. We loved how it had been written. Norman and myself used to say: how can Trix, this young guy, get all these nuances of these West Indian characters? He was 30 years younger than us. He was a young boy. And he had somehow managed to create this incredible thing.

View image in fullscreen

I realised it was a hit after the very first series. When I’d go to the streets in my neighbourhood, people would start shouting, asking for my autograph, or running after me. In the early days, they’d always shout: “Desmond!” It didn’t matter who your character was. Even Carmen Munroe, who played Desmond’s wife Shirley, had “Desmond!” shouted at her.

The thing I’m proudest of is that we reached people all over the world. I went to New York during the show’s run and the taxi driver from Kennedy airport wouldn’t take my fare! He said: “No, you’ve already given me so much pleasure!” And when I went to the Wembley concert to celebrate Nelson Mandela being released from prison, I actually met him. When he saw me, he did a double take – because he watched Desmond’s.