Desmond's (1989–94) was a British sitcom by Channel Four; it was one of their longest sitcoms of all time and managed to have a brief spin-off series in 1995.
Desmond's was set in a hair salon in Peckham, South-London and had a large black ensemble cast, which was one of the first in British televisionnote . It centered around the Ambrose family, but mostly the owner of salon Desmond Ambrose, who is constantly called out as a terrible barber by his family. The rest of his family provided the rest of the comedy, which came from the generation and culture gap between the very West Indian parents Desmond and Shirley, and their very English children, Michael, Gloria and Sean.
This show provides examples of:
- British Brevity: A considerable aversion, by Brit Com standards. All seasons except the first ran for 13 episodes, ending up with a total of 71 over six years - and it would have run for longer if star Norman Beaton hadn't suddenly died.
- Catchphrase: Matthew had "There's an old African saying..."
- There was also the routine where the others ask him what his university lecture of the day is, and he replies with something pretentious, to which the others respond "aww".
- Desmond will often respond to praise and compliments with a smug "Me know."
- Christmas Episode: Was also the final episode of the final series.
- Clark Kent Outfit: Sean, Michael and Lee are rather more muscular than their clothes usually suggest.
- Comically Missing the Point: Sean's friend Spider, when renouncing his own career in Slackness music, says "I don't wanna be Britain's answer to Shabba Ranks. I am not ugly".
- Composite Character: In Series 6, there was a pompous slut called Hyacinth Green, whose name and character traits are a hybrid of Hyacinth Bucket of Keeping Up Appearances and Dorien Green of Birds of a Feather.
- Double Standard: Matthew, who is himself married and with children back in the Gambia, gets angry when he learns his Nigerian girlfriend Shola is also married back in Lagos.
- '80s Hair: Plenty of biiiiiiig hair, particularly since it's a show set in a salon.
- The '80s: Michael is the archetypal 80s Yuppie, with double-breasted suit and enormous and presumably madly expensive mobile phone.
- Everyone Has Standards: Porkpie, who has an history of infidelity, is nevertheless disgusted by Matthew and his support for polygamy.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Susu and Shirley respectively.
- Frivolous Lawsuit: An American pastor whose wife left him over suspicions of adultery, and who was subsequently defrocked, decides that the trim he got from Desmond is the root cause of all his problems and proceeds to sue.
- Maintain the Lie: In the episode "Porkpies", the gang rally round to convince perpetual student Matthew's sister and brother-in-law that he's graduated and is a successful businessman.
- Only Known By His Nickname: Porkpie's real name is Augustus Neapolitan Cleveland Grant. This is almost never used.
- Out of Focus: Gloria and Sean featured noticeably less often than before in the last three series.
- Out with a Bang: Sweetsticks, the former bandmate turned rival of Desmond and Porkpie, reportedly dies while having sex with a younger woman.
- Person with the Clothing: Porkpie, so named because of his porkpie hat.
- Really Gets Around: Michael and allegedly Lee. Also guest star Melissa, who dates those two men and another one at the same time.
- Rich Language, Poor Language: Michael and to a lesser extent Matthew versus most other characters.
- Second Episode Introduction: Michael first appeared in the second episode while Tony is introduced in the third.
- Shout-Out: There are references to The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and You've Been Framed.
- Joseph Marcell from the second of those programmes guest stars in one episode as a pompous African businessman.
- Spinoff: Porkpie, in which the titular character wins the lottery shortly after Desmond's death. It ran for two series (12 episodes in total).
- Thematic Theme Tune:From the long warm nights with the ocean breeze,
To the damp and to the rain of London city.
We come from the sun to live in the cold,
I miss my rum, I want my coconut tree. - The Whitest Black Guy: Desmond's son fails a school assignment for writing an essay on being young, black and British because his teacher feels it has too much of a middle-class perspective. Or as his sister puts it "They're saying he's not black enough!"
- Those Two Guys: Matthew and Porkpie.
- Token White: Tony, whose addition to the cast was due to executive meddling. (At least, according to The Other Wiki). Also, Gloria's friend Louise.
- Where da White Women At?: At least half of Michael's lovers, including his eventual wife Mandy, are White.
