Desmond's is a television comedy series that was broadcast by Channel 4 from 5 January 1989 to 19 December 1994. Desmond's stared Norman Beaton as father and barber Desmond Ambrose, And Carmen Monroe as his wife Shirley. Along with their children Michael who dreams of becoming manager of the bank, Gloria chasing a job in fashion and Sean working to go to university. Revolving around their shop that is a gathering place for an assortment of local characters. Including Matthew a mature student and philosopher from the West Indies and Porkpie, Desmond's oldest friend. The show is set in Peckham, London, and ran for 71 episodes, signing off with an hour long Christmas special. The series was created by Trix Worrell who when at 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. The idea for the series came to Trix Worrell While on the bus to the meeting, his bus stopped by the barber shop he went to during his childhood. He 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. The last episode, the Desmond's Christmas Special was already announced as the last ever Desmond's episodes when Norman Beaton unfortunately died a few days before the transmission. Following the end of Desmond's in 1994, a spin-off series was made with Desmond's regular Porkpie in the title role. It ran for twelve episodes over two series in 1995 and 1996.
