Trix Worrell

Trix Worrell writer, composer and director, was born in St. Lucia in the West Indies in 1960, and came to England at the age of five. As a teenager he worked with the Albany Theatre in South London, where he wrote and directed his first play, School's Out, in 1980. Worrell was educated at the National Film and Television School, where he took up writing, because there were so few good parts for black actors to play.

In 1984, he won Channel Four Television's "Debut New Writers" with his play Mohicans, which was broadcast as Like a Mohican in 1985. In the late 1980's, Channel Four was interested in commissioning a new sitcom, and Worrell contacted producer Humphrey Barclay to discuss possible ideas. On his way to the meeting, he saw a barber shop, with three barbers looking out the window ogling the women who were walking past. From this idea the popular series Desmond's was born.

Desmond's, starring Norman Beaton and Carmen Munroe, was one of Channel Four's most successful comedy programmes, producing seven series in five years, from 1989 to 1994. The setting of the programme was unique in that it was a Black sitcom based in the workplace. The comedy appealed to both black and white audiences.

Worrell received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Royal Television Society in 1998. His TV writing credits include: Desmonds, The Cosby...... ...
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