A Comedy On This Day: Desmond's - Hold De Front Page Part II (5 February 1990, also Part 1, 29 January 1990)

 The second run of Desmond's is a series flying with confidence and optimism. You can hear it in the audience's enthusiastic responses - at seeing characters and places that they recognise who have rarely been shown on television before - and see their appreciation lift the performances of the large ensemble of inexperienced actors, experienced performers like Ram John Holder (Porkpie) who haven't had much TV exposure before, and major actors who have rarely been given TV leads before (Carmen Munro and Norman Beaton).

 Now given a 13-episode run by Channel 4 (series one had six) Desmond's had the space to try new things out and take some risks. Such as doing a two-part story with a cliffhanger, the tale of an armed siege at Desmond's barber shop. The first part works very well, because of the surprise and novelty of the situation, to which all the regulars respond in character.

 This second part is more problematic, with the situation escalating beyond the shop into exterior scenes of the police responding in the street and an attempt at a satirical portrait of the media reaction, which don't exactly play to the comedy's strengths. The problem created by the situation - combining a convincing siege drama with a funny comedy - becomes more and more problematic to deal with, and the acting holds the story together by the end, particularly Carmen Munro's innate ability to convey maternal authority.