Empire Road

{{Short description|British television series}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}} {{Infobox television | image = | caption = | alt_name = | genre = [[Drama]] | creator = | developer = | writer = [[Michael Abbensetts]] | director = [[Alex Marshall (actor and director)|Alex Marshall]]<ref>Rugg, Akua, ''Brickbats & Bouquets: Black woman's critique'' (Race Today Publications, 1984), p. 43.</ref> | creative_director = | presenter = | starring = [[Norman Beaton]] [[Allister Bain]] [[Sheila Kelley (British actress)|Sheila Kelley]] Frances Cox [[Meg Johnson (actress)|Meg Johnson]] [[Thomas Baptiste]] [[Wayne Laryea]] Rosa Roberts | judges = | voices = | narrator = | theme_music_composer = | open_theme = | end_theme = | composer = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | num_series = 2 | num_episodes = 15 | list_episodes = | executive_producer = | producer = | editor = | location = | cinematography = | camera = | runtime = 30 minutes | company = | channel = [[BBC Two|BBC2]] | first_aired = {{start date|1978|10|31|df=y}} | last_aired = {{end date|1979|11|1|df=y}} | related = }} '''''Empire Road''''' is a [[British television]] series, made by the [[BBC]] in 1978 and 1979. Written by [[Michael Abbensetts]], the programme ran for two series.<ref name="Donnell2002">{{cite book|first=Karen |last=Ross|editor-link=Alison Donnell|editor=Alison Donnell|title=Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfdpdZ9DwH0C&pg=PA104–5|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-70025-7|pages=103–04|chapter=Empire Road}}</ref>

The series was the first British television series to be written, acted and directed predominantly by black artists. A [[soap opera]], similar in format to ''[[Coronation Street]]'', ''Empire Road'' depicted life for the [[British African-Caribbean community|African-Caribbean]], East Indian and South Asian residents of a racially diverse street in the city of [[Birmingham]].

Cast members included [[Norman Beaton]] (Everton Bennett), [[Corinne Skinner-Carter]] (Hortense Bennett), [[Wayne Laryea]], [[Joseph Marcell]], [[Rudolph Walker]] and Rosa Roberts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/535304/credits.html|title=Empire Road (1978–79) {{!}} Cast|website=Screenonline|publisher=[[British Film Institute|BFI]]|access-date=29 July 2023}}</ref> The programme also provided early TV exposure for [[Julie Walters]], who appeared in a few episodes. The series was made at [[Pebble Mill Studios|BBC Pebble Mill]] with location work in the [[Handsworth, West Midlands|Handsworth]] area of Birmingham.<ref name="x911">{{cite news| last=Bakare | first=Lanre | title=Five things you didn't know about Black British cultural history | newspaper=The Guardian | date=16 April 2025 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/apr/15/five-things-you-didnt-know-about-black-british-cultural-history | access-date=16 April 2025}}</ref>

The eponymously named theme song was recorded by the band [[Matumbi (band)|Matumbi]] and also released as a single in 1978.

The general premise of the series concerns the day-to-day life of a residential property landlord (Norman Beaton) who also owns a minimarket – where his brother-in-law is a junior partner – and sometimes deals with social concerns of the time, namely race issues, family issues and mixed relationships. Problems that arise are usually solved or at least calmed by the protagonist family's patriarch using reasoning based on his life experience, wisdom and common sense. Some of the younger characters affectionately regard him as a benign "godfather" figure. The patriarch's son runs a dry-cleaning business.

Norman Beaton later went on to star in the [[Channel 4]] comedy series ''[[Desmond's]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/490845/index.html|title=Desmond's (1988–94)|first=Ali|last=Jaafar|website=Screenonline|publisher=BFI|access-date=29 July 2023}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0196242|title=Empire Road}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20050507210342/http://www.action-tv.org.uk/guides/empireroad.htm Action TV] *[[Onyekachi Wambu]], [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/535304/index.html "Empire Road (1978–79)"], ''Screen Online'', [[British Film Institute]].

[[Category:1978 British television series debuts]] [[Category:1979 British television series endings]] [[Category:1970s British drama television series]] [[Category:BBC television soap operas]] [[Category:English-language British television shows]] [[Category:Television shows set in Birmingham, West Midlands]]