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Empire Road was the first serious attempt at a long-running
drama on British television addressing Britain's growing multi-racial society.
Where sitcoms such as The Fosters (ITV, 1976-77), Love Thy Neighbour (1972-76)
and Mixed Blessings (1978-80) played it strictly for laughs, Empire Road
sought, like soap operas such as Coronation Street (ITV, 1960-), accurately to
depict reality with a combination of drama, comedy and tragedy.
Structured around the Bennett family, who live in the symbolically named
Empire Road in the heart of multi-racial Birmingham, the series brought together
some of the leading black actors of the day, extending settings and scenes which
had hitherto only be seen in one-off plays.
In the first episode of series two, 'The Shark' (directed by Horace Ové, tx.
23/8/1979), Mary, a Nigerian mother, returns home to find
her door padlocked by her landlord, Sebastian Moses. He is a
notorious Handsworth-based landlord, now spreading his reach into Empire Road.
Everton Bennett, the area's traditional Godfather, realises his
status is under threat. He resolves to give Moses a dose of his own medicine by carrying out a sting operation in which Moses will be publicly humiliated. The plan steers a fine line between menace and comedy (though in these more sensitive times we could do without the racist and unfunny anti-Irish and
anti-African jokes).
When Moses discovers he has been outwitted, the enmity with Everton is
deepened - and a bitter rivalry worthy of any long-running series is set up.
Despite these promising possibilities, Empire Road ran for just two seasons, a victim of internal BBC politics, lack of promotion, and poor viewing figures.
Onyekachi Wambu
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1. Sebastian the Shark (9:41)
