Humphrey Barclay

Humphrey Barclay BEM (born 24 March 1941, Dorking, Surrey, England) is a British comedy executive and producer. Quotes It seems we make sitcoms work by luck rather than design.[The American method] They fund a sitcom expensively right up front because they know if they get it right it'll make everybody's fortune. [On pitching ideas to programme commissioners] When I am turned down, my first thought may be that the person concerned is an idiot. But perhaps he isn't. Perhaps what I am offering has simply got to be better. From an interview, as cited in "Funny Money", Sunday Telegraph (7Days magazine, 21 January 1990), p. 47 I feel there is terrible prejudice [...] I think it's to do with laziness and preconceptions principally laziness and fear on the part of the establishment. I have a reasonably wide knowledge of the black talent available on paper and on stage and am constantly amazed by it. I have a feeling that people in the seats of power in television entertainment don't know about it because they haven't bothered to explore it. From an interview, as cited in "Changing the picture", The Guardian (24 October 1991), p. 38 Barclay's production company was responsible for the situation comedy Desmond's, a rare British series with an almost exclusively African Caribbean cast. About Barclay Humphrey can't be left to do it on his own. It's not enough for the industry to say: "Of course, we're doing out bit for racial equality — we've got Humphrey Barclay, haven't we?" Lenny Henry, as cited in "Lenny's race against prejudice", The Daily Telegraph (23 January 1993), p. 19 According to the article, Barclay had cast Henry (then still in his teens) in the sitcom The Fosters (1976–77), the first British television comedy series with a largely African Caribbean cast. External links {{DEFAULTSORT:Barclay< Humphrey}} Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:Illustrators Category:Cartoonists Category:University of Cambridge alumni