Desmond’s star Carmen Munroe made a dame
The actress was best known for her role as Shirley Ambrose, the wife of the barber in the British sitcom Desmond’s, which ran from 1989 to 1994.
Desmond’s star Carmen Munroe has been made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to drama in the New Year Honours list.
Dame Carmen, 92, is best known for her role as Shirley Ambrose, the caring wife of London barber Desmond Ambrose (Norman Beaton) in the 1980s and 1990s Channel 4 sitcom.
Born in Guyana in 1932, she came to Britain in 1951 to study optometry before getting the acting bug through a drama group and making her stage debut on London’s West End at Wyndham’s Theatre in 1962.
She went on to present the BBC’s educational children’s programme Play School, while in the 1960s she had a stint on Doctor Who, and The Persuaders! during the 1970s alongside Sir Roger Moore and Tony Curtis.
In Desmond’s, which originally aired for six series between 1989 and 1994, she was influential in one of the lead roles and credited the sitcom with putting black voices on screen and in production.
Dame Carmen founded black theatre company Talawa in 1986 alongside Mona Hammond, Inigo Espegel and Yvonne Brewster to provide opportunities to diverse actors in response to marginalisation.
It has gone on to put on more than 50 award-winning touring productions throughout the UK.
In 2007, Dame Carmen became an OBE in the 2007 Birthday Honours for her services to drama.
Recently, Dame Carmen appeared in the CBBC children’s drama show The Dumping Ground, a spin-off to The Story Of Tracy Beaker, and on Holby City as a therapist.
In 2023, she was one of 10 pioneering members of the Windrush generation who had their portraits commissioned by the King to mark 75 years since the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush on British shores.
Dame Carmen has also taken on theatre roles including in George Bernard Shaw’s The Apple Cart and Alun Owen’s There’ll Be Some Changes Made, as well as directing James Saunders’ play Alas, Poor Fred for the Umoja Theatre.
Her eldest sister Daphne Steele is credited as the “first black matron” in the NHS and was given the first official blue plaque outside London earlier this year.
