Michael Grade Management & Representation. Among the artists whom Grade represented were Morecambe and Wise (he successfully negotiated the duo's defection from ATV to BBC2 in 1968) and Larry Grayson. Grade entered the television industry in 1973 when he joined London Weekend Television (LWT) as Deputy Controller of Programmes (Entertainment). During this time he bought the scripts of an Afro-American sitcom "Good Times" which had an all-black cast. Adapted as "The Fosters" (1976–77), it became the first British sitcom to have an entirely black cast. At LWT, Grade worked with both John Birt and Greg Dyke. After he became Director of Programmes
Norman Beaton He played the lead role of Willie Boy in the 1987 TV comedy "Playing Away" (directed by Horace Ové, from a screenplay by Caryl Phillips), about a West Indian cricket team invited to play a rural white team. Beaton also appeared in several movies, including "The Mighty Quinn" (1989). He appeared as a guest on "The Cosby Show" in 1991 (episode: "There's Still No Joy in Mudville"), and in the 1994 television serial "Little Napoleons". His autobiography, "Beaton But Unbowed", was published in 1986. After years of hard living began taking its toll on his health, in 1994 Beaton retired