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
British sitcom short lived Roman Britain sitcom Chelmsford 123 (1988–1990) which has fallen into relative obscurity. The new Channel 4 began to have successful long-running situation comedies. "Desmond's" (1989–94) was the first British sitcom with a black cast set in the workplace, and "Drop the Dead Donkey" (1990–98) brought topicality to the form as it was recorded close to transmission. Some of the biggest hits of the 1990s were "Father Ted", "Men Behaving Badly", "Game On", "Absolutely Fabulous", "I'm Alan Partridge", "Keeping Up Appearances", "Goodnight Sweetheart", "Bottom", "The Brittas Empire", "The Thin Blue Line", "Mr. Bean", "The Vicar of Dibley" and "One