Norman Beaton in London's West End. In 1970 he played the role of Ariel in Shakespeare's "The Tempest", which he described in his autobiography as "the most important role of my acting career", and also played a small role in the Frankie Howerd comedy film "Up the Chastity Belt" the following year. In 1975, he helped to establish the Black Theatre of Brixton. In 1975 Beaton played Nanki-Poo in "The Black Mikado", a modern version of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado". In 1976, Beaton broke into television in the series "The Fosters", which also featured a young Lenny Henry, and the following
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