95 ARTICLE ‘Who is Sir Curtis Seretse?’: A Re-evaluation of Black Representation in Sixties British Television DR. MICHAEL AHMED, University of East Anglia ABSTRACT This paper re-evaluates the significance of Sir Curtis Seretse, a black character from the 1960s television series Department S (ITV 1969-70) which has largely been ignored. While earlier critical and academic discourse of Department S has primarily centred on the flamboyant Jason King, the importance of Seretse’ s character has been overlooked. Seretse, as the head of Department S, is in a position of authority and power over the other (white) characters of the show. Furthermore, he represents a highly educated character that converses on equal terms with Prime Ministers and Presidents, a unique representation of a black character on British television at that time. Seretse’ s appearance on prime time television, at a period when black performers in the media were invariably confined to little more than token characters, is therefore worthy of further attention. This paper examines how Seretse represents a different type of black character not previously seen on British television, when compared to the representations of racial problems on other television crime dramas. KEYWORDS Black Representation; British Drama; Cult; Race; Department S; Sir Curtis Seretse Introduction: ITC and Popular British Television Drama ITC (Incorporated Television Programme Co.) was founded in 1954 by the theatrical businessmen Lew Grade, Leslie Grade, Prince Littler and Val Parnell. The company was setup to bid for the new Independent Television franchises following the publication of the newly elected Conservative government’s Television Bill. The Bill was intended, as Scannell (1990) has noted, ‘to establish commercial television, funded by advertising’ (17) that would also become an alternative broadcaster to the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), which had, up until this time, held the monopoly of British television. The group at ITC failed in their bid to obtain one of the new broadcasting franchises, and turned the company into an independent production company. Within a year, it became a subsidiary of another successful franchise holder, ATV (Associated Television), which gave ITC programmes access to British broadcasting facilities. In addition, ITC productions were primarily directed towards popular entertainment, as reflected in their extensive creative output, from historical dramas like The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (ITC 1956-57) and The Buccaneers (ITC 1956-57), to children’s adventure shows like Thunderbirds (ITC 1965-66) and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (ITC 1967-68), as well as light entertainment programmes like The Muppet Show (ITC/Henson 1976-81). Following the success, both nationally and internationally, of the historical adventure series The Adventures of Robin Hood (ITC 1955-59), ITC began to specialise in action series