Bernard Black

Bernard Ludwig Black is the titular protagonist villain of the E4 Comedy series Black Books. He is an alcoholic, misanthropic, obnoxious, lazy book shop owner and is essentially an extreme loner with very few friends to his name.

He was portrayed by Dylan Morgan who also portrayed David in Shaun of the Dead.

Personality
Bernard is an incredibly lazy, depressed, alcoholic, pessimistic loner of whom often recluses people with the exception of his only two friends Manny Bianco and Fran Katzenjammer. He is also incredibly short tempered, unhygienic and almost vampire-esc in his attitude and mannerisms. He lives in an incredibly messy environment with him refusing to do even the most usual tasks such as dishes and even binning his food remains, although often getting called out on his hygiene and even getting a cleaner occasionally he and Manny's flat remains in complete shambles due to Bernard's laziness which has even resulted in Bernard making himself incredibly ill to the point of near death.

He has very poor empathy or thought for anyone and shows the most minor concerns for anyone else's problems and issues which comes away in several aspects of his career especially in his behaviour towards Manny. The one person he does seem to actually like in some way however is Fran as the two often share each other's personal lives on heavy levels and rely on each other on some occasions.

Appearance
Bernard is a man in his early thirties with pale skin and a full mop of greasy jet black hair that is often un-kept. He is always seen wearing a white suit which has been stained to become black with different coloured shirts depending on the episodes which are rarely tucked in. He also wears a black trench coat whenever he is outdoors.

Overview
Bernard's villainy is shown in several areas although it is primarily shown from when he antagonizes Manny of whom he continuously abuses and attacks during arguments or simply when he annoys him. He has also committed several acts of petty violence as a result of his heavy addictions to alcohol and tobacco which usually result in his more repulsive acts.

His childishness is also at fault for his behaviour as due to his man-child nature he constantly belittles and insults people, acts as a misanthrope who hates people even buying from his own shop and is continuously hostile, rude and antisocial among most people he meets.