Just one recording again today, which starts with the end of Goodness Gracious Me.
There’s a trail for Wonderland and for Pop On Trial: The 60’s.
Then, there’s an episode of Comedy Connections – Goodness Gracious Me.
Meera Syal starts by talking about an early student show she did. “I don’t think anyone had defined British Asian humour at that point. In fact, people didn’t even think we were funny, frankly. And I’m sure half the reason the show got so much attention wasn’t that maybe it was a brilliant show, but that there was a brown woman cracking jokes.”
There’s a young Kulvinder Ghir appearing in Tucker’s Luck.
“At the end of the day, as an actor, what interests me is the character. He can have a cultural different background or whatever, whether he’s Russian or whether he’s Swedish or whether he’s English or Indian or whatever. It’s the same nationality that comes from an actor’s point of view.”
Sanjeev Bhaskar talks about an early TV job on Network East. “I suppose it was regarded as Asian prime time, in that it was on about 11 o’clock on a Saturday morning.”
Nina Wadia on her casting experience: “I would have to say I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve played any part in this country, on TV or in theatre, where it’s not because of the colour of my skin or it’s not because I’m Indian, basically.”
The programme mentions some examples of white actors “browning up” like Spike Milligan in Curry and Chips.
Co-writer Sharat Sardana talks about this. “My mum and dad loved It Aint Half Hot Mum, and there was no problem with Michael Bates browning up. And it was because the browning up wasn’t a gag. It was just something that they had to do to play that part. These guys loved India. Michael Bates spoke Urdu, he spoke Hindi. When Spike Milligan browned up in curry and chips, and I love Spike Milligan, but the browning up was part of the gag, and that is rubbish.”
Producer Anil Gupta worked with Meera Syal on The Real McCoy. “Meera used to come up and say to me, ‘you know, we’re the token Asians on this show. It’s not really an Asian show, it’s really an Afro-Caribbean show. But they’ve kind of let us have a little go, because they’re nice.’ And I said, yeah, we are. She said, ‘well, why don’t we do our own?'”
Head of Comedy Jon Plowman was invited to a special show by Anil Gupta where the cast put on sketches, to pitch the show. “He set up a stage performance at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith with the people he thought might be in it, and they did a series of sketches in front of a mixed Asian, British Asian, and British audience.”
Dave Lamb was the token white guy in the cast – more recently seen in Moving Wallpaper.
Media Centre Description: Series charting the history of some of the best British comedy programmes looks at sketch show Goodness Gracious Me. A spin-off from the Real McCoy, it soon established itself by reflecting the reality of contemporary British Asian life while observing the conventions of a mainstream sketch comedy show. Interviewees include Meera Syal, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Nina Wadia, Sharat Sardana, Dave Lamb and producer Anil Gupta.
Recorded from BBC FOUR on Tuesday 15th January 2008 21:28
BBC Genome: BBC FOUR Tuesday 15th January 2008 21:30
After this there’s yet another showing of the Mad Men promo. Plus the Top Gear iPlayer promo.
Then the recording ends with the start of Citizen Smith. Not the Robert Lindsay sitcom, but a programme in which “Michael Smith scours England in search of a modern day definition of nationality”