Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 sketch comedy

Sketch comedy

A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...

 show originally on BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

 and later televised on BBC Two

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

 (the radio series from 1996–1998 and the TV series from 1998–2001) based on four British Indian

British Indian

The term British Indian refers to citizens of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian descent, and Indian-born people who have migrated to the UK...

 actors: Sanjeev Bhaskar

Sanjeev Bhaskar

Sanjeev Bhaskar, OBE is a British Indian comedian, actor and broadcaster, best known for his work in the BBC Two comedy series Goodness Gracious Me and as host of The Kumars at No. 42...

, Kulvinder Ghir

Kulvinder Ghir

Kulvinder Ghir, born in Nairobi, Kenya, is a British actor, comedian and writer of South Asian ancestry, best known for his roles in Rita, Sue & Bob Too, Blood & Peaches, Bend It Like Beckham and the sketch show Goodness Gracious Me...

, Meera Syal

Meera Syal

Meera Syal MBE is a British comedienne, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No...

 and Nina Wadia

Nina Wadia

-Television and film:Wadia first came to prominence in BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, playing characters such as Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!" and one half of The Competitive Mothers...

. In the television version most of the "white" parts are played by Dave Lamb

Dave Lamb

Dave Lamb is a British actor and voice-over artist best known for his work on Come Dine with Me as well as appearances in British television and radio programmes, especially comedy programmes. He also currently presents the CBBC game show Horrible Histories: Gory Games.- Early work :Lamb's first...

 and Fiona Allen

Fiona Allen

Fiona Allen is an English comedienne and actress.-Career:Allen has appeared in many sketch shows, including Smack the Pony, Goodness Gracious Me and The All Star Comedy Show...

, while in the radio version the "white" parts were played by the cast themselves.

The title and theme tune are based on a hit comedy song of the same title

Goodness Gracious Me (song)

"Goodness Gracious Me" is a comedy song recorded by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren, and was a top 5 UK single in 1960. It features Sellers acting the role of an Indian doctor, and Loren of his wealthy Italian patient – who fall in love....

 sung by Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...

 and Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...

, in which they reprise their characters from the 1960 film The Millionairess

The Millionairess

The Millionairess is a 1960 British romantic comedy film set in London, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers...

in which Sellers played an Indian doctor and Loren his Italian patient (contrary to popular belief the song does not appear in the film). The show's signature tune is a bhangra arrangement of the song. The show's original working title was "Peter Sellers is Dead", but was changed because the cast generally liked Peter Sellers. (The character Sellers plays, although in itself a fairly crude and broad parody of an Indian man, is actually portrayed as an intelligent, diligent, professional person). In her 1996 novel Anita and Me

Anita and Me

Anita and Me is Meera Syal's debut novel, and was first published in 1996. It is a semi-autobiographical novel which won the Betty Trask Award....

, Syal had referred to British parodies of Asian speech as "a goodness-gracious-me accent".

Many of the sketches explored the conflict and integration between traditional Indian culture and modern British life. Some reversed the roles to view the British from an Indian perspective while others poked fun at Indian stereotype

Stereotype

A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...

s.

One of the more famous sketches featured the cast "going out for an English" after a few lassi

Lassi

Lassi is a popular and traditional yogurt-based drink of the Indian Subcontinent. It is made by blending yogurt with water and Indian spices...

s. They mispronounce the waiter's name, order the blandest thing

Scampi

Scampi is the term for a particular type of lobster, deriving originally from the Greek word κάμπη 'kampē' meaning a 'bending' or 'winding'. The name is sometimes used loosely to describe a style of preparation typically for seafood, and as a culinary name for some species of crustacean...

 from the menu (apart from one of them, who opts for the safer option of a steak and kidney pie

Steak and kidney pie

Steak and kidney pie is a savoury pie that is filled principally with a mixture of diced beef, diced kidney , fried onion, and brown gravy...

) and ask for 24 plates of chips. The sketch parodies

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

  often-drunk English people "going out for an Indian", ordering chicken phall

Phall

Phall is a British Asian Indian curry dish, which originated in Indian restaurants in the UK, and is not to be confused with the char-grilled, gravyless, finger food phall from Bangalore...

 and too many papadum

Papadum

Papadum, also known as papad in Northern India, , pappadam in Malayalam, happala in Kannada, appalam in Tamil, appadum in Telugu, pappadum or poppadom in the UK, is a thin, crisp Indian preparation sometimes described as a cracker. It is typically served as an accompaniment to a meal in India...

s. This sketch was recently voted the 6th Greatest Comedy Sketch by BBC 4.

The cast casually drop Punjabi

Punjabi language

Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...

 and Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

 slang phrases into their speech, in the manner of many British Asians living in the UK.

Parodies and references in the show

• "The Six Million Rupee Man" - parodes The Six Million Dollar Man
  The Six Million Dollar Man
  The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI...
  
  .
• "Skipinder: The Punjabi Kangaroo" - parodies Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
  Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
  Skippy the Bush Kangaroo is an Australian television series for children created by John McCallum, produced from 1966–1968, telling the adventures of a young boy and his intelligent pet kangaroo, in the Waratah National Park in Duffys Forest, near Sydney, New South Wales.Ninety-one 30-minute...
  
  .
• "I'm a Punjabi Girl..." - parodies Aqua
  Aqua (band)
  Aqua is a Danish dance-pop group, best known for their 1997 breakthrough single "Barbie Girl". The group formed in 1989 and achieved huge success across the globe in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The group managed to top the UK Singles Chart with their first three singles. The group released two...
  
  's "Barbie Girl
  Barbie Girl
  "Barbie Girl" is a song by the Danish-Norwegian dance-pop group Aqua, who released the song in 1997 as their third single overall, and the first United Kingdom release...
  
  " song.
• "Hindi People" - parodies Pulp
  Pulp (band)
  Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker , Russell Senior , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....
  
  's "Common People".
• "Club Nirvana" - parodies Wham!
  WHAM!
  Wham! were a short-lived British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with an American band....
  
  's "Club Tropicana
  Club Tropicana
  "Club Tropicana" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, released in 1983 on Innervision Records. It was written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley....
  
  ".
• "The Marriage Emporium" - pays homage to Monty Python
  Monty Python
  Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
  
  's Cheese Shop sketch
  Cheese Shop sketch
  The Cheese Shop is a well-known sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus.It appears in episode 33, "Salad Days". The script for the sketch is included in the book The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus : All the Words, Volume 2.-Origins:...
  
   and Dead Parrot sketch.
• "Fawlty Turrets" - pays homage to Fawlty Towers
  Fawlty Towers
  Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...
  
  .
• "The Delhi Tubbies" - fictional Asian equivalent of Teletubbies
  Teletubbies
  Teletubbies is a BBC children's television series targeted at pre-school viewers and produced from 1997 to 2001 by Ragdoll Productions. It was created by Ragdoll's creative director Anne Wood CBE and Andrew Davenport, who wrote each of the show's 365 episodes. The programme's original narrator was...
  
  .
• "They Were The Blacked-Up Men" - parodies Men in Black
  Men in Black (film)
  Men in Black is a 1997 science fiction comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith and Vincent D'Onofrio. The film was based on the Men in Black comic book series by Lowell Cunningham, originally published by Marvel Comics. The film featured the creature effects...
  
  .
• "The Bhandari Bunch" - parodies The Brady Bunch
  The Brady Bunch
  The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
  
  opening sequence.
• "Channa's Angels" - parodies Charlie's Angels
  Charlie's Angels
  Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
  
  
• "Arranged Shag" - parodies the arranged marriage
  Arranged marriage
  An arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
  
  

Other parodies are based on shows such as Animal Hospital

Animal Hospital

Animal Hospital was a television show starring Rolf Harris that ran on the BBC from 1994 until 2004. The story showed animal welfare stories from RSPCA hospitals.-Location:...

(where members of lower castes take the place of the pets) and Rough Guides

Rough Guides

Rough Guides Ltd is a travel guidebook and reference publisher, owned by Pearson PLC. Their travel titles cover more than 200 destinations, and are distributed worldwide through the Penguin Group...

 (where tourists from India visit and make unpleasant remarks about England).

The "Going for an English" sketch is often cited as the first time a white English]audience had seen a parody of their own behaviour in Indian restaurants, but the theme had previously been explored by other artists. Rowan Atkinson

Rowan Atkinson

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...

's "Indian Waiter" sketch, from his 1980s stage tour, for example, directly mocked such behaviour, whilst Alexei Sayle

Alexei Sayle

Alexei David Sayle is a British stand-up comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007...

's "Stuff" in the early 1990s included a brief monologue where the residents of New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

 got drunk and ate steak and kidney pies on a Friday night.

The "Six Million Rupee Man" sketch has also inspired a popular political and lifestyle blog.

Recurring characters

• "Check, Please" - A man who, on serial dinner dates, always says something so tactless or offensive that the woman walks out on him, leaving him asking for the "check, please!"

• The competitive mothers - Two women who constantly argue about the respective accomplishments of their sons, becoming more and more exaggerated as they go along. Their discussions always end with one of them using their catchphrase, "Yes, but how big is his danda
  Danda
  In the Devanāgarī script, the danda is a punctuation character. The glyph consists of a single vertical stroke. The character can be found at code point U+0964 in Unicode. The "double danda" is at U+0965 . ISCII encodes danda at 0xEA....
  
  ?" (slang for penis)

• Mr "Everything Comes From India" - A man who insists that just about everything comes from India or was invented by Indians, including William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
  
  , Cliff Richard
  Cliff Richard
  Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
  
   (who was actually born in India and is of Indian descent), Leonardo da Vinci
  Leonardo da Vinci
  Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
  
  , most English words: (veranda, shampoo
  Shampoo
  Shampoo is a hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt, skin particles, dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair...
  
  , conditioner
  Hair conditioner
  Hair conditioner is a hair care product that alters the texture and appearance of hair.-History:For centuries, natural oils have been used to condition human hair. These natural products are still used today, including essential oils such as tea tree oil and carrier oils such as jojoba oil...
  
  ), the British Royal Family
  British Royal Family
  The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
  
   (all except Prince Charles, whom he claims to be African, due to the size of his ears), Superman
  Superman
  Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
  
   (who is apparently Indian as he has two jobs, a bad haircut and, in a reference to Indian railways, can run faster than a train) and the number zero (which is a widely attributed discovery in Indian culture). In one short sketch, he was found in a bookshop, transferring books from the English and Chinese Literature sections to the Indian Literature section. He even claims that Jesus
  Jesus
  Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
  
   was Indian as he worked for his father, and managed to feed 5,000 people with very small amounts of food. He also claimed that everyone in the Bible was Indian, except God, as "he created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. No Indian would rest on the seventh day!".

• The Coopers (Kapoors) and Robinsons (Rabindranaths) - Two snobbish nouveau riche
  Nouveau riche
  The nouveau riche , or new money, comprise those who have acquired considerable wealth within their own generation...
  
  couples who claim to be entirely English with no Indian blood whatsoever, but often give themselves away by using each other's real names, mispronouncing words or silly mistakes such as serving guests some Pimm's
  Pimm's
  Pimm's is a brand of fruit cups, but may also be considered a liqueur. It was first produced in 1823 by James Pimm and owned by Diageo since 2006. Its most popular product is Pimm's No. 1 Cup.-History:...
  
   with sliced courgettes in it. They refuse to acknowledge their real ethnic background under any circumstances, and become very upset whenever anyone refers to them as foreigners.

• "Skipinder, The Punjabi Kangaroo
  Kangaroo
  A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
  
  " - Redubbed footage of the old television show about Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
  Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
  Skippy the Bush Kangaroo is an Australian television series for children created by John McCallum, produced from 1966–1968, telling the adventures of a young boy and his intelligent pet kangaroo, in the Waratah National Park in Duffys Forest, near Sydney, New South Wales.Ninety-one 30-minute...
  
  , with the kangaroo being "voiced over" so that he can talk. Skippy, who now calls himself Skipinder, is always drunk, speaks in a Punjabi
  Punjabi language
  Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
  
   accent and frequently insults the other characters.

• The Bhangra Muffins - Two teenage boys who are always trying to be "cool" and attract girls, referring to them as 'ras malai
  Ras malai
  Ras Malai is an East Indian sweet dessert served after a meal. It is popular throughout South Asia.The ras malai of Matrivandar of Comilla, Bangladesh is very popular everywhere.-Ingredients:...
  
  ' (Indian sweet) but failing miserably. In their sketches, they seem to be having an intelligent discussion, albeit in their own "street" language, but it is then shown that they are doing something nonsensical or are in the wrong place (example: in one episode they are waiting in the audience of what they think is a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show
  The Oprah Winfrey Show
  The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
  
  , leading to a conversation about the purpose of television
  Television
  Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
  
   and talk show
  Talk show
  A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
  
  s in society, but then the show starts and they find out they have in fact gone to an opera
  Opera
  Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
  
   performance by mistake.) Their catchphrase is "kiss my chuddies, man!" - "chuddies" slang for underwear.

• Chunky Lafanga ("lafanga" means "hooligan") - A Bollywood
  Bollywood
  Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
  
   superstar (probably based on Bollywood actor Chunky Pandey
  Chunky Pandey
  Suyash 'Chunky' Pandey is an Indian film actor who has appeared in various Bollywood films. He has appeared in over 55 movies in a career that has spanned over two decades and has been nominated once for his supportive role in Tezaab...
  
  ) who is now trying to make his name in Western cinema, but manages to turn every production he appears in, from an adaptation of a Jane Austen
  Jane Austen
  Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
  
   novel to an Australian soap opera
  Soap opera
  A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
  
  , into a Bollywood musical
  Musical film
  The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
  
  .

• Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!" - A mother who is shown going out and about with her family and repeatedly decries various things as wasteful, saying "I can make it at home for nothing!" For some reason she always seems to need "a small aubergine" to be able to do so. She was inspired by Nina Wadia's
  Nina Wadia
  -Television and film:Wadia first came to prominence in BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, playing characters such as Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!" and one half of The Competitive Mothers...
  
   mother.

• Meena and Beena, the Minx Twins - Two teenage chav
  Chav
  A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
  
   girls who complain about unwanted male attention and shout out rude comments at the men who walk past them, with the camera then pulling back to reveal why the men are there (e.g. in one sketch the girls are shown to have gone to a gay bar
  Gay bar
  A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
  
  , in another they are standing outside a men's public toilet.) During one episode they actually managed to get dates, but insisted on leaving because the men did not offer to buy them a drink. Their catchphrase is, "In your dreams, buddy!". This can be varied, for example, in a Christmas sketch, when acting as santa's assistants, they say to a little boy, "In your dreams, very small buddy!" Nina Wadia
  Nina Wadia
  -Television and film:Wadia first came to prominence in BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, playing characters such as Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!" and one half of The Competitive Mothers...
  
   said on the BBC Documentary Comedy Connections that Meera Syal
  Meera Syal
  Meera Syal MBE is a British comedienne, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No...
  
   was behind the creation of these characters and is one of Nina's favourites on the series. "West End Girls
  West End Girls
  "West End Girls" is a song by British pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single. It is a synthpop song, influenced by hip hop music. The lyrics focus on class, and inner-city pressure, and were inspired by T.S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land...
  
  " by the Pet Shop Boys
  Pet Shop Boys
  Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
  
   frequently plays in the background of their scenes.

• Guru Maharishi Yogi (based on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
  Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
  Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
  
  ) - A man who in different sketches is either shown giving completely made up lectures about Hinduism
  Hinduism
  Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
  
  , or going door to door saying silly things to the people who answer. During his symposia, he claims to be translate words of wisdom from original Sanskrit
  Sanskrit
  Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
  
  , but they are actually random gibberish in English (often containing pop culture references). In one sketch he resorts to handing out flyers for a double glazing company when a householder doesn't want to hear him talk about religion. He also has two similarly dodgy guru friends, with whom he likes to play board games and football.

• Smita Smitten, Showbiz Kitten (from Series 2, her name becomes 'Smeeta Smitten') - A reporter who claims to be at a movie premiere or showbiz party, but turns out to be somewhere very ordinary, like queueing outside a video shop or public bathroom. She is then refused entrance, so to distract the viewers, she finishes by saying "Look, there goes Art Malik
  Art Malik
  Art Malik is a Pakistani-born British actor who achieved international fame in the 1980s through his starring and subsidiary roles in assorted British and Merchant-Ivory television serials and films...
  
  !" and running out of the picture. She was once in a chip shop, and Art Malik was there, but she didn't recognise him. After making a fool of herself, she tried to get out of the situation by pointing to Art outside the shop, and 'running after him'. Fellow character Chunky Lafunga is the only "celebrity" she has ever managed to interview. In Series 2 she loses her job and resorts to presenting her TV show from different rooms of her mother's house, then in Series 3 produces a variety of pilot shows for a possible new TV series, with disastrous results.

• Uncle Fixer - A man who shows up to greet different family members in unexpected places, such as at a funeral
  Funeral
  A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
  
   or during a kidney
  Kidney
  The kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...
  
   transplant
  Organ transplant
  Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...
  
   operation, and then asks why they didn't come to him for help with the arrangements, because "I could have got it for you much cheaper!". He often says "Don't Worry" or "Don't Insult me!" when people decline his help. He usually destroys what was the topic of conversation i.e. Cash from a Cash Machine and Kidney.

• The Sindi Dolls - Two wealthy young women who act like Valley Girl
  Valley girl
  Valley Girl is a stereotype leveled at a socio-economic and ethnic class of American women who can be described as colloquial English-speaking and materialistic...
  
   stereotypes, forever showing off about the number of credit cards they have and how much their fathers have spent on them. They are nearly always seen in an expensive clothes shop, which may or may not be Harvey Nichols
  Harvey Nichols
  Harvey Nichols, founded in 1813, is an upmarket department store chain. Its original store is in London. Founded in 1813 as a linen shop, it sells many international brands of clothing for women and men, fashion accessories, beauty products, wine and food...
  
   and are forever berating and physically assaulting the sales assistants who are attending to them. In series three, they have (reluctantly) got themselves jobs as air stewardesses
  Air Hostess
  "Air Hostess" is a song by the British pop trio Busted. Composed by the band with Tom Fletcher of McFly, it was released as the third single from their second album A Present for Everyone in June 2004, reaching #2 on the UK Singles Chart.-Background:...
  
  , and reveal to the flight passengers during the emergency procedure instructions that they only took the jobs because of the glamour factor. In one notable sketch they state their opinion that a friend of theirs should make more effort with her appearance, "leprosy
  Leprosy
  Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
  
   or no leprosy".

• "Will I, bollocks!" (Ironic Granny) - This sketch follows an old woman who is continually causing trouble for her family, then when she is asked to do something to help with the situation, she replies "Will I, bollocks!" In the last of her sketches, she collapses at home and her son-in-law offers to perform mouth to mouth resuscitation but when his wife asks him if he will really do it, he says, "Will I, bollocks."

• The Delhi Students - These sketches are about four Indian young adults who go to England and describe their experiences. They parody the way westerners act when they visit India (in one sketch, they remark on the number of beggars on the streets, they say that you can't eat meat off the street, in reference to a McDonalds burger, and they say that you must drink water from a bottle, as others could be dangerous).

• Bhangraman - A parody of superhero
  Superhero
  A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
  
  es in general, he always saves the day using his "uncanny bhangra powers", which usually consist of bhangra dance moves. While he speaks entirely in Punjabi
  Punjabi language
  Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
  
  , every other character understands him perfectly. His battle cry is "chaakde phaate", meaning 'raise the floorboards'. His arch rival and super villain is the Morris Dancer.

• The Reporter - A reporter constantly tries to do "exposés" on British Asians. He often runs into Mr Ishaq, a Muslim man whom the reporter interviews. The reporter assumes that Mr Ishaq is "up to something", ultimately being disappointed when Mr Ishaq reveals that he is doing something quite ordinary.

• The Buddhist
  Buddhism
  Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
  
   Exterminator - A Buddhist monk that is often hired in jobs that will force him to kill living beings, as an exterminator
  Exterminator
  Exterminator may refer to:*A practitioner in pest control-Competition:*Exterminator , racehorse, the winner of the 1918 Kentucky Derby*X-Terminator, a competitor in Robot Wars-Fiction:...
  
  , a mafia
  Mafia
  The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
  
   murderer and even as surgeon
  Surgeon
  In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
  
   (where he found how to kill cancer cells), which conflicts with his religion and enables him to do the job, being surprised that people would want him to kill. As an exterminator, he was determined to make the mice reflect upon their actions until they reach Nirvana. He has an "exterminator" friend that would make the mice to reincarnate as pebbles, "which are much easier to catch". His catchline is "Kill?! No, we mustn't kill".

Television show

• 1998 Jan/Feb - Series 1 (6 eps)
• 1998 Nov/Dec - Series 2 (6 eps)
• 1998 December - Christmas
  Christmas
  Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
  
   Special
• 1999 Theatre Tour
• 2000 Feb/Mar - Series 3 (6 eps)
• 2001 February - "Back Where They Came From" (Parts filmed in India)

Directors & Producers

• Gareth Carrivick (director)
• Nick Wood (director)
• Christine Gernon (director)
• Anil Gupta (producer)
• Jon Plowman (executive producer)

Cast

• Sanjeev Bhaskar
  Sanjeev Bhaskar
  Sanjeev Bhaskar, OBE is a British Indian comedian, actor and broadcaster, best known for his work in the BBC Two comedy series Goodness Gracious Me and as host of The Kumars at No. 42...
  
  
• Meera Syal
  Meera Syal
  Meera Syal MBE is a British comedienne, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No...
  
  
• Kulvinder Ghir
  Kulvinder Ghir
  Kulvinder Ghir, born in Nairobi, Kenya, is a British actor, comedian and writer of South Asian ancestry, best known for his roles in Rita, Sue & Bob Too, Blood & Peaches, Bend It Like Beckham and the sketch show Goodness Gracious Me...
  
  
• Nina Wadia
  Nina Wadia
  -Television and film:Wadia first came to prominence in BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, playing characters such as Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!" and one half of The Competitive Mothers...
  
  
• Dave Lamb
  Dave Lamb
  Dave Lamb is a British actor and voice-over artist best known for his work on Come Dine with Me as well as appearances in British television and radio programmes, especially comedy programmes. He also currently presents the CBBC game show Horrible Histories: Gory Games.- Early work :Lamb's first...
  
  
• Sharat Sardana
  Sharat Sardana
  Sharat Sardana was a comedy writer who worked on TV series including Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No. 42, which won 2 International Emmys....
  
  
• Amanda Holden
  Amanda Holden
  Amanda Louise Holden is an English actress and presenter. Among her roles are Mia Bevan in Cutting It, Sarah Trevanion in Wild at Heart, and the title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award...
  
   (Series 1)
• Fiona Allen
  Fiona Allen
  Fiona Allen is an English comedienne and actress.-Career:Allen has appeared in many sketch shows, including Smack the Pony, Goodness Gracious Me and The All Star Comedy Show...
  
   (Series 2)
• Emma Kennedy
  Emma Kennedy
  Emma Kennedy is an English actress, writer and television presenter....
  
   (Series 3)

Writers

• Sanjeev Bhaskar
• Anil Gupta
• Sanjeev Kohli
• Richard Pinto
• Sharat Sardana
• Meera Syal
• Nina Wadia
• Kulvinder Ghir

External links

Comedy Guide

• In Conversation with Meera Syal, BAFTA webcast, March 2008
• The Six Million Rupee Men