Fags, Mags and Bags
Encyclopedia
Fags, Mags and Bags is a Scottish
radio comedy
broadcast
on BBC
Radio 4
. Its first series was nominated for a Sony Radio Award.
The writers, Sanjeev Kohli and Donald McLeary, received a Writers Guild
Award in November 2008 for Radio Comedy of the Year.
The fourth series began on 4 April 2011.
The theme music for the show is "Smiling" by the Beta Band.
Ramesh is a middle-aged shopkeeper, born in India
but a long-term resident of the Glasgow
suburb of Lenzie
. He has been the proprietor of the local convenience store Fags, Mags & Bags for over 30 years. In the episode 'Evil Narbara' from series four, Ramesh reveals that he opened the store on the same day the Double Decker
chocolate bar was launched. This would place the opening of Fags, Mags & Bags to 1976.
Ramesh pursues his chosen career in low-return retail with a near religious zeal, possessing an encyclopaedic knowledge of product lines and a deft line in banter, seeing his shop as a microcosm of life. Twenty years hard "shop" has earned Ramesh a tan Mercedes
and a pair of mushroom-coloured tasselled loafers.
Despite a ceaseless quest for the secondary purchase, and organising a fictional festival solely to boost sales, Ramesh seems to genuinely have his customers interests at heart. He is popular with fellow shopkeepers; chairing the local Traders' Association, and also won the coveted 'Shopkeeper of the Year Award' in the Small-to-Medium Retail Concern category in Series 2.
Ramesh is a widower, having married his wife in an arranged marriage during the 1960s.
It is revealed that he has no sense of smell, and is a fan of the TV show Lost
. Ramesh also experimented with a perm
at one point in homage to the tennis star John McEnroe
.
Dave Legg
Dave is Ramesh's best friend and assistant at Fags, Mags & Bags. An amiable man in his forties, he has worked for Ramesh for many years and shares his enthusiasm for all things "shop" and the music of Barbara Dickson
.
Despite his easy-going nature, Dave is periodically beset by anxieties about his job and status; suffering a full scale breakdown, brought on by Ramesh's mother-in-law. It was also revealed early on that despite his skill in the art of shopkeeping, he is unable to mind the store on his own; for reasons as yet undisclosed. He appears to be a widower, like Ramesh, as he made a reference to his wife's death certificate in the series 4 episode "Foam Wizards". Dave briefly dated a pet psychologist named Kate during the second series.
Dave has a talent for creating compound words, and also attempted to popularise the catchphrase Five Alive
with limited success.
Alok Majhu
Ramesh's elder son sees himself as a forward thinking entrepreneur and tends to conduct conversations in marketing jargon. Alok views his father's low-return empire with disdain and is engaged in an ongoing and futile attempt to drag his father's shop upmarket.
Alok has a vastly over inflated sense of his abilities as a businessman and his ventures such as the Lembit Opik
Pita Heater invariably meet with disaster. This was particularly apparent in the episode "The Wrath Of Khan" when Alok's decision to install a Slush Machine lead to a full scale retail war with the cafe at the Lenzie Leisuredome.
This unwillingness to master the day to day realities of running a suburban confectioners causes Ramesh amusement and despair in equal measure, he is unwilling to leave Alok in charge of the shop for the weekend whilst he goes away on a murder mystery weekend.
Sanjay Majhu
Ramesh's youngest son is in his late teens and shares his brother's disdain for the world of low-return retail. However unlike Alok this is due to teenage apathy and general surliness rather than a desire to pursue a high flying business career. Sanjay litters his conversation with SMS language
and contemporary slang and treats customers with scarcely disguised indifference.
Despite this, Sanjay displays some flair for shopkeeping in "The De-Magowaning of Ramesh" where he successfully sells several secondary purchases. Sanjay also manages to show an aptitude for tabloid style reporting during work experience at a local newspaper, but with characteristic lack of tact manages to alienate Ramesh's customers and fellow shopkeepers by printing scurrilous stories about them.
Sanjay also briefly sported a moustache
much to the amusement of Ramesh and Dave.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
radio comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
broadcast
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
on 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...
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...
. Its first series was nominated for a Sony Radio Award.
The writers, Sanjeev Kohli and Donald McLeary, received a Writers Guild
Writers' Guild of Great Britain
The Writers' Guild of Great Britain, established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds .-Activities:...
Award in November 2008 for Radio Comedy of the Year.
The fourth series began on 4 April 2011.
The theme music for the show is "Smiling" by the Beta Band.
Cast
- Sanjeev KohliSanjeev KohliSanjeev Singh Kohli is a Scottish Asian comedian, writer and actor. He is most famous for his role as Navid Harrid in the sitcom Still Game and as Rajesh Majhu in the radio sitcom Fags, Mags and Bags.- Early life :...
as Ramesh - Donald McLeary as Dave
- Kayvan NovakKayvan NovakKayvan Novak is an award-winning British Iranian television actor and voice artist.- Voice actor :Novak has provided voice work for three video games: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo...
as Alok (Series 1) - Susheel Kumar as Alok (Series 2 onwards)
- Omar RazaOmar RazaOmar Raza is a Scottish actor. He is best known for his role as Sanjay Majhu in the BBC Radio 4 comedy Fags, Mags and Bags, which began airing in 2007.-Acting career:...
as Sanjay - Greg McHughGreg McHughGreg McHugh is a Scottish actor and writer. He is the creator, writer and star of the BBC1 comedy series Gary: Tank Commander. He won a BAFTA for the show.He graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow....
as Keith Futures - Marjorie Hogarth as Mrs Begg
- Julie Wilson NimmoJulie Wilson NimmoJulie Wilson Nimmo is a Scottish actress who trained at the RSAMD and is best known for playing the role of Miss Hoolie in the BBC One, Two and CBeebies 2002–05 children's programme Balamory....
as Lovely Sue - Gerard KellyGerard KellyPaul "Gerard" Kelly was a Scottish actor who appeared in many comedies, most notably in City Lights, Rab C Nesbitt, and Scotch and Wry. He had more serious roles, including PC David Gallagher in Juliet Bravo , villain Jimmy in EastEnders and the villainous Callum Finnegan on Brookside...
as Father Henderson (Series 1-3) - Kate Brailsford as Hilly
- Steven McNicollSteven McNicollSteven McNicoll is a Scottish actor, playwright and comedian.McNicoll was born in Edinburgh. He is probably best known for his work in TV comedy...
as Bra Jeff - Sean ScanlonSean ScanlonSean William Scanlon is an Irish rugby union player for Munster. As of the 2011-12 season, Scanlon is on a development contract with Munster.-External links:***...
as Mutton Jeff
Character Analysis
Ramesh MajhuRamesh is a middle-aged shopkeeper, born in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
but a long-term resident of the Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
suburb of Lenzie
Lenzie
Lenzie is a small town by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in the East Dunbartonshire council area of Scotland. It is about six miles north-east of Glasgow city centre and one mile south of Kirkintilloch. It has a population of about 10,000.-Name:...
. He has been the proprietor of the local convenience store Fags, Mags & Bags for over 30 years. In the episode 'Evil Narbara' from series four, Ramesh reveals that he opened the store on the same day the Double Decker
Double Decker (chocolate bar)
Double Decker is a brand of chocolate bar currently manufactured by Cadbury. First introduced in 1976, its name derives from the double-decker bus....
chocolate bar was launched. This would place the opening of Fags, Mags & Bags to 1976.
Ramesh pursues his chosen career in low-return retail with a near religious zeal, possessing an encyclopaedic knowledge of product lines and a deft line in banter, seeing his shop as a microcosm of life. Twenty years hard "shop" has earned Ramesh a tan Mercedes
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
and a pair of mushroom-coloured tasselled loafers.
Despite a ceaseless quest for the secondary purchase, and organising a fictional festival solely to boost sales, Ramesh seems to genuinely have his customers interests at heart. He is popular with fellow shopkeepers; chairing the local Traders' Association, and also won the coveted 'Shopkeeper of the Year Award' in the Small-to-Medium Retail Concern category in Series 2.
Ramesh is a widower, having married his wife in an arranged marriage during the 1960s.
It is revealed that he has no sense of smell, and is a fan of the TV show Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
. Ramesh also experimented with a perm
Perm
Perm is a city and the administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia, located on the banks of the Kama River, in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. From 1940 to 1957 it was named Molotov ....
at one point in homage to the tennis star John McEnroe
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
.
Dave Legg
Dave is Ramesh's best friend and assistant at Fags, Mags & Bags. An amiable man in his forties, he has worked for Ramesh for many years and shares his enthusiasm for all things "shop" and the music of Barbara Dickson
Barbara Dickson
Barbara Ruth Dickson, OBE is a Scottish singer whose hits include "I Know Him So Well" and "January February"...
.
Despite his easy-going nature, Dave is periodically beset by anxieties about his job and status; suffering a full scale breakdown, brought on by Ramesh's mother-in-law. It was also revealed early on that despite his skill in the art of shopkeeping, he is unable to mind the store on his own; for reasons as yet undisclosed. He appears to be a widower, like Ramesh, as he made a reference to his wife's death certificate in the series 4 episode "Foam Wizards". Dave briefly dated a pet psychologist named Kate during the second series.
Dave has a talent for creating compound words, and also attempted to popularise the catchphrase Five Alive
Five Alive
Five Alive is a line of fruit juice blends created by Minute Maid, a sub brand of The Coca-Cola Company. The name refers to the five fruit juices each variety contains...
with limited success.
Alok Majhu
Ramesh's elder son sees himself as a forward thinking entrepreneur and tends to conduct conversations in marketing jargon. Alok views his father's low-return empire with disdain and is engaged in an ongoing and futile attempt to drag his father's shop upmarket.
Alok has a vastly over inflated sense of his abilities as a businessman and his ventures such as the Lembit Opik
Lembit Öpik
Lembit Öpik is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Montgomeryshire in Wales from 1997 until he lost his seat in the 2010 General Election...
Pita Heater invariably meet with disaster. This was particularly apparent in the episode "The Wrath Of Khan" when Alok's decision to install a Slush Machine lead to a full scale retail war with the cafe at the Lenzie Leisuredome.
This unwillingness to master the day to day realities of running a suburban confectioners causes Ramesh amusement and despair in equal measure, he is unwilling to leave Alok in charge of the shop for the weekend whilst he goes away on a murder mystery weekend.
Sanjay Majhu
Ramesh's youngest son is in his late teens and shares his brother's disdain for the world of low-return retail. However unlike Alok this is due to teenage apathy and general surliness rather than a desire to pursue a high flying business career. Sanjay litters his conversation with SMS language
SMS language
SMS language or textese is a term for the abbreviations and slang most commonly used due to the necessary brevity of mobile phone text messaging, in particular the widespread SMS SMS language or textese (also known as txt-speak, txtese, chatspeak, txt, txtspk, txtk, txto, texting language, txt...
and contemporary slang and treats customers with scarcely disguised indifference.
Despite this, Sanjay displays some flair for shopkeeping in "The De-Magowaning of Ramesh" where he successfully sells several secondary purchases. Sanjay also manages to show an aptitude for tabloid style reporting during work experience at a local newspaper, but with characteristic lack of tact manages to alienate Ramesh's customers and fellow shopkeepers by printing scurrilous stories about them.
Sanjay also briefly sported a moustache
Moustache
A moustache is facial hair grown on the outer surface of the upper lip. It may or may not be accompanied by a type of beard, a facial hair style grown and cropped to cover most of the lower half of the face.-Etymology:...
much to the amusement of Ramesh and Dave.
Series 1
- "Raising Keenan": Ramesh is keen that young tearaway Keenan has good male role models. His solution is to engineer a meeting with potential suitors for Keenan's mum.
- "The De-Magowaning of Ramesh": Ramesh is delighted as he teaches his son Sanjay some of the finer arts of shopkeeping. But is his eagerness only due to the fact that he wants to borrow his dad's Merc?
- "Wall of Crisps": A new corn and maize-based snack sparks trouble in the corner shop.
- "Build The Titanic": Corner shop customer Mrs Muirhead's part-work magazine model ship faces stormy waters.
- "The Festival of Maltodextrin": Ramesh concocts a fake religious festival to shift unsold fireworks.
- "January February": Trouble brews when Ramesh agrees to let a member of the UKRP put a poster up in his shop window, but Ramesh has the last laugh.
Series 2
- "Beansy, Beansy, Beansy, Beansy, Beansy": Ramesh and Dave come to the rescue after a number of local cats go missing.
- "Skeletor Attack": Ramesh's life is turned upside down when an elderly and despised aunt turns up uninvited. (featuring Nina WadiaNina 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...
as Skeletor) - "Rameshtonite": Trouble looms for Ramesh as his banter-nemesis Tom Skilliter re-appears after 20 years.
- "All the Best": Lenzie turns feral after Ramesh sells cards with abusive messages to the locals.
- "Cousin Wacko": Ramesh's nephew arrives from India, complete with impressive shopkeeping skills, much to Alok's disgust.
- "Confectionary McEnroe": Tensions run high as Ramesh gears up for the Shopkeeper of the Year award.
Series 3
- "Jack Black's Black Jacks": Sanjay finds a girlfriend and embraces the arts, much to Ramesh and Dave's amusement.
- "Mr Majhu Goes To Lenzie": Ramesh inadvertently enters the murky world of Lenzie politics.
- "The Wrath Of Khan": The delicate eco-balance of the shop is at stake as Ramesh caves to Alok's idea of installing a slush machine.
- "The Lenzie Splicer": Dave is thrown into turmoil after an old school friend appears in the shop.
- "Bacon Punctuation": The future of the shop's much-loved 'Wall of Crisps' comes under threat.
- "The Fall of Phallon and the Rise of Bugatox": Ramesh takes it upon himself to reunite a local couple who have split up.
Series 4
- "Foam Wizards": Ramesh and Alok go head-to-head in a sweetie design competition.
- "Magical Mister Murgatroyd": Alok announces his sudden engagement to Siddiqua, the daughter of the local Pennywise empire and shop rival to Ramesh. But is it love that is driving Alok, or the promise of a gadget-filled backshop?
- "The Bewerdine Spectrum": Sanjay causes chaos in Lenzie when he starts work experience at the local paper.
- "Evil Narbara": The local traders are in revolt after a rowdy party shop opens in Lenzie.
- "Ayabassa Alan": The new dance craze of Ayabassa sweeps Lenzie, and Dave finds a new friend.
- "John Craven's Fjällräven": Dave and the boys organise a surprise 50th birthday party for Ramesh, but will Sanjay manage to keep his trap closed long enough without spilling the beans before the big day?
Guest appearances
The show has featured guest stars in a number of episodes:- Nina WadiaNina 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...
(EastendersEastEndersEastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, Goodness Gracious MeGoodness Gracious Me (TV & radio)Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC English language sketch comedy show originally on BBC Radio 4 and later televised on BBC Two based on four British Indian actors: Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia...
) - Ron Donachie (TitanicTitanic (1997 film)Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
) - Greg McHugh (Gary: Tank CommanderGary: Tank CommanderGary: Tank Commander is a BAFTA-award winning sitcom written and created by Greg McHugh and produced by the Comedy Unit. The show originated in 2008 as a one-off pilot for More4, under the title Gary's War. A full series was subsequently commissioned and broadcast on BBC Two Scotland in December...
) - Tom Urie (River CityRiver CityRiver City is a Scottish television soap opera, first broadcast in Scotland on BBC Scotland on 24 September 2002. River City storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional district of Shieldinch in Glasgow...
) - Sylvester McCoySylvester McCoySylvester McCoy is a Scottish actor. As a comic act and busker he appeared regularly on stage and on BBC Children's television in the 1970s and 80s, but is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to...
(Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
) - Hardeep Singh KohliHardeep Singh KohliHardeep Singh Kohli is a British writer and radio and television presenter.-Background:Kohli was born in London and moved to Glasgow in Scotland when he was four. His parents came to the UK from India in the 1960s. The family's roots lie in the Punjab. His mother was a social worker, and his...
(writer, broadcaster and brother of Sanjeev Kohli) - Kevin Eldon (Hot FuzzHot FuzzHot Fuzz is a 2007 British action dark comedy film written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, and starring Pegg and Nick Frost. The three had previously worked together on the 2004 film Shaun of the Dead as well as the television series Spaced...
)