The Kumars at No. 42
Encyclopedia
The Kumars at No. 42 was a British
television show. It won an International Emmy
in 2002 and in 2003. It ran for seven series totalling 53 episodes.
British Indian
family, including Madhuri and Ashwin Kumar (played by Indira Joshi
and Vincent Ebrahim
), their thirty-something son Sanjeev (played by Sanjeev Bhaskar
), and Sushila, Sanjeev's grandmother, normally referred to as Ummi (played by Meera Syal
). The family live in Wembley
, London
, England
. The show's central premise is that Sanjeev's parents have supported his dream of being a TV presenter by having a TV studio built on what used to be their back garden. Running jokes include Sanjeev's apparent social ineptitude, and Ashwin's obsession with financial matters and his tendency to tell long stories with no real point. It is also a regular conceit that the guests' appearance fees are paid in chutney
.
The show has an improvisation
al feel, though in reality much of the regular cast's performance was scripted. In the early episodes only Meera Syal improvised to any great extent, though as the cast became accustomed to their characters the improvised content increased.
. It was produced by Hat Trick Productions
and Pariah Television. Seven series of the programme have aired on BBC Two (and latterly on BBC One), with the seventh shown in 2006. In an interview for Radio Times
in May 2007 Bhaskar confirmed that the show had run its course and there were no plans for any further series.
The Kumars also made a guest appearance on the 2003 Comic Relief single "Spirit in the Sky" performed by Gareth Gates
. They also starred in the video. It reached number 1 in the charts and sold more than 550,000 copies.
(including India
and Malaysia) on the Star World
satellite TV channel and on SABC in South Africa
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation
screens it in Australia and, due to its previous time slot being right before hugely successful Australian comedy Kath & Kim
, has made the programme hugely successful in Australia, and it is also very popular in New Zealand, where it is screened by Television New Zealand
. It has been broadcast in the United States on BBC America
, and in Canada
, the programme can be viewed on BBC Canada
, a digital cable
channel, weeknights at 9:00 North American Eastern Time
. It was shown in Sweden, as Curry Curry talkshow, by SVT
2 in 2004, and in the Netherlands
on the public broadcasting foundation NPS
(Nederland 3
). Currently it is also shown in Switzerland
on Swiss TV station DRS.
In August 2002 the American channel NBC
entered a deal to buy the format but later dropped out.
A new version of the show was planned for Sunday evenings on Fox
, restyled as a show in the 2003-04 season featuring a Latino-American
family called The Ortegas and featuring Cheech Marin
. However the program was dropped from Fox's post-baseball playoffs schedule to focus the network's schedule on the success of The O.C.
at the time, and became another one of Fox's series which were scheduled, but never made it to air. Six episodes were produced, but never aired.
The Australia
n version, Greeks on the Roof
(featuring Greek Australian
s), debuted in 2003 but was soon taken off the air because of very low ratings.
ARY Digital
has produced a Pakistani Version of the show called Ghaffar at Dhoraji featuring a Gujarati
family living in Karachi
. Sony
Television has produced an Indian version of the show called Batliwalla House No. 43 featuring a Parsee family living in Mumbai
.
for the British Book Awards, Sanjeev Bhaskar stated that he chose 42
as the house number because in the Hitchhiker's series 42 features prominently as the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Sanjeev Bhaskar told interviewer Mark Lawson
in August 2007 that the inspiration for the series was an embarrassing evening when he took a girlfriend to meet his parents. They asked her awkward questions and he wondered how they would react if he invited a famous person to his home. Ashwin and Madhuri are exaggerated versions of his own parents.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television show. It won an International Emmy
International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is an organization of global broadcasters, with members from nearly 70 countries and over 400 companies...
in 2002 and in 2003. It ran for seven series totalling 53 episodes.
Plot
The show stars a fictionalFictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
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...
family, including Madhuri and Ashwin Kumar (played by Indira Joshi
Indira Joshi
Indira Joshi is a British actress of Indian ethnicity. She has appeared in episodes of many well-known British dramas, including Holby City, Doctors, All About Me, The Bill and Coronation Street. However, she is probably best known for her role as Madhuri Kumar in the spoof chat show The Kumars at...
and Vincent Ebrahim
Vincent Ebrahim
Vincent Ebrahim is a South African actor of Indian ethnicity. Born in 1951, he studied drama at the University of Cape Town. He is the brother of South African actress Vinette Ebrahim, who is best known for playing the role of Charmaine Beukes in the Afrikaans soap opera Sewende Laan.After...
), their thirty-something son Sanjeev (played by 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...
), and Sushila, Sanjeev's grandmother, normally referred to as Ummi (played by 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...
). The family live in Wembley
Wembley
Wembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the famous Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The show's central premise is that Sanjeev's parents have supported his dream of being a TV presenter by having a TV studio built on what used to be their back garden. Running jokes include Sanjeev's apparent social ineptitude, and Ashwin's obsession with financial matters and his tendency to tell long stories with no real point. It is also a regular conceit that the guests' appearance fees are paid in chutney
Chutney
Chutney is a a condiment used in South Asian cuisine that usually contains a spice and vegetable mix.Chutneys are wet or dry, having a coarse to fine texture. The Anglo-Indian loan word refers to fresh and pickled preparations indiscriminately, with preserves often sweetened. At least several...
.
The show has an improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
al feel, though in reality much of the regular cast's performance was scripted. In the early episodes only Meera Syal improvised to any great extent, though as the cast became accustomed to their characters the improvised content increased.
Production
The show's UK debut was on 12 November 2001 on BBC TwoBBC 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...
. It was produced by Hat Trick Productions
Hat Trick Productions
Hat Trick Productions is a British independent production company that produces television programmes, mainly specialising in comedy.-History:...
and Pariah Television. Seven series of the programme have aired on BBC Two (and latterly on BBC One), with the seventh shown in 2006. In an interview for Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
in May 2007 Bhaskar confirmed that the show had run its course and there were no plans for any further series.
The Kumars also made a guest appearance on the 2003 Comic Relief single "Spirit in the Sky" performed by Gareth Gates
Gareth Gates
Gareth Paul Gates , is an English singer-songwriter. He was the runner-up in the first series of the ITV talent show Pop Idol. Gates has sold over 3.5 million records in the UK alone. He is also known for having a stutter, and has talked about his speech impediment publicly...
. They also starred in the video. It reached number 1 in the charts and sold more than 550,000 copies.
International
The Kumars at Number 42 was also shown in AsiaAsia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
(including 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...
and Malaysia) on the Star World
STAR World
STAR World is an Asian English language cable and satellite television network owned by Star TV and Fox International Channels, fully owned subsidiaries of News Corporation. The channel is the successor of STAR Plus, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
satellite TV channel and on SABC in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
screens it in Australia and, due to its previous time slot being right before hugely successful Australian comedy Kath & Kim
Kath & Kim
Kath & Kim is a Logie Award-winning character-driven Australian television situation comedy series. The series was created by, and is written by Jane Turner and Gina Riley who play the title characters: a suburban mother and daughter with a dysfunctional relationship...
, has made the programme hugely successful in Australia, and it is also very popular in New Zealand, where it is screened by Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....
. It has been broadcast in the United States on BBC America
BBC America
BBC America is an American television network, owned and operated by BBC Worldwide, and available on both cable and satellite.-History:The channel launched on March 29, 1998, broadcasting comedy, drama and lifestyle programs from BBC Television and other British television broadcasters like ITV and...
, and in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the programme can be viewed on BBC Canada
BBC Canada
BBC Canada is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel. It presents programming primarily from the BBC. BBC Canada is a joint venture between Shaw Media and BBC Worldwide.-Programming:Main article: List of programs broadcast by BBC Canada...
, a digital cable
Digital cable
Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...
channel, weeknights at 9:00 North American Eastern Time
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
. It was shown in Sweden, as Curry Curry talkshow, by SVT
Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...
2 in 2004, and in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
on the public broadcasting foundation NPS
Nederlandse Programma Stichting
NTR is a Dutch public-service broadcaster. It supplies television and radio programming of an educational and cultural nature to the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system....
(Nederland 3
Nederland 3
Nederland 3 is the third and youngest of the terrestrial television channels operated by the Dutch public-broadcasting organization NPO in the Netherlands and carries programs provided by member-based non-profit broadcasting associations. It is oriented towards children, youth and innovative...
). Currently it is also shown in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
on Swiss TV station DRS.
In August 2002 the American channel NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
entered a deal to buy the format but later dropped out.
A new version of the show was planned for Sunday evenings on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, restyled as a show in the 2003-04 season featuring a Latino-American
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
family called The Ortegas and featuring Cheech Marin
Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
. However the program was dropped from Fox's post-baseball playoffs schedule to focus the network's schedule on the success of The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
at the time, and became another one of Fox's series which were scheduled, but never made it to air. Six episodes were produced, but never aired.
The Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n version, Greeks on the Roof
Greeks on the Roof
Greeks on the Roof was an Australian television talk show that ran for 11 episodes on the Seven Network in 2003. It was hosted by Greek-Australian character Effie and her "family"....
(featuring Greek Australian
Greek Australian
Greeks are the seventh-largest ethnic group in Australia, after those declaring their ancestry simply as "Australian". In the 2006 census, 365,147 persons declared having Greek ancestry, either alone or in conjunction with another ethnicity....
s), debuted in 2003 but was soon taken off the air because of very low ratings.
ARY Digital
ARY Digital
ARY Digital, a subsidiary of the ARY Group, is a popular Pakistani television network available in Pakistan, the Middle East, North America and Europe. The ARY Group of companies is a Dubai-based holding company founded by a Pakistani businessman, Abdul Razzak Yaqoob . The network caters to the...
has produced a Pakistani Version of the show called Ghaffar at Dhoraji featuring a Gujarati
Gujarati people
Gujarati people , or Gujaratis are an ethnic group that is traditionally Gujarati-speaking and can trace their ancestry to the state of Gujarat in western India...
family living in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
. Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
Television has produced an Indian version of the show called Batliwalla House No. 43 featuring a Parsee family living in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
.
Trivia
When talking about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
for the British Book Awards, Sanjeev Bhaskar stated that he chose 42
42 (number)
42 is the natural number immediately following 41 and directly preceding 43. The number has received considerable attention in popular culture as a result of its central appearance in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and...
as the house number because in the Hitchhiker's series 42 features prominently as the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Sanjeev Bhaskar told interviewer Mark Lawson
Mark Lawson
Mark Gerard Lawson is an English journalist, broadcaster and author.-Life and career:Born in Hendon, London, Lawson was raised in Yorkshire and is a Leeds United fan. He was educated at St Columba's College in St Albans and took a degree in English at University College London, where his lecturers...
in August 2007 that the inspiration for the series was an embarrassing evening when he took a girlfriend to meet his parents. They asked her awkward questions and he wondered how they would react if he invited a famous person to his home. Ashwin and Madhuri are exaggerated versions of his own parents.