Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC sketch comedy show originally aired on BBC Radio 4 from 1996 to 1998 and later on BBC Two from 1998 to 2001. The ensemble cast were four British Indian actors, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia. The show explored British Asian culture, and the conflict and integration between traditional Indian culture and modern British life. Some sketches reversed the roles to view the British from an Indian perspective, and others poked fun at Indian and Asian stereotypes. In the television series, most of the white characters were played by Dave Lamb and Fiona Allen; in the radio series those parts were played by the cast themselves. Some of the white characters were also played by Amanda Holden and Emma Kennedy.
The show's title and theme tune is a bhangra rearrangement of the comedy song of the same name, originally performed by Peter Sellers (portraying an Indian doctor, Ahmed el Kabir) and Sophia Loren, reprising their characters from the 1960 film, The Millionairess. Sellers sang the 1960s song in a stereotypical "cod-Indian" accent. (In her 1996 novel Anita and Me, Syal had referred to British parodies of south Asian speech as "a goodness-gracious-me accent".)
The cast casually drop Punjabi and Hindi slang phrases into their speech, in the manner of many British Asians living in the UK. The Radio Show won Gold at the Sony Radio Academy Awards in 1997. The TV show won Best Entertainment at the Broadcasting Press Guild Award and the Team Award from the Royal Television Society, UK in 1999. In March 2014, the BBC announced that the show would return with a special episode as part of celebrations of fifty years of BBC Two. An India special was broadcast on BBC Two on 25 August 2015.
Contents
Parodies and references in the show
The Six Million Rupee Man – parodies The Six Million Dollar Man.
I Know Him Too Well – parodies the song "I Know Him So Well".
Skipinder: The Punjabi Kangaroo – parodies Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.
I'm a Punjabi Girl... – parodies Aqua's "Barbie Girl" song.
Hindi People – parodies Pulp's "Common People".
Club Nirvana – parodies Wham!'s "Club Tropicana".
The Marriage Emporium – pays homage to Monty Python's Cheese Shop sketch and "Dead Parrot sketch".
Fawlty Turrets – pays homage to Fawlty Towers.
The Delhi Tubbies – fictional Asian equivalent of Teletubbies.
They Were The Blacked-Up Men – parodies Men in Black.
The Bhandari Bunch – parodies The Brady Bunch opening sequence.
Channa's Angels – parodies Charlie's Angels
Arranged Shag – parodies the arranged marriage
Not Saving Private Narayan – parodies Saving Private Ryan
Other parodies are based on shows such as Animal Hospital (where members of lower castes take the place of the pets) and Rough Guides (where tourists from India visit and make unpleasant remarks about the United Kingdom).
Going for an English
One of the best-known sketches featured the cast "going out for an English" after a few lassis. They continually mispronounce the waiter's name, order the "blandest thing on the menu" (apart from one of them, who opts for the stronger option of a steak and kidney pie) and ask for 24 plates of chips. The sketch parodies British people "going out for an Indian" after drinking heavily, being rude to the waiter, demanding the spiciest thing available on the menu for show, and ordering far too many papadums. This sketch was voted the sixth-greatest comedy sketch on a Channel 4 list show called 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches.
Recurring characters
Cheque, 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 "Cheque, 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?" (slang for penis)
Mr "Everything Comes From India" – A man who insists that just about everything comes from India or was invented by Indians (often to the chagrin of his more knowledgeable son), including William Shakespeare, Cliff Richard (who, in the character's defence, was actually born in India), Leonardo da Vinci, most English words: (veranda, shampoo, conditioner), the British royal family (all except Prince Charles, who he claims to be African, because of the size of his ears), Superman (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 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. What kind of Indian doesn't work Sundays?".
The Coopers (Kapoors) and Robinsons (Rabindranaths) – Two snobbish nouveau riche 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 making silly mistakes such as serving guests some Pimm's 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 – Redubbed footage of the television show about Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (1968–70), with the kangaroo being "voiced over" so that he can talk. Skippy, who now calls himself Skipinder, is always drunk, speaks in a Punjabi accent and frequently insults the other characters.