- Friday, December 02, 2022
By: Chandrashekar Bhat
SHE IS a great grandmother herself, but it turns out the Queen is a fan of the grandmum portrayed by Meera Syal in The Kumars at No 42.
Phil Jones, a former BBC journalist has revealed that the monarch could “recite some of the one-liners from the grandma character”.
The Emmy award winning hit series, featured a British Indian family – with Sanjeev Bhaskar as the son, Indira Joshi and Vincent Ibrahim as his parents and Syal as the grandmum.
British stars and famous Hollywood names featured as guests on the series, which took on the format of a chat show set in the Kumars’ home. It was first broadcast in 2001 and ran for seven series.
Jones, writing in the New Statesman, recalled a visit with the Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2001.
He said the monarch said she loved Terry Wogan, and added, “We chatted for ages.
“In the end I alighted on, ‘What’s your favourite programme?’ Straight away, she said, ‘The Kumars at No 42’ and, even more astonishingly, proceeded to recite some of the one-liners from the grandma character, played by the brilliant Meera Syal.”
Jones added: “Maybe the Queen genuinely supports multiculturalism, loves BBC sitcoms and has a wicked sense of humour.”
His anecdote corroborates what Bhaskar, 58, who played the main character, has previously said.
He and his wife, Syal, had a chat with the Queen when she appeared to be familiar with their characters in the sitcom.
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