The Kumars at No. 42 

Sanjeev Kumar is an aspiring chat-show host. He has celebrity guests round to his house (no. 42) to talk to them, but it all falls apart when his family cut in on the action. The celebrity ... See full summary »

Creators:

Sanjeev Bhaskar, Richard Pinto, Sharat Sardana

Stars:

Sanjeev Bhaskar, Vincent Ebrahim, Indira Joshi

5 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Sanjeev Bhaskar	...	Sanjeev Kumar 53 episodes, 2001-2006
Vincent Ebrahim	...	Ashwin Kumar 53 episodes, 2001-2006
Indira Joshi	...	Madhuri Kumar 53 episodes, 2001-2006
Meera Syal	...	Sushil 'Ummi' Kumar 53 episodes, 2001-2006

Storyline

Sanjeev Kumar is an aspiring chat-show host. He has celebrity guests round to his house (no. 42) to talk to them, but it all falls apart when his family cut in on the action. The celebrity guests spend far more time speaking to Sanjeev's 'mother', 'father' and 'grandmother' (played by Sanjeev Bhaskar's 'Goodness Gracious Me' colleague, Meera Syal), and usually insulting Sanjeev in punjabi.

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Plot Keywords:

british asian | character name in title | actor shares first name with character | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Talk-Show

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 November 2001 (UK)

Also Known As:

Curry curry talkshow

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hat Trick Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (53 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sanjeev Bhaskar says he used 42 for the show's house number because he was heavily influenced by Douglas Adams's radio series "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" when he was growing up.

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Quotes

Sushil Kumar: [to Tom Jones] Wait till you get to 70, you'll get a second wind.

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Connections

Referenced in The Big Read: Gone with the Wind (2003)

User Reviews

Dependent on its guests

The success of this show is very variable and depends on the ability of the guests to join in the concept. Basically a middle-class Asian family have spent their money building a TV studio for their son who wants to be a chat show host. The son hosts the show but his parents and grandmother are on the sidelines and embarrass him by asking the guests very personal questions or relating irrelevant anecdotes.

The first ever guest was Richard E Grant and he was brilliant at falling in with the fake family and playing along with the son's obviously doomed ambitions and the family's put-downs. Unfortunately not all the guests can do this and some are obviously quite bewildered at the comments of the 'parents' on the sofa. This can lead to awkward silences on the part of guests and audience. Meera Syal as the plain-speaking, sex and incontinence-obsessed 'Ummi' is the most obviously 'funny' character on the show, perhaps because she is a caricature. The parents, by contrast, appear 'normal' although they are supposed to represent a stereotypical Asian mother and father.

For some reason this show has now run for five years. In my view it is another example of humour which has to be seen to be clever by having some kind of sub-text. Will we ever get back to the days when things are funny for their own sake?