I can’t believe it’s more than two decades since word-of-mouth recommendations enticed me to BBC2 for the new TV sketch comedy series, Goodness Gracious Me. I’d missed out on the Radio 4 original but, like millions of others, was immediately hooked. For all the outrageous subversion of Asian stereotypes like the competitive mothers, Bollywood stars and fake yogis, the humour was undeniably British, which is why it had such widespread appeal. Along with producer Anil Gupta, the co-writers were the then virtually unknown pair of Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar, who also performed alongside Nina Wadia and Kulvinder Ghir.
While largely forgotten now, back in 1998, Ghir was the only one I’d recognised, as he’d been in dramas like Howard’s Way. However, it was Bhaskar and Syal who just about stood out from the excellent ensemble team. In particular, Sanjeev proved a master at so many characters, notably the middle-aged dad convinced that everything is “Indian!”. He also led the group of young Indians ‘going for an English’ which in my humble opinion comprises four of the funniest minutes of British television in the last thirty years.
Although it has been revived as one-offs since then, GGM ran for only three series on TV but very swiftly Syal and Bhaskar moved onto another ground-breaking comedy series The Kumars at No.42. Ostensibly a sitcom, it was also part-chat show because Sanjeev’s character (called Sanjeev!) was a budding TV presenter with a studio built on to the multi-generational family home in Wembley which welcomed all sorts of celebrities through the front door. Meera’s hunched granny got most of the funny lines, especially when flirting with male guests such as Donny Osmond and Nigel Havers. The interviews were usually improvised, to which the best guests responded with gusto.
The Kumars also presented Sanjeev Bhaskar with a Comic Relief number one single and a live Top of the Pops appearance in 2003 when the group contributed to a Bhangra-tinged version of ‘Spirit in the Sky’. ‘Tis a pity that contemporary heartthrob Gareth Gates stole the lead vocals, but I suppose the enterprise would never have succeeded without the ‘Pop Idol’ runner-up.
The success of these two series presented my Treasure with amusing guest slots on Have I Got News For You and Friday Night With Jonathan Ross. In 2010 he was also an amusing raconteur getting into the spirit of things in an early edition of Would I Lie to You? Although no larger-than-life personality, Sanjeev is just so likeable as an apparently humble bloke with an easy-going demeanour whom any mother would wish their daughter to marry. In 2005, millions of them would have their hopes dashed when he married Syal who was already forging a parallel career as screenwriter and best-selling novelist.
Her book Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee was adapted into a three-part serial starring – surprise, surprise! - Meera and Sanjeev as a married couple in their thirties. It wasn’t a laugh-out-loud gagfest but a heart-warming tale of friendships laced with sadness, as any great drama should be. I was unimpressed by Bhaskar’s pilot episode introducing ITV’s Mumbai Calling but maybe I should have given it a second chance when it had a full series.
Nonetheless I always feel cheered by his appearances in any comedy or drama. He has turned up in superior programmes such as Silent Witness and Love Soup but my current favourite is the police thriller Unforgotten. Whilst his DI character Sunny Khan plays second fiddle to Nicola Walker’s DCI, he is a vital cog in what over three series has become one of the best crime dramas of recent years. Based on cold case investigations, they’re long enough to lure you in and maintain your interest to the denouement, aided by a formidable array of supporting talent, from Tom Courtenay and Alex Jennings to Frances Tomelty and Mark Bonnar.
I often find myself suffering pangs of guilt watching Sanjeev Bhaskar in such star-studded productions. Unforgotten’s Nicola Walker is the undoubted star, and deservedly so, and there are times when I wonder whether this erstwhile Hounslow schoolboy and marketing graduate is a tad out of his depth amidst a top-notch cast. And yet that is part of his charm. He seems comfortable in the skin of an unflashy Indian family man doing a good job for his boss and, especially if comic timing or an impeccable raised eyebrow or two are required, Sanjeev Bhaskar is your man. Indeed a role doesn’t demand to be of Asian descent; this actor can, in a typically understated way, make it his own. Goodness, gracious me!
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