Goodness Gracious Me

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Goodness Gracious Me was a 1998-2001 Sketch Comedy show performed by British Indians Meera Syal, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir and Nina Wadia. Most sketches were self-parody of British Asians and Asian culture, the reaction of white British people to Asians, or Indian-styled spoofs of western TV shows. Began as a radio series, then became a TV adaption on BBC 1.

Regular characters included:

  • Cheque Please - A tactless playboy who drives his dates away with insensitive behaviour or comments.
  • Bhangra Muffins - Two "street" teenage boys with attitude.
  • Everything Comes From India - A man who believes that everything from shampoo [1] to Superman is Indian [2] or was invented by Indians.
  • Minx Twins - Gossipy teenage girls.
  • Chunky Lafanga - Bollywood superstar.
  • Smeeta Smitten Showbiz Kitten - A Bollywood reporter whose presenting style leaves a lot to be desired.
  • The Coopers - Snobbish nouveau riche couple in denial that they are Indian.
  • Bhangra Man - A superhero who saves people through the power of bhangra dance.
  • Guru Maharishi Yogi - A spiritual "guru" who likes to con money out of his followers.
  • The Competitive Mothers: Exactly What It Says on the Tin

The best remembered sketch from the show, which has won several awards, was "Going for an English" - a parody of the behaviour of drunken Brits in Indian restaurants.

Tropes used in Goodness Gracious Me include:
  1. Actually semi-true; see The Other Wiki's page on the subject for details.
  2. Except God, who clearly cannot be Indian as he works a six-day week, no Sundays, and Michaelangelo's David because no man with an organ that small could ever be Indian