Goodness Gracious Me

Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC English-language sketch comedy that began on BBC Radio 4 in 1996 and later moved to television on BBC Two from 1998 to 2001. The ensemble features four British Indian actors — Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal, and Nina Wadia — who explore the friction and fusion between traditional Indian culture and contemporary British life. Some sketches invert perspectives to view the British from an Indian point of view, while others lampoon Indian stereotypes. In the television series, most white characters were portrayed by Dave Lamb and Fiona Allen; on radio, those roles were performed by the cast themselves. The title and theme tune consist of a bhangra rearrangement of a hit comedy song sharing the same name, originally performed by Peter Sellers with Sophia Loren reprising their characters from The Millionairess (1960). The original working title was "Peter Sellers is Dead," but it was changed because the cast admired Peter Sellers. In Anita and Me (1996), Syal referred to British parodies of Asian speech as "a goodness-gracious-me accent." One of the show's most famous sketches features the cast going out for an English after a few lassis: they mispronounce the waiter's name, order the blandest item on the menu, and request twenty-four plates of chips. The sketch parodies often-drunk English people going out for an Indian, ordering chicken phall and too many papadums. This sketch was ranked sixth on Channel 4's list of Greatest Comedy Sketches.