Meera Syal

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

(born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is an English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and by portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in '' The Kumars at No. 42''. She has become one of the UK's best-known Asian personalities. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the 1997 New Year Honours and in 2003 was listed in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. She was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to drama and literature. In 2023, she was awarded the

BAFTA Fellowship The BAFTA Fellowship, or the Academy Fellowship, is a lifetime achievement award presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in recognition of "outstanding achievement in the art forms of the moving image". The award is t ...

Early life

Syal was born on 27 June 1961 in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

and grew up in Essington,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, a mining village a few miles to the north. Her Indian Punjabi parents, Surinder Syal (father) and Surinder Kaur (mother), came to the United Kingdom from

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. When she was young, the family moved to Bloxwich, north of

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

. This landscape, and the family's status as the only Asian family in the small Midlands mining village of Essington, were later to form the backdrop to her novel (later filmed) '' Anita and Me'', which Syal described in a 2003

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

interview as semi-autobiographical. She attended Queen Mary's High School in nearby

and then studied English and Drama at

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, graduating with a

Double First The British undergraduate degree classification system is a Grading in education, grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and Master's degree#Integrated Masters Degree, integrated master's degrees in the United Kingd ...

Acting and writing career

In 2023, she was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship, its highest accolade, for her career on screen. During her studies in Manchester, Syal joined the Stephen Joseph Studio, acting and later writing stage plays. On graduation, she had secured a place to study for an MA in drama and

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

, and then to study for a PGCE to teach. However, she had also co-written the one-woman play ''One of Us'' with Jackie Shapiro, in which Syal performed all fifteen parts, about a West Midlands-born ethnic Indian girl who ran away from home to become an actress. First performed at the Stephen Joseph Studio, she then performed it at the National Student Drama Festival where it won a prize to perform at the Edinburgh International Festival, where it also won a prize. As a result, a director from the Royal Court Theatre contacted Syal, and asked her to perform in a play at the Royal Court on a three-year contract. Syal wrote the screenplay for the 1993 film '' Bhaji on the Beach'', directed by Gurinder Chadha, of '' Bend It Like Beckham'' fame. In 1996 she played Miss Chauhan, a high school football coach in the film '' Beautiful Thing''. She was on the team that wrote and performed in the

comedy sketch show '' Goodness Gracious Me'' (1996–2001), originally on radio and then on television. She was a scriptwriter on

A.R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinema ...

and Andrew Lloyd Webber's '' Bombay Dreams'' and she played the grandmother Sushila in the International Emmy-award-winning series '' The Kumars at No. 42'', which ran for seven series, reviving the character in 2021 for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''Gossip and Goddesses with Granny Kumar''. In October 2008, she starred in the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

sitcom '' Beautiful People''. This role, as Aunty Hayley, continued in 2009. Syal starred in the eleventh series of ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a Spin-off (media), spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' ...

'' as consultant Tara Sodi. In 2009, she guest starred in ''Minder'' and starred in the film ''Mad, Sad & Bad''. In 2010, she played Shirley Valentine in a one-woman show at the Menier Chocolate Factory, later transferring to Trafalgar Studios. In the same year she played Nasreen Chaudhry in two episodes of ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' alongside

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is known for playing the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Prince Philip in Netflix's historical series ''The Crown ( ...

. Syal's memoir is due to be published in 2025.

Other notable appearances

Syal is an occasional singer, having achieved a number one record with Gareth Gates and her co-stars from ''The Kumars at No. 42'' with " Spirit in the Sky", the

Comic Relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

single. She earlier (1988) provided vocals for a bhangra version of "Then He Kissed Me", composed by Biddu and with the Pakistani pop star Nazia Hassan, as part of the short-lived girl band Saffron. In June 2003 she appeared as a guest on

's '' Desert Island Discs'' programme with a selection of music by Nitin Sawhney, Madan Bala Sindhu,

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

, Pizzicato Five, Sukhwinder Singh,

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

and others. The luxury she chose to ease her life as a castaway was a piano. Having studied English at university and penned two novels and a variety of scripts and screenplays, Syal was chosen as one of the guests on "The Cultural Exchange" slot of '' Front Row'' on 30 April 2013, when she nominated ''

To Kill a Mockingbird ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a 1960 Southern Gothic novel by American author Harper Lee. It became instantly successful after its release; in the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' ...

'' by

Harper Lee Nelle Harper Lee (April 28, 1926 – February 19, 2016) was an American novelist whose 1960 novel ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and became a classic of modern American literature. She assisted her close friend Truman ...

as a piece of art work which she loved. As a journalist, she writes occasionally for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''.

Awards and recognition

Syal won the National Student Drama Award for performing in ''One of Us'' which was written by Jacqueline Shapiro while at university. She won the Betty Trask Award for her first book ''Anita and Me'' and the Media Personality of the Year award at the Commission for Racial Equality's annual ''Race in the Media'' awards in 2000. She was given the Nazia Hassan Foundation award in 2003. In 2011–12, Syal was appointed visiting professor of contemporary theatre at

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. In 1974, it was also one of the first men's colleges to admit women. It has 528 un ...

. She has an honorary degree from

SOAS, University of London The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public university, public research university in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, ...

and from the University of Roehampton. She received her CBE insignia from the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

on 6 May 2015 at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

. In 2017, Syal was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

. In May 2023, she received the

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Fellowship, regarded as the highest accolade of the British Academy Television Awards.

Personal life

Syal married journalist Shekhar Bhatia in 1989; they divorced in 2002. Their daughter, Milli Bhatia, is associate director of the Royal Court Theatre. In January 2005, Syal married her frequent collaborator, Sanjeev Bhaskar, who plays her grandson in ''The Kumars at No. 42''; the marriage ceremony took place in

Lichfield Lichfield () is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated south-east of the county town of Stafford, north-east of Walsall, north-west of ...

series '' Who Do You Think You Are?'', which investigated her family history. Syal discovered that both her grandfathers were supporters of the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

: one as a

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, the other as a

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

protester who was briefly imprisoned in the

Golden Temple The Golden Temple is a gurdwara located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism. It is one of the Holy place, holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Kartarpur, Pakistan, ...

. Syal's brother is investigative journalist Rajeev Syal, who covers

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

, writing stories for ''

''. In February 2009, Syal was one of a number of British entertainers who signed an open letter printed in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' protesting against the persecution of Baháʼís in Iran. In January 2011, Syal took part in the BBC Radio 4 programme My Teenage Diary, discussing growing up as the only British Asian girl in a small English town, feeling overweight and unattractive.

Writing credits

Screenplays

*'' Bhaji on the Beach'' (1993) *'' Anita and Me'' (2002)

Stage

*''One of Us'' (1983) *''The Oppressed Minorities Big Fun Show'' (1992) *''Goodness Gracious Me'' (1999) *'' Bombay Dreams'' (2002)

Television

*'' Tandoori Nights'' (1985) *''Black Silk'' (1985) *'' The Real McCoy'' (1991) *''My Sister Wife'' (1994) *'' Goodness Gracious Me'' (1998) *'' Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee'' (2005) *''Uncle Santa'' (UK '' Little Crackers'' TV series) (2010)

Radio

*'' Goodness Gracious Me'' (1996–98) *''Masala FM'' (1996)

Novels

*'' Anita and Me'' (1996) *''Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee'' (1999), published in German under the title ''Sari, Jeans und Chilischoten'' in 2003 *''The House of Hidden Mothers'' (2015)

Acting credits

Stage

*''One of Us'' (1983) *'' Serious Money'' (1987) *''

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five-Act (drama), act play in verse written in 1867 by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. It is one of Ibsen's best known and most widely performed plays. ''Peer Gynt'' chronicles the journey of its title character fr ...

'' (1990) *''The Oppressed Minorities Big Fun Show'' (1992) *'' The Vagina Monologues'' (2001) *''Bombay Dreams'' (2004) *'' Rafta, Rafta...'' (2007) *''Shirley Valentine'' (2010) *'' The Killing of Sister George'' (2011) *''

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. ...

'' (2012) as Beatrice *'' Behind the Beautiful Forevers'' (2014) as Zehrunisa *''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' (2016) as Nurse *'' Annie'' (2017) as Miss Hannigan *'' Noises Off'' (2019) as Dotty Otley

Radio

*''True Believers'' (1990) *''The World As We Know It'' (1999) *'' Double Income, No Kids Yet'' (2001) *''A Small Town Murder'' (2008–2020) *''Bindi Business'' (2017) *''Gossip and Goddesses with Granny Kumar'' (2021) *"Mrs Sidhu Investigates"

Film and TV

*''Majdhar'' (1983) *'' The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4'' (1985) *'' A Little Princess'' (1986) *'' Sammy and Rosie Get Laid'' (1987) *'' The Real McCoy'' (1991) *''Gummed Labels'' (1992) *''

Taggart ''Taggart'' is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries ''Killer'' from 6 until 20 Septe ...

'' (1992) *'' Sean's Show'' (1993) *'' The Brain Drain'' (1993) *'' Absolutely Fabulous'' (1994) *'' New Best Friend'' (1994) *''Flight'' (1995) *''Degrees of Error'' (1995) *'' Band of Gold'' (1995) *''It's Not Unusual'' (1995) *'' Drop The Dead Donkey'' (1996) *''A Nice Arrangement'' (1996) *'' Beautiful Thing'' (1996) *''Masala FM'' (1996) *''Crossing The Floor'' (1996) *''Ruby'' (1997) *'' Sixth Happiness'' (1997) *'' The Book Quiz'' (1998) *''No Crying He Makes'' (1998) *''Keeping Mum'' (1998) *'' Legal Affairs'' (1998) *''The World As We Know It'' (1999) *'' The Strangerers'' (2000) *'' Forgive and Forget'' (2000) *'' The Kumars at No. 42'' (2001–2006) *'' Anita and Me'' (2002) *'' Bad Girls'' (2004) Season 6 Episode 4 *'' Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee'' (2005) *'' Murder Investigation Team'' (2005) *''The Secretary Who Stole £4 Million'' (2005) *'' The Amazing Mrs Pritchard'' (2006) *'' Jekyll'' (2007) *'' Kingdom'' (2007) *'' Jhoom Barabar Jhoom'' (2007) *'' When Were We Funniest?'' (2008) *'' Beautiful People'' (2008–2009) *''

'' (2009) *'' Desert Flower'' (2009) *'' Minder'' (2009) *'' Horrible Histories'' (2009) * '' Grandpa in My Pocket'' (2009) *''

'': " The Hungry Earth" (2010) and " Cold Blood" (2010) *''

Tinga Tinga Tales ''Tinga Tinga Tales'' is an animated children's television series based on African folk tales and aimed generally at 4 to 6-year-olds that ran for two seasons (2011–2012). It was commissioned by the BBC for its CBeebies channel. Named afte ...

'' (2010) Voice of Owl *'' The Jury'' (2011) *'' Hunted'' 2 Episodes (2012) *''Bollywood Carmen Live'' (2013) *'' The Boy in the Dress'' (2014) *'' Absolutely Anything'' (2015) *'' The Brink'' (2015) *'' Broadchurch'' (2015) *'' Alice Through the Looking Glass'' (2016) *''

Doctor Strange Dr. Stephen Vincent Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as ...

'' (2016) *'' Riviera'' (2017) *'' Paddington 2'' (2017) *'' The Split'' (2018, 2022) *''To Provide All People'' (2018) *'' Patrick'' (2018) *'' The Nutcracker and the Four Realms'' (2018) *'' Nativity Rocks!'' (2018) *'' Yesterday'' (2019) *'' Dragon Rider'' (2020) *'' Kate & Koji'' (2020) *'' Spin'' (2021) *''

The Wheel of Time ''The Wheel of Time'' is a series of high fantasy novels by the American author Robert Jordan, with American author Brandon Sanderson as co-writer of the final three installments. Originally planned as a trilogy, ''The Wheel of Time'' came to ...

'' (2021) *'' Code 404'' (2021) *'' Back to Life (TV series)'' (2021) *'' Roar'' (2022) *'' The Sandman'' (2022) *'' The Almond and the Seahorse'' (2022) *'' The Devil's Hour'' (2022–2024) *''

'' (2023) *'' Mrs Sidhu Investigates'' (2023) *'' The Canterville Ghost'' (2023)

Academic reception

Her book ''Anita and Me'' has found its way onto school and university English syllabuses both in Britain and abroad. Scholarly literature on it includes: *Rocío G. Davis, "India in Britain: Myths of Childhood in Meera Syal's Anita and Me", in Fernando Galván & Mercedes Bengoechea (ed.), ''On Writing (and) Race in Contemporary Britain'', Universidad de Alcalá 1999, 139–46. * Ana Maria Sanchez-Arce "Invisible Cities: Being and Creativity in Meera Syal's ''Anita and Me'' and Ben Okri's ''Astonishing the Gods''", in Philip Laplace and Éric Tabuteau (eds), ''Cities on the Margin/ On the Margin of Cities: Representations of Urban Space in Contemporary British and Irish Fiction'', Besançon: Presses Universitaires Franc-Comtoises, 2003: 113–30. *Graeme Dunphy, "Meena's Mockingbird: From

to Meera Syal", in ''Neophilologus'' 88, 2004, 637–59.

References

External links

*
British Council: Meera Syal

webcast, March 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Syal, Meera Living people 1961 births 20th-century English actresses 20th-century English comedians 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English actresses 21st-century English comedians Actresses from Wolverhampton Alumni of the University of Manchester British Asian writers British television producers British women screenwriters British women television producers British women television writers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English film actresses English film producers English Hindus English musical theatre actresses English people of Indian descent English people of Punjabi descent English screenwriters English television actresses English television producers English television writers English voice actresses English women comedians English women dramatists and playwrights English women novelists The Guardian journalists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Fellows of St Catherine's College, Oxford BAFTA fellows Writers from Wolverhampton People from South Staffordshire District British radio show creators British television show creators