Sanjeev Singh Kohli (born 30 November 1971) is a Scottish actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for his role as shopkeeper Navid Harrid in the

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 ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Still Game ''Still Game'' is a Scotland, Scottish sitcom produced by Effingee Productions, The Comedy Unit and BBC Scotland. It was created by Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, who played the lead characters, Jack Jarvis (Still Game character), Jack Jarvis, ...

'' (2002–2007, 2016–2019), Ramesh Majhu in the radio sitcom ''

Fags, Mags and Bags ''Fags, Mags and Bags'' is a Scottish radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Its first series was nominated for a Sony Radio Award. The writers, Sanjeev Kohli and Donald McLeary, received a Writers Guild Award in November 2008 for Radio C ...

'' (2007–present), and

AJ Jandhu AJ, or variants, may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters * Applejack (''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic''), a character from the fourth incarnation of ''My Little Pony'' * A. J. (''The Fairly OddParents''), a fictio ...

in the

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

soap opera ''

River City ''River City'' is a Scottish television soap opera created by Stephen Greenhorn which has been broadcast on BBC One Scotland since September 2002. Since 2019, the show has aired episodes a day earlier on the new BBC Scotland channel. Set in ...

'' (2015–2022). Since 2019, Kohli has hosted his own television talk show ''Sanjeev Kohli's Big Talk'', on the BBC Scotland channel.

Early life

Kohli was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 30 November 1971, to a

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

and a teacher, who had emigrated to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1966 from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. When he was three years old, they moved to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Kohli's parents could afford to move him, aged six, and his brothers to be educated by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

at St Aloysius' College, a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

school in Central Glasgow. To pay for their children's education, Kohli's parents ran a

corner shop A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

. Kohli attended

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

, initially to study Medicine, but changed course to study Mathematics, gaining a first-class degree, and subsequently studied for a PhD.

Career

Kohli starred as Surjit Magoon in ''

Meet the Magoons ''Meet the Magoons'' is a six-part comedy television series in the United Kingdom aired on Channel 4 in 2005, directed by and starring Hardeep Singh Kohli. The main characters are a Punjabi family who live in Glasgow, and own an Indian restaurant c ...

'', co-written by his brother Hardeep, for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. and has appeared in several episodes of the

comedy series ''

Look Around You ''Look Around You'' is a comedic parody of British science television shows, devised and written by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, and narrated in the first series by Nigel Lambert. The first series of eight 10-minute shorts was shown ...

'' as Synthesizer Patel. He is a former presenter of the BBC's Asian Network and has previously written for '' Goodness Gracious Me'', ''

The Big Breakfast ''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 from 1992 to 2002, and as a revival from 2021 to 2022. The show had various presenters, starting with Chris Evans (presenter), ...

'' and ''

Chewin' the Fat ''Chewin' the Fat'' is a Scottish comedy sketch show, starring Ford Kiernan, Greg Hemphill and Karen Dunbar. Comedians Paul Riley and Mark Cox also appeared regularly on the show among other actors such as Tom Urie. ''Chewin' the Fat'' ...

'', which was also written by future ''Still Game'' co-stars,

Ford Kiernan Ford John Kiernan (born 10 January 1962) is a Scottish actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his work with Greg Hemphill on the BBC Scotland sketch comedy series ''Chewin' the Fat'' (1999–2005) and the sitcom ''Still Game'' (2002� ...

and

Greg Hemphill Gregory Edward Hemphill (born 14 December 1969) is a Scottish comedian, actor, writer, and director. Born in Springburn, an inner–city district in Glasgow, Scotland, Hemphill moved to Montreal in Canada in the mid-1970s before returning to Sc ...

. In December 2006, the '' Sunday Mail'' revealed that Kohli would be starring in a major

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

thriller, '' Losing Gemma''. Starring alongside

Alice Eve Alice Sophia Eve (born 6 February 1982) is a British and American actress. The daughter of actors Trevor Eve and Sharon Maughan, she began her career with supporting roles in the films '' Hawking'' and '' Stage Beauty'' (both 2004). Her other ...

, he played "a member of the British High Commission, who helps a young British tourist jailed in

Delhi, India Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its right bank, Del ...

". Kohli revealed in 2007 that he would be working on a

radio comedy Radio comedy, or comedy, comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve variety show, sitcom elements, sketch comedy, sketches, and various types of comedy found in other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elemen ...

project 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 ...

, entitled ''

''. The series was broadcast in 2008 and was nominated for a

Sony Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

. The Daily Record also revealed Kohli would be writing for ITV children's show, ''

My Life as a Popat ''My Life as a Popat'' is a British television series for children which follows the lives of a British-Indian family, through the eyes of their eldest son, Anand. The first series revolves around the teenager fighting the embarrassment his fami ...

''. Kohli has also starred in

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

's ''

Rush Hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English, Indian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice e ...

'' as an intolerant

taxicab driver A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

, and on the same channel in ''

Phoo Action ''Phoo Action'' is a BBC Three 60 minute TV pilot, one of six drama pilots that were transmitted in early 2008, and was first broadcast on 12 February 2008 at 21:00 UTC. ''Phoo Action'' is based on the Jamie Hewlett-created comic strip ''Get the ...

'' as a television

news presenter A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

. On 21 August 2007, he presented a show called ''10 Things To Hate About The

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

''. Kohli also sometimes appears as a pundit on

BBC One Scotland BBC One Scotland is a Scottish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Scotland. It is the Scottish variation of the UK-wide BBC One network and is broadcast from Pacific Quay in Glasgow. History The BBC Television Service sta ...

's Saturday afternoon ''

Sportscene ''Sportscene'' is the name of a range of Scottish sports television programmes produced by BBC Scotland. History ''Sportscenes predecessors were ''Sports Special from Scotland'' and ''Sportsreel'', which was broadcast every Saturday at around ...

'' football programme. Kohli made a brief cameo in a speaking role as himself in an episode of BBC's ''

VideoGaiden ''VideoGaiden'' is a Scottish computer games television show that was broadcast by BBC Two Scotland. Its creators and presenters, Robert Florence ("Rab") and Ryan Macleod, were responsible for the internet-distributed videogaming show '' Conso ...

'', where he received a fish in the mail as a gift from the hosts in an attempt to recreate the

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

game ''

Animal Crossing is a social simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo. It was created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. The player character is a human who lives in a village inhabited by various anthropomorphic animals and can ...

''. One of the hosts was

Robert Florence Robert Luke McBrian Florence (born 29 July 1977) is a Scottish television presenter, comedian and writer who starred in the BBC comedy sketch show '' Burnistoun''. Early life Robert Florence was born on 29 July 1977 and was raised in a working- ...

, a writer whom Kohli worked with on ''

''. In February 2008, it was announced that he would play the role of God in the video for Glasgow band

Attic Lights Attic Lights are a Scottish indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland, formed in 2005 by Kev Sherry (vocals, guitar), Colin McArdle (vocals, bass) and Jamie Houston (guitar, keyboard, vocals), later joined by Tim Davidson (guitar, pedal steel) and ...

single "God." In 2011, Kohli appeared on the Scottish tea-time magazine show ''

The Hour An hour is a unit of measurement of time. (The) Hour(s) may also refer to: Measurement * Hour angle, the measurement of angle in units of hours ** Right ascension, the astronomical unit of measure of angle * light hour or hour, distance equival ...

'' on STV. He co-hosted in two separate weeks (ten episodes), alongside main presenter

Michelle McManus Michelle McManus (born 8 May 1980) is a Scottish singer, columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter who won the second and final series of the UK talent show ''Pop Idol'' in 2003. She currently presents the ''Afternoon'' radio show ...

. In 2012, he appeared on the

comedy programme Fresh Meat as a dentistry lecturer Dr Minaj. In 2014, Kohli joined the rest of the cast of ''Still Game'' in the comeback live show at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. There were 21 performances of the sold-out show. In October 2015, Kohli made his first appearance as A.J. Jandhu in the Scottish soap opera ''

''. Since April 2019, he has hosted ''Sanjeev Kohli's Big Talk'' on the BBC Scotland channel.

Personal life

Kohli lives in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

with his wife, Fiona, and their three children. He has two elder brothers — Randeep Singh Kohli (b. 1966), a senior police officer with the Metropolitan Police in

, and

Hardeep Singh Kohli Hardeep Singh Kohli (born 21 January 1969) is a British presenter, comedian, writer and director who has appeared on various radio and television programmes. Having moved to Scotland at a young age, he has had a long association with the arts i ...

(b. 1969), who is also a journalist and broadcaster and lives in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kohli, Sanjeev 1971 births Living people Alumni of the University of Glasgow 21st-century British male actors Male actors from Glasgow People educated at St Aloysius' College, Glasgow People from Bishopbriggs British people of Indian descent British people of Punjabi descent Scottish male comedians Scottish male soap opera actors Scottish male television actors Scottish Sikhs Comedians from London Comedians from Glasgow