When considering they had the lady from "Goodness Gracious Me" and "The Kumars" (Myra Zihal, ?) playing the medical doctor in the hospital, I feel they rather let slip the opportunity for a real hutzpah in-joke.

One of the patients could have said - "Doctor I'm in troub;le."

and the lady dcotor could have said "well Goodness Gracious Me!"


or the lady doctor could have gone up to the real Doc (Matt Smith) and said she was in trouble and the Doc could have gone "Well, Goodness, Gracious Me!"

Would have been a touch of high wit.

Meera Syal wasn't the medical doctor.

Nina Wadia was (Zainab from Eastenders)

Although Meera Syal will be in one of the other episodes of this season

And Nina Wadia and Meera Syal together make the two females from Goodness Gracious Me. Though I don't think Wadia was in the Kumars? But she was in Skins, which I think is where last night's director, Adam Smith, first really broke into television.

I'm not sure about the reference though, it would have been difficult to carry off without breaking the suspension of disbelief...

Yeah really, really so very funny. Especially if he was impersonating Peter Sellers but dressed as Dr Stangelove, a sort of double entendre in a complete void of vapid pointlessness.

I really do not understand this Dr Who thing. Is it a quirky comedy for 12 year olds? Or is it a pseudo-sci-fi mystery time travel drama?

It oscillates between the two. Though it has very limited pretensions to fit into the sci-fi genre — not only is the relevant technology itself rarely explored, but frequently neither is the society of the week. Mostly it's a mystery or a suspense or a simple runaround, with the Tardis used just as a way to move to a more interesting location and to explain how so many things can end up happening to the same character.

And it's unapologetically for family viewing — ie, it explicitly includes childish elements, such as often sacrificing logic for fun. Within that framework it still manages to throw up some adult themes (loss mainly, recently) and some occasional genuinely mature episodes (in the sophistication sense, not the suitability sense).

I would have been totally lost on the goodness gracious me thing,.what are you on about?

It was a popular sketch show on the BBC about a decade ago. See here.

thanks

She wasn't in the Kumars, but she did replace Meera Syal in the role of Jasper Carrot's wife in that awful BBC1 sitcom, All About Me
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_About_Me

there was no publicity regarding the replacement, and it went largely unnoticed, since like the OP, people had probably confused the two (due to GGM, not "they all look the same", I hasten to add - my parents made the same mistake and we are British-Indian )

It went largely unnoticed cos the sitcom went largely unwatched.

Yes, but it lasted three series and was a prime target of the "It's PC gone mad"-Daily Mail brigade since it ticked all the ethnicity and disability boxes

I think it may also have been because it ticked all the ethnicity and disability boxes without having anything else to say for itself whatsoever, lacking wit or purpose. Though it was still better than According to Bex, naturally.

Would have been funny to say it though!

I liked All About Me, though that was mainly down to Nina Wadia/Meera Syal's half-sister Sima.

I think if that line was put in as a joke then the BBC complaints switchboard would go into meltdown.

From people who didnt get that the gag was referencing another BBC programme.

It was probably famous for having one half-funny sketch, the rest was dross.

I liked it a lot more than whatever that show is with Nicholas Lyndhurst right now. That said, I'm not a particularly receptive audience for the sort of sitcom put out on BBC1 on a Friday. Give me Curb or Spaced, not My Family or The Persuasionists. And, yes, I know the latter wasn't very well received by anyone but I struggled to think of another well received Friday night BBC1 sitcom.


That's one half-funny sketch more than Little Britain.