The Kumars at No. 42 is a British television comedy chat show created by Sharat Sardana and produced by Hattrick Productions which stars a fictional British Indian family, including Madhuri and Ashwin Kumar, their thirty-something son Sanjeev and Sushila, Sanjeev's grandmother, normally referred to as Ummi.
The show's central premise is that Sanjeev's parents have supported his dream of being a TV presenter by having a TV studio built on what used to be their back garden.
The series aired in the UK on BBC Two from 12 November, 2001 to 18 August, 2006. There are 53 half-hour episodes in seven seasons.
The Kumars at No. 42 aired in South Africa on SABC3. It later aired on DStv's BBC Entertainment channel. Exact broadcast dates for the run of the show are not available for either broadcaster.
Synopsis
Sanjeev Kumar is an aspiring chat-show host. He has celebrity guests round to his house (no. 42) to talk to them, but it all falls apart when his family cut in on the action.
The celebrity guests spend far more time speaking to Sanjeev's mother, father and grandmother, who frequently insults Sanjeev in punjabi.
Running jokes include Sanjeev's apparent social ineptitude, and Ashwin's obsession with financial matters and his tendency to tell long stories with no real point. It is also a regular conceit that the guests' appearance fees are paid in chutney.
The show has an improvisational feel, though in reality much of the regular cast's performance was scripted. In the early episodes only Meera Syal improvised to any great extent, though as the cast became accustomed to their characters the improvised content increased.
When talking about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for the British Book Awards, Sanjeev Bhaskar stated that he chose 42 as the house number because in the Hitchhiker's series 42 features prominently as the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.