Dame Meera Syal admits it was 'a bit weird' marrying on-screen grandson from The Kumars at No. 42.
Dame Meera Syal played Sushil 'Ummi' Kumar, the grandmother of talk show host Sanjeev Kumar, played by Sanjeev Bhaskar in The Kumars at No. 42, and she and Sanjeev ended up getting married in 2005.
Dame Meera Syal thought it was "a bit weird" marrying her on-screen grandson from The Kumars at No. 42.
The 65-year-old comedienne played Sushil 'Ummi' Kumar, the grandmother of chat show host Sanjeev Kumar (Sanjeev Bhaskar) in the BBC sitcom.
A year before the series ended its five-year run in 2006, Meera and Sanjeev, 62, tied the knot in a family ceremony at a register office in Lichfield, Staffordshire, and the couple went on to welcome their son, Shaan, into the world in December 2005.
Sanjeev is stepdad to Meera's daughter, theatre director-and-dramaturg Milli Bhatia, whom she has with her first husband, journalist Shekhar Bhatia.
On the latest episode of the Dish from Waitrose podcast, Meera told hosts Nick Grimshaw, 42, and 57-year-old Angela Hartnett: "It was a bit weird that the man I would go on to marry was playing my grandson - but we'll move swiftly from that."
The Kumars at No. 42 followed the Wembley, London-based British Indian family, including Madhuri Kumar (Indira Joshi) and Ashwin Kumar (Vincent Ebrahim), their son Sanjeev, and Sushila, Sanjeev’s grandmother.
They all supported Sanjeev's dream of becoming a presenter by building a TV studio on what used to be their back garden.
Meera was cast as a grandmother at 40 because the older actresses who auditioned for Sushila lacked the "improvisational skills" the programme's creators, Sanjeev, Sharat Sardana and Richard Pinto, wanted.
She said: "Well, I got cast, basically, in a nutshell, because the character needed a lot of improvisational skills, and they did audition much older women, age-appropriate women, for that role.
"And they couldn't do the improv, probably not in the training they had at that time."
The actress quickly fell in love with Sushila after reading the script.
Meera continued: "Once I'd seen the parts, I thought, 'This is the best part.'
"This sort of hand grenade of a granny in the middle of this Indian family who is the exact opposite of what people think old women should be. Provocative, mischievous, flirty, internet savvy, gets away with flirting with every male guest because you can, you're a granny. And I'd be mad to turn this down."
Before The Kumars at No. 42, Meera and Sanjeev starred in the BBC sketch comedy series Goodness Gracious Me alongside Kulvinder Ghir, 61, and 57-year-old Nina Wadia.
It originally aired on BBC Radio 4 from 1996 until 1998 and then on BBC Two from 1998 until 2001.
Dish from Waitrose is available on all podcast providers.
