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Meera Syal

Sue Lawley's castaway is actor and writer Meera Syal.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actor and writer Meera Syal. She was born in the sixties after her parents had immigrated here from the Punjab and brought up in Essington, a Staffordshire mining village five miles north east of Wolverhampton. She studied English and Drama at Manchester University.

Her one woman show One Of Us went to the Edinburgh Festival where she was spotted by a director from the Royal Court Theatre in London and offered an immediate equity card. Meera gave up her academic plans and moved to London to act in the theatre. She wrote and starred in 'My Sister Wife' for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ2 and moved on to write and perform in the popular Goodness Gracious Me and to play the flirtatious granny in the Kumars at Number 42. She has written the script for the London musical Bombay Dreams which will be going to Broadway.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Young, Gifted and Black by Bob and Marcia
Book: Hindi-English dictionary
Alternative to Bible: Bhagvadgita - ancient Hindu text
Luxury: A piano

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 6 Jun 2003 09:00
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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Derek Brown

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Vittorio Radice

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Music Played

  • Nitin Sawhney

    Sunset

    • Prophesy.
    • V2.

  • Madan Bala Sindhu

    Medndi/Madhorama Pencha

    • Monsoon Wedding - Original Soundtrack.
    • Milan.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Bob & Marcia

      Young, Gifted and Black

      • Young Gifted and Black/My Cherie Armour.
      • Escort.

  • Joni Mitchell

    A Case Of You

    • Blue.
    • Reprise.

  • The Kinks

    Waterloo Sunset

    • 25 Years of Rock and Roll - 1967.
    • Connoisseur Collection.

  • Pizzicato Five

    Twiggy, Twiggy

    • Made in the USA.
    • Matador.

  • Sukhwinder Singh

    The Wedding Qawwali

    • Bombay Dreams.
    • Citrus.

  • Louis Armstrong

    Fantastic, That's You

    • What A Wonderful World.
    • MCA.

  • Book Choice

    • Hindi-English dictionary

  • Luxury Choice

    • A piano

Credits

Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Meera Syal

Broadcasts

  • Sun 1 Jun 2003 11:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Fri 6 Jun 2003 09:00
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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