EP.280 - MEERA SYAL

Adam talks with British comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actor Dame Meera Syal about memoir writing, growing up part of the only brown family in a 1960s Midlands village, what the British Empire's legacy of colonialism meant to Meera's family, and then to her when she was handed some of the Empire's top awards, the problematic Peter Sellers song that gave Goodness Gracious Me its title, what the Simpsons should have done about Apu, and how Meera found herself in a Death Cafe.

THIS EPISODE CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE (mainly after the interview when Adam sings a song about jaw exercise).

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SUCCESSPOD - 2026 (listen for free with a trial or subscription on Audible)

Conversation recorded face-to-face in London on 26 May, 2026

Thanks to Diggory Waite and Claire Broughton at Hattrick and Séamus Murphy Mitchell for production support.

Podcast illustration by Helen Green

RELATED LINKS

MEERA SYAL 2026 TOUR - September 2026 (Fane)

KUMARS AT NUMBER 42 - YouTube Playlist

MEERA SYAL - WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE - 2004 (YouTube)

GARETH GATES & THE KUMARS - SPIRIT IN THE SKY - 2003 (YouTube)

DEATH CAFE (Death cafe website)

PETER SELLERS AND SOPHIA LOREN - GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME - 1960 (YouTube)

ROWAN ATKINSON, PIXIE LOTT, NICK MOHAMMED - GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME - 2013 (YouTube)

PETER SELLERS AND SOPHIA LOREN - BANGERS AND MASH - 1961 (YouTube)

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