An iconic BBC comedy series has been re-commissioned and is set to make a global comeback 18 years after it was last on screen but the upcoming reboot comes with a twist
BBC comedy show The Kumars is set to make a global comeback after 18 years.
The show, which won the hearts of many viewers across the UK, has been commissioned by US network Fox and filming is due to take place in March. However, the current title has been changed to Meet The Kumars and the pilot will be filmed in March 13 at BBC Elstree Studios.
According to TV website Deadline the original cast including Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal and Vincent Ebrahim will reprise their roles but will also be joined by a new cast member, Shaheen Khan, who will play Rani, Sandjeev’s new stepmother. The description on the website read: “We all remember the Kumars and their only son Sanjeev’s dreams of being a famous chat show host. How his obliging parents bulldozed the garden at their modest family home to build him a TV studio and make his dreams come true, whilst also (along with his unconventional grandmother) insisting on embarrassing him in front of every guest.”
It added: “Yet over the years, the great and the good from the worlds of stage, screen and sport flocked to be on The Kumars’ show. And now, the mischievous family has returned! A little older, more experienced but none the wiser.” Those keen on being part of a live audience will be at the studios from 7pm until 9.45pm.
The Kumars is filming a new pilot of the show after being commissioned by US network Fox (
Image:
© Justin Downing for Sky 1 HD 29.10.13)
The comedy ran for seven series until 2006 from 2001 and won two international Emmy Awards in 2002 and 2003. Six years later, the show made a comeback and at that time the title changed from The Kumars at No.42 to simply The Kumars. In the second wave of the show, it showed the characters had moved out of their home into a flat in Hounslow.
Speaking about the show, Sanjeev said: “It’s incredibly exciting to revisit these warm, oddball characters and to be given the opportunity to bring them up to date. We’ve tried to retain what viewers loved about the original show and to inject new characters and elements in a slightly new format that we hope will appeal to an even broader audience.”
The show has been able to attract a host of high profile names including Jerry Hall, Amanda Holden, Michael Parkinson and Charlotte Church. In 2013, Hollywood star Hugh Jackman also made an appearance. And speaking about his appearance at that time Sanjeev said: “We’ve got these sketches that we do in the show now. Hugh Jackman has done one for us. Zoe Wanamaker’s done one for us as well.”
He added: “I asked him if he would do me a huge favour and shoot something. In the end he rather kindly, between filming scenes, came away and did a couple of things for us. So he’s a great guy.” But this is not the only thing Sanjeev is known for, he has also starred in the crime drama Unforgotten, which was dubbed the new Broadchurch. But when he appeared on Loose Women he told the panel that he filmed two different endings of the show – and was kept in the dark by the producer.
He revealed: “They filmed another shot at the end, and when I was doing ADR, which is a fancy way to say voiceover, I asked which one they’d used for that shot and the producer said ‘I’m not telling you’ so I don’t know.” Talking about the beginning of the six-part drama he continued: “In the first episode as we embark on this, there are questions that are thrown up, should we be investigating an old case and the limited resources. But at the end of the first episode we find a diary which leads us to these people of interest that carries through the rest of the series.”
