Meera Syal

Beena is young, spirited and fancy free. She's just finished a degree in politics and the world is her oyster, until she is unexpectedly forced to move back to the valleys to look after her irresponsible 40-something mother, Amrit.

Kate runs an old-fashioned café in a seaside town, and develops a strong, if sometimes volatile, friendship with asylum-seeking African doctor Koji. Although from different worlds, Kate and Koji are similar in ways they do not see for themselves.

An unlikely trio of heroes – a dragon, a boy and a forest brownie – embark on an epic adventure to find the “Rim of Heaven” - the mythological safe haven for all dragons.

The staff and students at St. Bernadette's Primary School audition for a coveted place in a spectacular rock musical competition.

To mark the 70th anniversary of the birth of the NHS, acclaimed poet Owen Sheers takes us on a journey that weaves the extraordinary story of the birthing of Nye Bevan's vision of free healthcare for all people with personal stories of the NHS in British society today.

Priti, a British-born Indian woman in the West Midlands, reports a violent incident in the street.

This series features some of Britain's best-loved comedians and funniest comedy actors gathering together for a jolly night in front of the telly, watching clips from classic sitcoms and sketch shows both old and new.

Live theatre presentation of Shakespeare's classic play about two teenagers from warring families whose love affair ends in tragedy.

India is surging with global ambition. But beyond the luxury hotels surrounding Mumbai airport lies a makeshift slum, full of people with plans of their own. Zehrunisa and her son Abdul aim to recycle enough rubbish to fund a proper house. Sunil, twelve and stunted, wants to eat until he’s as tall as Kalu the thief. Asha seeks to steal government anti-poverty funds to turn herself into a ‘first-class person’, while her daughter Manju intends to become the slum’s first female graduate. But their schemes are fragile; global recession threatens the garbage trade, and another slum-dweller is about to make an accusation that will destroy herself and shatter the neighbourhood.

The cover version has always been a staple of the pop charts. Yet it's often been viewed as the poor relation of writing your own songs. This film challenges and overturns that misconception by celebrating an exciting, underrated musical form that has the power to make or break an artist's career. Whether as tribute, reinterpretation or as an act of subversion, the extraordinary alchemy involved in covering a record can create a new, defining version - in some cases, even more original than the original.

A series of six comedy shorts, in which each episode is 'taken over' by a different high profile comedian. The result is an exclusive, eclectic and hilarious mix of comedy genres, tastes and styles.

Based on David Walliams' best-selling children's book, with an all-star cast including Jennifer Saunders, James Buckley, David Walliams and Kate Moss, The Boy in the Dress is a celebration of creativity, difference, football and fashion. Dennis feels different - an ordinary boy in an ordinary house in an ordinary street, playing football with his mates and living with his dad and brother, but frustrated by the boring grey world he inhabits. Life has never really been the same since his mum left. However, transformation can happen in the most unexpected places. Aided by Lisa, the coolest girl in the school, Dennis creates a whole new persona and puts it to the ultimate test - but can a boy wear a dress, and what will the headmaster, his dad and his friends on the football team think if they find out?

Having suffered hard during the economic downturn, The Kumars are now living in a flat in Hounslow behind the shop that Ashwin now runs. Sanjeev is divorced from his wife of nearly two years and Ashwin has manged to get a sponsorship deal that has allowed him to resurrect the family's talk show, which takes place in the living room of their flat.

Little Crackers is a series of Christmas short films featuring stars of British and Irish comedy.

HARDEEP, RASHMI and ATUL are brothers and sisters. Which means they can say anything they like to each other, no matter how honest. Mad, Sad and Bad is a 90-minute comedy about mixed race relationships set in Luton. It's about mid-thirties siblings and friends whose personal lives are continuously messed up by their own selfish needs. Mad, Sad and Bad explores our contemporary metropolitan neuroses through the intersecting lives of these siblings and their friends. The narrative slips from one character to the next as they escape and attack each other. all reluctant members of the same dysfunctional family. Written by Ed Barratt

When Were We Funniest? is a Gold documentary series broadcast in 2008.

Supermarket manager Ros Pritchard decides to stand for election and her steady gains of support gives rise to thoughts of becoming Prime Minister.

To celebrate her 80th birthday, the Queen is holding a children's party in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. She has invited many classic characters from British children's literature. But when the baddies, led by Cruella de Vil, discover that they have not been invited, they steal the Queen's handbag containing her spectacles and the text of her speech; without it, the Queen will not be able to make a speech at the party. Can the goodies find the handbag in time?

Monkey Trousers was a short-lived comedy series on ITV in 2005, featuring Alistair McGowan, John Thomson, Ronni Ancona, Mackenzie Crook, Griff Rhys Jones, Neil Morrissey, Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer, Marc Wootton and Steve Coogan. It was directed by David Kerr and produced by Bob Mortimer and Vic Reeves' production company, Pett Productions. It succeeded The All Star Comedy Show, which was written by Reeves and Mortimer, and produced by Coogan. Sketches of the show included the moronic, yet fearless 'Croc Botherer', Roy the eerie, lonely toy-shopkeeper, Alistair the hopeless estate agent, who replies to every question with "I don't know", the swearing chef, and the 'Geordie Astronauts'. A DVD of the series was released on 4 July 2005.

All About Me is a British television sitcom starring Jasper Carrott about a multicultural family living in Birmingham. It was broadcast on BBC One from 2002 to 2004. All About Me was created by Steve Knight, who also wrote many of the early episodes.

Meena, a 12-year-old living in a mining village in the English Midlands in 1972, is the daughter of Indian parents who've come to England to give her a better life. This idyllic existence is upset by the arrival in the village of Anita Rutter and her dysfunctional family.

The Kumars at No. 42 is a British comedy show. It won an International Emmy in 2002 and 2003. It ran for seven series totalling 53 episodes.

Bedtime was a British comedy-drama written and directed by Andy Hamilton and broadcast by the BBC. It ran for three series for a total of fifteen episodes between August 2001 and December 2003. The first two series had six episodes each and the third series had three episodes. Series 1 and 2 were released on DVD.

A televised pantomime of Aladdin with characters played by well-known celebrities.

Two British best friends and in-laws Dawn and Jackie work together at a factory. When Dawn is diagnosed with a brain tumor Jackie shares $100,000 she's got from her secret lover with Dawn to fulfil her dream - a visit to Las Vegas. They buy two tickets and fly there...

Set during a long, hot summer on the Thamesmead Estate in Southeast London, three teenagers edge towards adulthood.

Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC English language sketch comedy show originally aired on BBC Radio 4 from 1996 to 1998 and later televised on BBC Two from 1998 to 2001. The ensemble cast were four British Indian actors, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia. The show explored the conflict and integration between traditional Indian culture and modern British life. Some sketches reversed the roles to view the British from an Indian perspective, and others poked fun at Indian stereotypes. In the television series most of the white characters were played by Dave Lamb and Fiona Allen; in the radio series those parts were played by the cast themselves. The show's title and theme tune is a bhangra rearrangement of a hit comedy song of the same name. The original was performed by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren reprising their characters from the 1960 film The Millionairess. The show's original working title was "Peter Sellers is Dead", but was changed because the cast generally liked Peter Sellers. In her 1996 novel Anita and Me, Syal had referred to British parodies of Asian speech as "a goodness-gracious-me accent". One of the more famous sketches featured the cast "going out for an English" after a few lassis. They mispronounce the waiter's name, order the blandest thing on the menu and ask for twenty-four plates of chips. The sketch parodies often-drunk English people "going out for an Indian", ordering chicken phall and too many papadums. This sketch was voted the 6th Greatest Comedy Sketch on a Channel 4 list show.

Political satire closely mirroring real-life British politics of the time - a self-serving Conservative minister "crosses the floor" to join the opposition Labour Party, at a time when the Conservative Party has a majority in Parliament of just one seat. Sequel to A Very Open Prison.

Using a blend of magic realism and realist drama, Memsahib Rita looks at the physical and emotional violence of racism. Shanti is haunted by both the racist taunts of nationalist white youths and the memory of her white mother.

Farah is an independent young British woman who manages to reconcile her modern lifestyle with her Pakistani heritage. As a Muslim in love with a married man, she can become his second wife - especially as his first marriage to Maryam seems to exist in name only. But with all three under one roof, Farah becomes increasingly insecure.

The Real McCoy was a BBC Television comedy show that ran from 1991 to 1996, featuring an array of black and Asian comedy stars performing material aimed at an across-the-board black audience. UK comedy stars that featured in the series included: the comedy double-act of Curtis and Ishmael, Collette Johnson, Llewella Gideon, British Asian standup Meera Syal, Perry Benson, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Leo Chester, Felix Dexter, Robbie Gee, Kulvinder Ghir, Judith Jacob, Rudi Lickwood, Eddie Nestor, Marcus Powell, Junior Simpson and Curtis Walker and Jo Martin. The producer of the first two series, Charlie Hanson, was the co-founder of the Black Theatre Co-operative and had produced No Problem! and Desmond's before creating The Real McCoy. He was working with Curtis and Ishmael on the 291 Club at the Hackney Empire and suggested making a television version, but instead, the BBC opted for a totally new sketch series, launching The Real McCoy. In spite of its popularity it has yet to be released on DVD.

Sammy and Rosie are an unconventional middle-class London married couple. They live in the midst of inner-city chaos, surround themselves with intellectual street people, and sleep with everybody - except each other! Things become interesting when Sammy's father, Rafi, who is a former Indian government minister, comes to London for a visit. Sammy, Rosie, and Rafi try to find meaning through their lives and loves.

The Black Audio Film Collective’s acclaimed essay film, 'Handsworth Songs', examines the 1985 race riots in Handsworth and London. Interweaving archival photographs, newsreel clips, and home movie footage, the film is both an exploration of documentary aesthetics and a broad meditation social and cultural oppression through Britain’s intertwined narratives of racism and economic decline.