Meera Syal looks back: ‘South Asians weren’t seen as funny. We sold you fags or served you curry’

The actor, comedian and writer on idolising Victoria Wood, being fuelled by rage and injustice after a sexual assault, and ​t​he life-changing impact of Goodness Gracious Me

Born in Wolverhampton in 1961 and raised in Bloxwich, also in the West Midlands, Meera Syal is an actor, comedian, novelist and playwright who was awarded a damehood in the 2026 new year honours. Her first novel, Anita and Me, won the Betty Trask award in 1996. She rose to prominence as a writer and performer on Goodness Gracious Me and starred in The Kumars at No 42. She has two children and is married to the actor Sanjeev Bhaskar. Her memoir, Vigilauntie: A Memoir – Innit?, has just been published, and she is starring in The Children, at the Lyric Hammersmith, London, until 3 October.

I have no idea why I was posing with my hand on a pillar in a professional studio in Wolverhampton. My parents must have thought, “Let’s preserve the era of the only child before her brother comes along.” As it was the late 60s, I’ve got marriage-age shoes on and a slightly uncomfortable, sticky-out skirt. As for the hair, my mother clearly cut it with the kitchen scissors.