Tandoori Nights

*Tandoori Nights*
Tandoori Nights
Genre	Sitcom
Written by	Farrukh Dhondy
Directed by	Jon Amiel
Starring	Saeed Jaffrey; ; Rita Wolf; Zohra Sehgal
Composer	Nicholas Carr
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	12
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	Channel 4
Original release	4 July 1985 –; 13 November 1987

Tandoori Nights is a television sitcom that was broadcast on Channel 4 between 1985 and 1987. It consisted of two series of six episodes each. The series was directed by Jon Amiel and written by Farrukh Dhondy. It is the story of two rival restaurants in London, and starred Saeed Jaffrey, , Rita Wolf and Zohra Sehgal. It was Channel 4's first Asian comedy series.

After the sitcom had been commissioned to be written, Farrukh Dhondy himself became Channel 4's commissioning editor for multicultural programmes.^[1] Meera Syal wrote an episode for the sitcom (4 July 1985).^[2]

Tandoori Nights traded on some pre-existing Asian stereotypes: an Indian restaurant setting; a conniving businessman (Jimmy Sharma, played by Saeed Jaffrey) who views dating white women as 'social climbing'; a rebellious daughter (played by Rita Wolf); and a bumbling servant-fool (Alaudin, played by Tariq Yunus).^[3]

Plot summary[]

Jimmy Sharma is the owner of Jewel in the Crown, a Tandoori restaurant on Brick Lane in East London. His rival is The Far Pavilions, the restaurant across the street.

References[]

^ Emmanuel Sampath Nelson (1993). Writers of the Indian diaspora: a bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook. Greenwood Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-313-27904-1.
^ Claire Tylee (2000). "The Black Explorer: Female Identity in Black Feminist Drama on British Television in 1992". In Bruce Carson; Margaret Llewellyn-Jones (eds.). Frames and Fictions on Television: The Politics of Identity Within Drama. Intellect Books. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-84150-050-8.
^ Sarita Malik (2002). Representing Black Britain: Black and Asian Images on Television. SAGE Publications. pp. 99–100. ISBN 978-0-7619-7027-9.

External links[]

Tandoori Nights at IMDb
Tandoori Nights at British Comedy Guide
Tandoori Nights at the BFI's Screenonline

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[Nelson1993-1] Emmanuel Sampath Nelson (1993). Writers of the Indian diaspora: a bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook. Greenwood Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-313-27904-1.

[CarsonLlewellyn-Jones2000-2] Claire Tylee (2000). "The Black Explorer: Female Identity in Black Feminist Drama on British Television in 1992". In Bruce Carson; Margaret Llewellyn-Jones (eds.). Frames and Fictions on Television: The Politics of Identity Within Drama. Intellect Books. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-84150-050-8.

[Malik2002-3] Sarita Malik (2002). Representing Black Britain: Black and Asian Images on Television. SAGE Publications. pp. 99–100. ISBN 978-0-7619-7027-9.

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