Sanjeev Bhaskar (born 31 October 1963) is a British actor, comedian, and television presenter. He is best known for his work in the BBC Radio 4 and BBC Two sketch comedy series Goodness Gracious Me and as the star of the sitcom The Kumars at No. 42. He also presented and starred in a documentary series called India with Sanjeev Bhaskar, in which he travelled to India and visited his ancestral home in today's Pakistan. Bhaskar's more dramatic acting roles include the lead role of Dr Prem Sharma in The Indian Doctor and a main role as DI Sunny Khan in Unforgotten. Bhaskar became chancellor of the University of Sussex in 2009. In 2006, Bhaskar was appointed an OBE.
Early life and education Bhaskar was born on 31 October 1963 in Ealing, Middlesex. His parents, Inderjit and Janak Bhaskar, came to the UK after the partition of India. His elder sister was born five years before him, and the family lived above their launderette. He started working part-time when he was 14 in Heston, Hounslow, Middlesex. He was raised as a Hindu.
He earned a degree in marketing from Hatfield Polytechnic before landing a job as a marketing executive at IBM.
Career Bhaskar soon realised that he preferred comedy to marketing and joined forces with an old college friend, Nitin Sawhney, to start a musical comedy double act called The Secret Asians, which they first performed in 1996 at the now-defunct Tom Allen Arts Centre in East London. This performance was featured on a BBC magazine show called Reportage. They also performed extensively at the Watermans Arts Centre with numerous other acts at a regular Asian comedy night called One Nation Under a Groove...Innit. Their real break came when they were performing a show at the Ovalhouse in South London where, after a strong review in Time Out magazine by journalist and playwright Bonnie Greer, they were approached by Anil Gupta, the producer of what was to become the BBC sketch series Goodness Gracious Me.
In 1994 or 1995, Bhaskar had his first paid job as a performer with Tara Arts, a theatre company in south London.
Bhaskar has starred in a number of British-produced films, including The Guru, Notting Hill (briefly), and Anita and Me. He also had a cameo as a shop owner in Yash Raj Films' production Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. He had a major role in the 2019 film, Yesterday, in which he and his wife, Meera Syal, played a married couple.
Bhaskar, the Kumars and Gareth Gates collectively released the official single for Comic Relief in 2003, "Spirit in the Sky", which spent three weeks at the top of the UK Singles chart and was the second highest-selling single of the year. In 2008 Bhaskar made his musical theatre debut as King Arthur in Spamalot at London's Palace Theatre.
As part of the BBC's series of programmes on the 60th anniversary of the independence of India and Pakistan, he filmed a BBC documentary series India with Sanjeev Bhaskar with director Deep Sehgal, which was broadcast in August 2007. According to the BBC it included "an emotional journey" to his father's ancestral home, now in Pakistan. His first book, India with Sanjeev Bhaskar, based on the documentary series, became a Sunday Times bestseller in 2007. He also featured in a Channel 4 documentary series called The House That Made Me. This show, produced by Nutopia in 2010, recreated his childhood home and introduced him to the characters of his youth.
He wrote and starred in the ITV sitcom Mumbai Calling and the UK tour of the hit American improv show Totally Looped.
On 31 October 2014, Bhaskar hosted Kermode and Mayo's Film Review, standing in for Simon Mayo on the BBC's flagship film show. He also played the lead character in the online animation Rajesh Finesse in 2014.
From 2015 until the present (season 5, 2023), he plays a lead role as DI Sunny Khan in cold case mystery series Unforgotten.
In January 2021, Bhaskar was cast in the Netflix adaptation of The Sandman.Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Sandman’ Casts Tom Sturridge, Gwendoline Christie, Vivienne Acheampong, Boyd Holbrook, Charles Dance, Asim Chaudhry And Sanjeev Bhaskar
In 2022, he appeared in the title role in a television series based on the Inspector Singh novels.
Bhaskar was a contestant in the 20th series of Taskmaster, competing alongside Ania Magliano, Maisie Adam, Phil Ellis and Reece Shearsmith.
Guest appearances
In October 2008, he was featured on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.
He appeared as a guest on the BBC's Top Gear in 2003, setting a time of 1:51.0 around a wet Top Gear test track in a Suzuki Liana, placing him 32nd on the original leader board. In March 2010 he featured on the BBC Radio 4 comedy show I've Never Seen Star Wars. On 23 July 2010 he was guest on the BBC comedy panel game Would I Lie To You?.
Then he was on Taskmaster.
Recognition and awards In 2003, Bhaskar was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.
In 2005, Bhaskar was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year Honours List.
On 23 February 2009, he was appointed chancellor of the University of Sussex, and he was formally installed at the university's summer graduation ceremony on 22 July 2009.
In April 2015, he was given the Outstanding Achievement in Television award at The Asian Awards.
On 26 July 2019, Bhaskar was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Sussex in recognition of his ten years as chancellor.
Personal life In January 2005, Bhaskar married comedian Meera Syal in Lichfield, Staffordshire. They have a son, Shaan, who was born at the Portland Hospital on 2 December 2005.
In February 2009, Bhaskar and other entertainers wrote an open letter to The Times protesting against the trial of leaders of the Baháʼí Faith then being held in Iran. He is a Liverpool Football Club supporter.
Politics Before the 2010 general election Bhaskar was one of 48 celebrities who signed a letter warning against Conservative Party policy towards the BBC.
Filmography Film YearTitleRoleNotes 1998 The Dance of Shiva Sergeant Bakshi Short film 1999 Notting Hill Loud Man in Restaurant 2001 The Mystic Masseur Beharry Inferno Jaz Short film 2002 Anita and Me Mr Kumar The Guru Rasphal the Cook 2006 Scoop Poker Players Credited as Sanjeev Bhasker 2007 Jhoom Barabar Jhoom Shopkeeper 2010 It's a Wonderful Afterlife Mr Bhatti the Curry Man Not the Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy Mountie Jackboots on Whitehall Rupee/Old Gil/King Voice role London Boulevard Sanji Raju 2011 The Itch of the Golden Nit Ten Heart Hero (voice) Short film Arthur Christmas Lead Elf Voice role Lazy Uncle Dad Short film 2013 The Zero Theorem Doctor 1 2015 Absolutely Anything Ray 2016 Thunderbirds 1965 Himself Short filmDocumentary 2017 And The Winner Isn't Himself Documentary film Paddington 2 Dr Jafri 2019 Yesterday Jed Malik Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans Mr. Felix 2020 Dragon Rider Mad Doc Voice role 2023 The Flash David Singh 2024 Paddington in Peru Dr Jafri Cameo 2025 The Family Plan 2 Vikram
+Key Denotes works that have not yet been released
Television YearTitleRoleNotes 1991 The Real McCoy Various Roles Unknown episodes 1995 Porkpie Sanjay Episode: "And Lead us not into Temptation" 1996 Bollywood or Bust Himself (Host) 1997 Captain Butler Adeel 6 episodes We Know Where You Live Various Characters 12 episodes 1998 Jonathan Creek Doctor Episode: "Black Canary" Light Lunch Himself Episode: "Goodness Gracious What a Great Show" Keeping Mum Ahmed Episodes: "The Card Game" and "The Morning After" 1998–2015 Goodness Gracious Me Various 21 episodes 1999–2001 Small Potatoes Rick Roy 13 episodes 2001 We Know Where You Live Television film 2001–2006 The Kumars at No. 42 Sanjeev Kumar Lead role53 episodes 2002 Dalziel and Pascoe Graham Shah Episode: "Mens Sana" 2005 Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee Akaash 3 episodes Chopratown Vik Chopra Television film Angell's Hell John Angell Television film 2005–2008 The New Paul O'Grady Show Himself 2 episodes 2006 The Children's Party at the Palace Robin Hood Television special 2007–2008 Mumbai Calling Kenny Gupta 8 episodes 2009 Natural World Narrator Documentary seriesEpisode: "Man-eating Tigers of the Sundarbans" 2010 Grandpa In My Pocket Rodger Splodger Episode: "Great Aunt Loretta's Not-So-Great Plan" 2010–2013 The Indian Doctor Prem Sharma 15 episodes 2012 Silent Witness Abdul Aziz Episode: "And Then I Fell in Love" 2014 Midsomer Murders Armand Stone Episode: "The Killings of Copenhagen" The Kumars Sanjeev Kumar 6 episodes Doctor Who Colonel Ahmed Episode: "Death in Heaven" 2015 Drunk History Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell Episode 1.8 Bollywood and Beyond: A Century of Indian Cinema Himself (presenter) Television filmDocumentary Horrible Histories Various characters Episode: "Naughty Napoleon Special", "Gorgeous George III", "Tricky Queen Vicky", "Wily Winston Churchill" 2015–present Unforgotten DI Sunil "Sunny" Khan 2016 Thunderbirds Are Go Ethan Sullivan (voice) Episode: "City Under the Sea" 2017 Horrible Histories Singing Greek God Episode: "Monstrous Musicians" 2017–2019 Porters Mr Pradeep 7 episodes 2018–2020 Thomas & Friends Shankar (voice) UK & US versions2019 Icons: The Greatest Person of the 20th Century Category presenter ("Advocate") 2 episodes, activists category and live final Red Nose Bodyguard Interviewer Red Nose Day 2019 special Good Omens Giles Baddicombe Episode: "The Very Last Day of the Rest of Their Lives" The Switch Host 20 episodes 2020–2021 Sandylands Les Vegas Television miniseries 2021–2022 Secrets of the Transport Museum Narrator Documentary series 2022 The Sandman Cain Episode: "Imperfect Hosts"2025TaskmasterHimselfContestant; Series 202025Air India Crash: What Went Wrong?NarratorChannel 4 documentary on Air India Flight 171 2026 The Split Up Dhruv Kishan Six-part legal drama
The Way It Is (2000) as various characters Goodness Gracious Me: Back Where They Came From (2001) as various characters Comic Relief 2003 (2003) as Sanjeev Kumar Celebration's Advertisement (2004) – as himself L'Entente Cordiale (2006) as Commander Bashir India with Sanjeev Bhaskar (2007) as himself Dawn French's Boys Who Do Comedy – as himself
Written Goodness Gracious Me (1998) The Kumars at No. 42 (2001–06) Mumbai Calling (2007–08)
Composed Goodness Gracious Me (1998) Mumbai Calling Pilot Episode (2007)
Stage Art (2002) Whitehall Theatre, London, as Yvan Spamalot (2008) Palace Theatre, London, as King Arthur Totally Looped (2009) UK Tour
See also British comedy
References
External links