Meera Syal

Dame Meera Syal is playing St George's Bristol on Thursday 15 October, with the show starting at 7.30pm in the Main Hall. It's a solo evening that draws on the true stories that have shaped her life and work, and if you've followed her career, you'll recognise the threads she's pulling from.

Syal grew up as the only Asian family in a West Midlands mining village, and that early contrast sits right at the heart of the material. From there, she went on to be one of the creators of Goodness Gracious Me and played the indomitable Granny Ummi in The Kumars at Number 42. Her career has taken her from topping the pop charts to serving as a Professor at Oxford, writing a musical with Andrew Lloyd Webber, and becoming a Dame and the first British Asian novelist to enter the national curriculum.

The evening leans on the wisdom her mother and aunties dispensed, her grandfather's attempts to arrange her marriage, her working life as an actress and writer, and her journey to motherhood. It's the personal side of a career that's spanned comedy, writing, and academia, told through the stories that actually made it.

Tickets start from £27, with a 9% booking fee on top if you book online or over the phone, and a £2.50 postage fee where applicable. The show is suitable for ages 14+.