My Life as a Popat

Last updated

My Life as a Popat
Mylifeasapopatlogo.jpg
Genre Comedy
Directed byBeryl Richards (series 1 - 6 episodes) Charles Martin (series 2 - 4 episodes) Jonathan Gershfield (series 2 - 4 episodes)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes14 (at the end of Series 2) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersPhilip Clarke (series 1 and 2) Laurence Bowen (series 2)
ProducerLaurence Bowen (series 1) Nick Pitt (series 2)
Production locationEaling Studios (series 1) Greenford Studios (series 2)
Running timeApprox. 30 mins
Original release
Network ITV (Series 1);
CITV (Series 2)

My Life as a Popat is a British television series for children which follows the lives of a British-Indian family, through the eyes of their eldest son, Anand. [1] The first series revolves around the teenager fighting the embarrassment his family causes him. The second series brings a change in the storyline, with Anand's genius brother Chetan Popat sometimes taking centre stage. Milli Patel (the Popats' cousin) also joins the family's adventures in this series.

Contents

Cast

Trivia

My Life as a Popat was not recommissioned after the second series due to CITV budget restrains. However, after the show won a BAFTA, a second series was commissioned. Laura Greenwood (Holly Saviour) was axed in the second series so (after a farewell appearance in the first episode) the character was written out. The new character of Lucy Miesels (played by Yasmin Paige) was introduced in the next episode.

Following further budget cuts to CITV My Life as a Popat was not recommissioned for a third series.

Game

CITV made a My Life as a Popat game which can be found on the CITV website:

Episodes

Series 1 (2004)

Episode #TitleFirst broadcastSynopsis
1."Men in Turbans"13 July 2004Anand Popat arrives with his family in Harrow and is particularly keen to make a good impression on his next door neighbour, Holly. Will he ever pluck up the courage to invite her to see ‘Men in Turbans’?.
2."Entertaining Radha"20 July 2004Anand's heart sinks when his parents announce that his bratty showbiz cousin Radha is coming all the way from Bombay to visit.
3."Dimplicious"27 July 2004Dimple's never-ending singing, practice for an important end of year school concert, is driving Anand and Chetan to distraction.
4."Health is Wealth"3 August 2004When Anand is given a school project to assess his family's eating habits, he sees that their high fat curry diet gives them a low life expectancy. He must do something to get them to change before it's too late.
5."Happy Diwali"10 August 2004It's the night before Diwali – the Indian Festival of light – and Dimple, Chetan and Anand are dreading yet another record-breaking speech from their father, Ramesh. They have much more exciting plans and have to escape.
6."Take Your Child to Work Day" (aka "Got to be Ghee")17 August 2004Anand is assigned yet another school project that fills him with dread. Ramesh, his father, hates to be disturbed when he's filming for his Asian satellite channel- how will he take to ‘take your child to work day’ ?

Series 2 (2007)

Episode #TitleFirst broadcastSynopsis
1."Tit for Tat"11 April 2007Mili and Chetan join forces against Anand and Dimple. Meanwhile, Holly has an announcement for Anand...
2."Ghost"12 April 2007The Popats think that they are being haunted by Uncle Sailesh's ghost. Chetan doesn't believe in ghosts but wants to make contact with an alien. Does either exist or is there a logical explanation behind the strange events?
3."Evil Granny"13 April 2007Ramesh's eccentric mother comes to stay - and she's the evilest gran in history. Anand discovers that he may have been adopted - looking at his gran he might wish he were. But in the end, blood is thicker than water.
4."Juvenile Delinquent"16 April 2007When Milli beats him the Matholympics exam, Chetan temporarily abandons his brainbox persona and becomes a hoodie. Milan pretends to be poor to see if Dimple only loves him for his money.
5."Like Father, Like Son"17 April 2007Ramesh and Anand undergo a body swap. Ramesh has to go to school and Anand has to go to work - with unexpected consequences.
6."Girlfriend"18 April 2007Chetan is on a quest to find his perfect partner, Anand is on a quest to prove himself, and Dimple is on a quest to improve Milan's memory.
7."Popat Idol"19 April 2007Anand joins a boy band to save the family holiday. Milli plots to stay with the Popats for longer.
8."Royal Popats"20 April 2007Dimple is Milan's princess. But when his parents ask to meet her, the Popats come up with a crazy plan to pretend to be an ancient, royal Indian family. Anand is about to lose Lucy to the school bully - only ballroom dancing can prevent it.

Awards and nominations

YearResultAwardCategoryRecipient(s)
2008WonRTS AwardBest Children's DramaFeel Good Fiction
2008WonBroadcast AwardBest Children's ProgrammeFeel Good Fiction
2007WonBAFTA Children's AwardsBreakthrough TalentCharles Matin
2007NominatedBAFTA Children's AwardsBest Drama-
2005WonBAFTA Children's AwardsBest DramaLaurence Bowen
Beryl Richards
Manoj Raithatha
2005WonChicago International Children's Film Festival: Adult's Jury Award Live Action Television ProgramBeryl Richards, for episode "Health is Wealth"
2005NominatedDirector's Guild of Great Britain AwardOutstanding Directorial Achievement in 30-Minute TelevisionBeryl Richards
2005NominatedRTS Television AwardBest Children's Drama

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Family Affairs</i> British soap opera

Family Affairs is a British soap opera that aired on Channel 5. It debuted on 30 March 1997, the day of the launch of said channel and was the first programme broadcast on the channel. It was screened as five thirty-minute episodes per week at 6:30pm on weekdays, followed by an omnibus edition on Sundays. The series never achieved high ratings, so it went through a number of dramatic revamps involving wholesale cast turnover. The premise of the series was also refocused from a family in a quiet suburb just outside London, to a range of different people living on a bustling outer London street.

<i>Knots Landing</i> American television series

Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired on CBS from December 27, 1979, to May 13, 1993. A spin-off of Dallas, it was set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles and initially centered on the lives of four married couples living on a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle. Throughout its fourteen-year run, storylines included marital strife, rape, murder, kidnapping, assassinations, drug smuggling, politics, environmental issues, corporate intrigue, and criminal investigations. By the time of its conclusion, it had become the third-longest-running primetime drama on U.S. television after Gunsmoke and Bonanza and the last scripted primetime drama show that debuted in the 1970s to leave the air.

<i>Ellen</i> (TV series) American sitcom

Ellen is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from March 29, 1994, to July 22, 1998, consisting of 109 episodes. Ellen DeGeneres stars as the title character of Ellen Morgan, a neurotic bookstore owner in her thirties. The title of the series was These Friends of Mine for the first season, but it was subsequently changed to avoid confusion with the NBC series Friends, which premiered in September 1994.

Chandeep Uppal is a British actress best known for her critically acclaimed starring role as Meena Kumar in the film Anita and Me.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chetan Anand (director)</span> Hindi film producer, screenwriter and director

Chetan Anand was a Bollywood film producer, screenwriter and director from India, whose first film, Neecha Nagar, was awarded the Grand Prix Prize at the first ever Cannes Film Festival in 1946. Later, he co-founded Navketan Films with his younger brother Dev Anand in 1949.

Mysti is a British children's television programme, produced by Mystical Productions for the BBC from 17 April 2004 to 16 December 2005. It initially took the format of an hour-long programme combining magazine and narrative elements, but was subsequently reformed into a series of 20-minute, all-narrative programmes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryke Hendrikse</span> Canadian voice actress

Maryke Hendrikse is a Bahamian–born Canadian voice actress who works primarily for Ocean Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She has played several roles in anime, most notably Revy in Black Lagoon and Lunamaria Hawke in Gundam Seed Destiny. She is also known for her roles as Susan Test in Johnny Test, Gilda in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Sonata Dusk in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and Yasmin in the Bratz franchise.

<i>Mike and Angelo</i> British television series

Mike and Angelo is a British sci-fi TV sitcom series, that ran on CITV between 16 March 1989 and 7 March 2000. The show is ITV's longest running sitcom.

Laura Greenwood is an English actress and a member of the YoungBlood Theatre Company in 2006.

Charles Martin is a British television producer. In 2007, he was awarded a British Academy Children's Award. He made his film directorial debut with S.M.A.R.T. Chase in 2017.

<i>Fortysomething</i> (TV series) British TV series or programme

Fortysomething is a 2003 British comedy-drama series set in Wimbledon, London. Hugh Laurie stars as Paul Slippery, a doctor facing a mid-life crisis. His wife Estelle is starting a new career as a headhunter. His three sons, Rory, a student at the fictitious University of Reigate, Daniel and Edwin, are sex-obsessed. Meanwhile, Paul appears to hear the inner thoughts of others.

WOW! is a children's entertainment magazine programme, broadcast in 1996 on the UK's ITV television network. It aired for 16 weeks from 31 August to 14 December 1996, preceded by the Summer 1996 run of Scratchy & Co. and followed by the spring 1997 run of the same show.

<i>Text Santa</i> British TV series or programme

Text Santa was a charity initiative set up in 2011 by ITV to support UK-based charities during the Christmas period. The appeal to the public is to donate money mainly via text donation and profits from merchandise. The telethons have been hosted by popular ITV presenters including Phillip Schofield, Christine Bleakley, and Ant & Dec. The 2015 appeal show was the last after ITV decided to axe the show to make way for an all-year appeal.

<i>Pramface</i> Television series

Pramface is a British sitcom starring Scarlett Alice Johnson and Sean Michael Verey. Written by Chris Reddy, the first series, comprising six half-hour episodes, piloted on 23 February 2012. The second series, which was commissioned by the BBC before the first series had even aired, began transmission on 8 January 2013 with an hour-long special as the first episode. The remaining six episodes of the series were of the usual half-hour length. A third series was commissioned which began airing on 25 February 2014 with the double episode series finale, which aired on 25 March 2014, bringing the third series to a total of six half-hour episodes. It was confirmed in August 2014 that a fourth series will not be commissioned.

<i>Scrambled!</i> British TV series or programme

Scrambled! was a British children's weekend morning television show which aired on CITV and ITV between 2014 and 2021. It is the first regular studio-based children's show on ITV since Holly and Stephen's Saturday Showdown. Scrambled! was produced by Zodiak Kids Studios. For most of its run, the show usually broadcast on Saturday and Sunday mornings from October to April, with special episodes recorded for the Christmas period.

This is a list of scripted British television programmes featuring one or more actors of Asian ancestry as the programme's leading actor portraying the protagonist or protagonists.

<i>Holby City</i> (series 21) Season of television series

The twenty-first series of the British medical drama television series Holby City began Airing on BBC One on 2 January 2019 in the United Kingdom. The series consists of 53 episodes. Kate Hall acts as the series producer for episode one and was replaced by Jane Wallbank from the following episode; Simon Harper is the executive producer. The series is billed as an anniversary year for the drama as it celebrates twenty years since its launch. The series also features a crossover episode with sister show Casualty, an episode written by the show's co-creator Tony McHale and the show's 1000th episode, due to be broadcast in November 2019. Thirteen actors reprise their roles from the previous series and former cast members return for guest stints throughout the series. Three new regular characters were also introduced, while Nic Jackman was promoted to the main cast in his role as foundation doctor Cameron Dunn.

<i>Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids</i> (TV series) Animated television series based on a book series by Jamie Rix

Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids is a British animated horror television series based on the generic trademarked children's book series of the same name by Jamie Rix. After the first three books were published from 1990 to 1996, Carlton Television adapted the short stories into ten-minute cartoons for ITV, produced by themselves, Honeycomb Animation, and Rix's production company, Elephant Productions. It aired on CITV between January 2000 and October 2006 with six series and 78 episodes, as well as a New Year's Eve special that was over 20 minutes longer than other episodes. The series returned in a new format for Nicktoons with 26 episodes split into two series under the name Grizzly Tales, which aired between May 2011 and November 2012.

<i>Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 2</i> Indian television series

Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 2 is an Indian Hindi-language television series produced by Rashmi Sharma Telefilms. It aired from 19 October 2020 to 16 July 2022 on Star Plus. Initially based on Star Jalsha's Bengali series Ke Apon Ke Por, it is a sequel to the long-running series Saath Nibhaana Saathiya. It starred Sneha Jain, Gautam Vig, Akanksha Juneja, and Harsh Nagar.

References

  1. "My Life as a Popat". Feelgood Fiction. 10 September 2004. Retrieved 18 December 2020.