Nina Wadia The TV That Made Me

TV, the magic box of delights.

As kids, it showed us a million different worlds,

all from our living room.

This takes me right back.

That's so embarrassing!

I am genuinely shocked.

Each day, I'm going to journey through the wonderful

world of telly with one of our favourite celebrities...

It is just so silly.

Oh, I love it!

Is it Mr Benn?

Shut it!

..as they select the iconic TV moments... Oh, hello.

..that tell us the stories of their lives.

Oh! Oh, my gosh.

BOTH: Cheers.

Some will make you laugh... Wah!

SHE LAUGHS

..some will surprise...

EDD QUACKS

SHE LAUGHS

..many will inspire... Oh!

Look at this. Why wouldn't you want to watch this?

..and others will move us.

Seeing that there made a huge impact on me.

Got a handkerchief?

So, come watch with us,

as we rewind to the classic telly that shaped those wide-eyed

youngsters into the much-loved stars they are today.

Welcome to The TV That Made Me.

My guest today is one of the most recognisable faces on our screens.

She's made us laugh, she's made us cry,

and it's a real pleasure to have her here today.

Please welcome the wonderful Nina Wadia!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

How are you? Oh, welcome. Thank you.

Nina Wadia burst onto our screens in 1998 in the award-winning

comedy sketch show Goodness Gracious Me.

In 2007, she joined the cast of EastEnders as tough-talking Zainab Masood,

before joining David Jason in Still Open All Hours

as local gossip Mrs Hussein.

The TV that made her includes a calamitous comedy sitcom,

a frustrated housewife...

..my custard is unpredictable.

..and the show that made her a star.

..when you can make it at home for nothing!

So, are you excited about this trip down memory lane? Terrified.

Why? Because I feel old.

SHE LAUGHS

Oh, you don't look old.

You look absolutely radiant. Thank you, but, yeah, no...

Just actually having to think about all the stuff I used to watch.

We're looking forward to today.

Today is a celebration of TV classic moments that you have chosen,

but first up, we're going to rewind the clock now, Nina,

and have a look at a very young Nina Wadia.

Oh, no.

Nina was born in Mumbai, in India, in 1968.

She and her family moved to Hong Kong when she was nine,

after her airline purser dad landed a new job running a restaurant there.

After heading to the UK to finish off her education,

she decided to pursue a career as an actor,

attending drama school in Wandsworth, in London.

Her big break came on the award-winning sketch show

Goodness Gracious Me,

where she played a whole variety of characters.

Nina broke away from comedy to join EastEnders,

where she was at the centre of some explosive storylines.

What's it like looking back? Strange, really strange.

Brings back a lot of fond memories.

Because, sadly, both my parents have passed,

so it's nice to see them again.

We had very few pictures of the five of us. Very few pictures.

Because, you know, cameras weren't that easily available,

and all that stuff, at the time. And we weren't particularly well off, so...

What sort of telly did you have in Mumbai or Hong Kong?

Well, in... We... It was Bombay at the time. Oh, right.

We had... It was a big thing when we actually had a telly come in,

it was a huge thing.

And I remember as a child being very confused at this box arriving.

I didn't know how they made people that small.

LAUGHTER

They could move and walk in them. That was really surprising to me.

And then we moved to Hong Kong. Yeah, how exciting was that?

And what age would you have been? Gosh.

That would have been sort of coming up to nine, now,

and there was the opportunity for Dad to go to Hong Kong,

and run a restaurant.

And Mum wanted him to stop flying, because, you know,

he missed a lot of birthdays and things, mostly mine,

cos he'd get overtime at Christmas, and I'm born around Christmas time,

so it would be like, "Here we go,

"Dad's not going to be there for my birthday."

But he always made sure that there was some parcel or present

that arrived with one of the other guys from the flight crew,

so I really used to look forward to that as well.

So it was a very exciting time.

So we're going to have a look at your first choice, now, Nina.

This is the first sort of TV programme that you came to love.

It's The A-Team. Oh, yes!

I love it!

'These men promptly escaped from maximum-security stockade

'to the Los Angeles underground...'

With its iconic theme tune,

1980s action adventure series The A-Team was one of the first shows

that young Nina watched after moving to Hong Kong.

THEME TUNE PLAYS

..dun-dun, dunnn!

THEY SING THEME TUNE

NINA LAUGHS

Love it!

Breakfast At Tiffany's star George Peppard

played group leader Hannibal,

whose plans always saved the day.

This is when men were men!

LAUGHTER

Dirk Benedict was the smooth-talking Faceman,

the team's second-in-command.

Look at him, his blue eyes. Look at that!

SHE GIGGLES

Dwight Schultz was the insane and unpredictable pilot

"Howling Mad" Murdoch.

Oh, Murdoch used to make me laugh.

He was definitely off the wall, wasn't he, that guy? Definitely.

I kind of liked all of them in different ways,

but I actually really liked Mr T.

I just... I loved him! He was so...

I loved that he hated to fly so much. This really big, strong...

Like, "I'm not getting on a plane!"

Appearing, too, was Rocky III star Mr T,

who played BA "Bad Attitude" Baracas.

AS MR T: I pity the fool.

Yeah, wonderful stunts, wasn't there? Oh, superb stunts.

I mean, for a television programme as well, yes.

Cars just flipping over like nobody's business.

Look at that, look at that!

Can I watch the whole episode, or do I have... Oh, no!

SHE CHUCKLES

Fasten your seatbelts. Keep the nose down.

In this hair-raising clip,

pilot Murdoch has been

temporarily blinded but, as always,

Hannibal has it all under control.

Yeah, we're definitely out of fuel.

You see, this is my favourite combination.

It's humour and action. Mm-hm.

Two things I love.

OK, when you think you're going to hit the runway,

you pull back on that yoke as hard as you can.

Hang on, you're not allowed to smoke on a plane.

SHE CHUCKLES

It's The A-Team, you can do anything you like! And it's fine.

Get on the brakes, Smith. Hit the brakes!

HANNIBAL: Where are they? I got 'em!

BRIAN: One of the running themes was BA's aversion to flying.

This was his worst nightmare.

See, there's a stunt, isn't there? Wow!

See, BA, flying isn't so bad.

THEY CHUCKLE

I love it when a plan comes together.

"I love it when a plan comes together." There we go.

There you go. Oh, so good! Yeah. So good.

It bring backs happy memories.

It really does. We're just...

It was one of those where I, of course, got to sit on the floor,

in our house, because the sofa wasn't big enough for all of us.

Of course, being youngest... Being the youngest,

but then also my brother, so my brother and me down there,

Mum and Dad and my sister on the sofa, and that's it,

we used to just... I used to LOVE watching this.

Now, for your next choice, Nina,

let's see what show you cancelled everything to see.

SHE GASPS

This is, of course, your must-see TV.

That rhymes.

Moonlighting. Oh!

Best show ever.

Cybill Shepherd starred as Maddie

in one of the biggest series of the 1980s.

# Some walk by night... #

The show introduced us to a wisecracking future megastar,

Bruce Willis, as cheeky chappie investigator David.

It was a classy comedy drama,

focused on tension between

the two lead characters.

# ..cos we met on the way... #

Would you still watch it? I would still watch it again

if it were on now.

Yeah. But it's got the ultimate man in it for me.

SHE LAUGHS

Still, even now, Bruce?

Still, even now. Still, even now.

Nothing.

Not during the whole thing, David,

you haven't said a word.

I don't have to say anything.

This was now slightly older.

I was kind of maybe 16 or 17...

Oh, my God, this is the scene!

They finally, after how many series, get together. Right.

What do you mean, not worth it?

Not worth it, not worth it. No woman is worth this, all right?

Season three promised a culmination of David and Maddie's

will-they-or-won't-they relationship.

But in this scene, it looked like yet again it wouldn't happen.

I'm not worth it? I'm not worth it?

Look who's talking about worth, Mr Bargain Basement.

If there was a close-out sale on human beings,

you'd be the last one to sell!

Yeah, you ought to know, honey!

See, I left Hong Kong before this aired...

..and I begged a friend of mine there to tape it on VHS, and said,

"I will miss the episode, they get together!

"I've been waiting for six years," or however long it was.

And she did, she sent it to me, and I watched it about 100 times.

This one scene,

cos I just thought it was so sexy.

I was only 16, I was like...

"This is so sexy."

Did you wear the tape out?

I did! Really?

Fine. Fine.

Good. Good.

Here comes the slap.

Boom! Get out.

And she'll do it again. Watch! Ooh, that had to hurt.

One more. Ooh! Get out.

Third one coming.

MUSIC: Be My Baby by The Ronettes

And smash!

NINA GIGGLES

Ooh, there goes the table! There was no need for that.

That was a good table, that. LAUGHTER

OK, we can stop now, this is embarrassing. No, I'm enjoying it.

Stop it! LAUGHTER

Oh, my!

He's so gorgeous, isn't he? Yeah.

You think she's gorgeous, I'm sure, but... Yeah, no.

And then that was it. After... I then became this big Die Hard fan.

When he then decided to go into action movies, forget it!

That was it for me. But...

Yeah, he's just... He has that...

It's the humour.

It's the humour along with the fact that, you know,

he looked the way he looked, as well. It's just kind of...

And then he went into action. Finished, I'm done.

So did you watch this, Moonlighting, with your family?

Never in a million years.

No? No chance!

I couldn't watch this show with them.

What sort of programmes were your parents strict about you watching?

Anything that involved a kiss.

Well...up until about 15... So Moonlighting was definitely out.

Moonlighting was out! Moonlighting was, you know,

going to my friend's house after school, watching what she'd taped.

Going, "I'm studying, Mum, I'm doing my physics."

"Oh, my God!" You know.

Now, let's look at a show that has a very big influence on you.

And I think you're not alone in that.

It is, of course, Blackadder.

This period sitcom

followed the ill-fated exploits

of the ruthless and cynical

opportunist Edmund Blackadder,

and his hapless sidekick Baldrick.

The second series is set during the Elizabethan era.

It started in 1983.

Did it? Would you believe? Yeah. Gosh.

Right, Baldrick...

Baldrick is loyal, but very dim,

much to Blackadder's frustration.

If I have two beans,

and then I add two more beans...

..what do I have?

Some beans.

NINA GIGGLES

This scene is typical of the comedic relationship between the two.

Let's try again, shall we?

I have two beans.

Then I add two more beans.

What does that make?

A very small casserole.

Baldrick's declarations that he had hatched a "cunning plan"

were almost always the exact opposite.

One, two, three, four!

So, how many are there?

Three. What?

And that one. LAUGHTER

Three... And that one.

So if I add that one to the three,

what will I have? Oh!

Some beans.

Isn't it great? Love it! Just so clever. Yeah. It's just so clever.

Towards the end of my teens

that was when a lot of British shows started coming over,

and I think one of the first ones I saw out there was Blackadder.

And I was just fascinated by this incredibly cruel man,

but he was so funny. I loved that he was cruel with it, and it...

This, of course, is Rowan Atkinson. This is Rowan Atkinson.

And it just started to shape my sense of humour,

when I realised that...

the British sense of humour's more mine, which is slightly cruel.

But...

But it's very witty, and very funny, and I love the use of sarcasm,

and irony, which I think I had anyway,

but I didn't know how to express it,

or I didn't think it was OK to express.

So, did you like the way they set the series in a different era?

I think that was... That was so clever. Clever.

That was really clever.

In fact, to be honest, everything about that show was just genius.

It was absolutely spot on.

Obviously, Richard Curtis was part of the whole thing,

and I mean, Ben Elton's a huge part of that, isn't he?

Oh, wonderful writer. Yeah. Incredible writer.

So, that whole team of people, you know, so incredibly clever.

The equivalent, I guess, of Saturday Night Live in the States, you know.

They have these groups of people that just...

They just work. Yeah.

And that was them.

Would you like to have been in it?

I would have loved to have been in it!

Who would you have liked to have played?

Ah... It would have to be Queenie.

It would just have to be.

I mean, Miranda Richardson is just incredible. Yeah.

No.

I'm completely bored with explorers.

And if you haven't brought me

any presents,

I'm going to have you executed!

Ma'am?

Miranda Richardson's portrayal

of a cruel, immature Queen Elizabeth

was comedy gold.

Anyone who failed to keep the every petulant Queenie happy

faced certain execution.

Good. A most extraordinary gift from the island paradise we visited.

Hurry up!

Ah.

LAUGHTER

What is it? A stick.

By her side was Stephen Fry as grovelling advisor Lord Melchett,

one of Blackadder's biggest rivals.

If you throw it away...

it comes back!

LAUGHING: Oh, well!

That's no good, is it?

Because when I throw things away,

I don't want them to come back!

Well, here's a programme that you chose as your sneaky peek. OK.

It's Benny Hill.

Benny Hill is one of the great success stories of TV comedy.

For over 35 years, his mix of slapstick

and suggestive humour was a huge hit.

I think the music was so...well, brilliant, iconic, wasn't it?

Absolutely. Absolutely.

At its peak, his show was pulling in audiences of up to 20 million

and celebrities including Charlie Chaplin

and Clint Eastwood were said to be amongst his biggest fans.

Strangely, my parents would let me watch this with them

and I would always pretend I needed some water and run to

the kitchen when the girls took their clothes off

and ran round the field.

Why are three girls hiding behind a tree?

It is quite ridiculous, isn't it? So camp. I love it.

The most common running gag was the chase scene,

where Benny got himself into silly predicaments.

Was it the innuendoes that used to make you laugh? Oh, yeah.

To be honest, his comic timing was brilliant.

It was just, he's such a clever man.

Let's have a look at your next choice. OK.

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em. Brilliant.

Accident-prone Frank Spencer, played by Michael Crawford,

spends his life going from one calamity to the next.

Started in 1973 and ran till 1978. Wow.

And this sequence, wasn't this all...? He did all of this himself.

Did his own stunts, yeah.

He's such a brave man. Oh, my gosh.

What a genius. Absolute genius. Here we go, here we go, here we go.

This incredible roller-skating scene is typical

of the sheer bad luck that Frank experiences in every episode.

That took some doing, didn't it? Unbelievable.

I can't bear it!

Betty! Betty, I've been articulated!

Look at that!

Now, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, it was very physical humour, wasn't it?

Yeah. And I love that.

Was this a show that you all watched as a family? Yes. Yeah. Loved it.

Absolutely loved it. And, just, it made us laugh.

The put-upon character of the wife, Betty,

"Oh, he's going to do this again."

It's the quality of - I can't stop saying that enough -

it's the quality of the actor, their training,

and every single moment is made important. For me, it's details.

What do you think is required of a good comedy actor?

Detail. It's the detail. The littlest thing, the littlest look,

the littlest moment that you can find in anything that you do,

that's the genius.

That's the bit that's genius.

Now, Nina, we're moving on to a show that made you feel

just a little bit sad.

Behold, the dreaded sponge.

There's a young Nicholas Lyndhurst there.

And, of course, the lovely Wendy Craig.

Butterflies, penned by The Liver Birds writer Carla Lane, was about

a woman trying to escape the boredom and monotony of family life.

Slight problem with her meals, didn't she?

Could not cook to save her life.

It would appear that Adam has got all the custard.

Sorry! Thought it might pour.

Not my custard, Adam.

You should know by now that my custard is unpredictable.

She is the ultimate character to play. Really?

Cos she's funny, but deep inside she's sad.

I mean, you're laughing now, but at the time, this was TV tears. It was!

It was.

Because I felt for her, especially when she meets the other guy.

Nothing really happens with them,

but she meets him and she really wants that other life too.

That's the thing with women generally - we want it all.

We want the love, but we want the excitement of the affair,

but we want our career, but we want children.

We want it all and that lady there, that's who she was playing.

So she has this family unit, she loves them,

but she thinks something's missing.

She wants that excitement of another romance

or the excitement of something else.

I look in the mirror, and I think... I think...

Go on, tear those to pieces while you tell me what you think.

A lot of these things that I've seen,

I've always been interested in watching how the women play it,

because there were never that many women doing the kind of comedy

that I would aspire to,

so when you had people like Wendy Craig come along,

or you had Miranda Richardson creating her character,

you got, "Oh, yeah, there is a possibility. I can do it."

Now, Nina, it's time to move on to your big break -

Goodness Gracious Me.

Get some tea. Oh, no, no, no. No need.

I made this at home, for nothing!

Now, about the wedding... Yes. Do you have any thoughts on the venue?

Yes. I thought...we'll make it at home for nothing.

One of Nina's most memorable characters

was the embarrassingly frugal mother,

Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!"

You think weddings are all free booze and fancy gifts and...

# Come on, Eileen. # Hm?

Are you sure that this is going to be...? Yes, of course.

Why waste money, when you can make it at home for nothing?

Now, I thought, as a bridal outfit, I would give your daughter

this sari, which my mother gave to me on her death bed.

She's insane! Well done.

Oh, dear. So who inspired that one?

My mum, obviously!

Great time, though? Yeah. Best time.

We laughed, from morning to night, just laughed, making this,

because it's our experiences.

It's our experiences of being an immigrant in this country

and what it's like. That was my first proper TV.

I'd been a theatre girl up till that point.

I was doing loads of Shakespeare and that was my kind of thing.

Then we made a one-off series, on radio, and the next thing

we knew, they said, "It's not just radio, we're going on TV."

And I went, "I don't have any TV experience."

So what you see there is my first foray properly on TV.

Was you surprised at how huge it became?

I'm still surprised how huge it became.

I was just happy that, kind of, Indian people laughed at this show.

I thought that's what it was going to be,

was something for the Indian community.

It didn't even occur to me that people understood what

we were trying to do, you know, and then it went worldwide after that.

Just, it went crazy and people... I think people just related

to the characters themselves,

not necessarily the fact that they were Indian characters.

There was an event we were invited to with the Greek community

in North London and they said, "You're an honorary Greek."

The same thing happened, we went to a Jewish event,

"You're an honorary Jew.

"We have Jewish mums who are like the competitive mums."

So every community felt like they knew someone there

and it was humour that kids could watch, right up to grandparents.

And so it worked. So, obviously, you then moved on to EastEnders. Yes.

They told me what THEY wanted.

The brief was "Pauline Fowler, but funny."

So, I thought, "She's really grumpy. Grumpy old woman. How do I do that?"

So, of course, I asked my husband,

"How do I create a character who's a grumpy old woman, but funny?"

He went, "Just be yourself."

I said, "All right, then!" We're going to take a little look. OK.

Here we are.

Oh, dear. EastEnders.

I'm glad for the good times, Zee. Oh, there were good times?

I'm joking.

That was very funny. Ha, ha.

I'm glad for them too, Mas.

This is the moment that Nina's character Zainab

and husband Masood finalise their divorce.

So, should we...shake hands, or...? I don't know. Do we?

Gosh. Oh. Eurgh. Yuck.

I mean, I've known Nitin for so...

I've known him longer than my own husband.

He's played my husband in so many other things,

so we kind of knew each other a lot before we worked together,

so it was very easy working with him

and it was very easy to find that couple and that family.

It was very, very good.

And on Enders, they made fun of us,

cos we actually hung out together as a family.

So you were there for six years. How difficult was it to say goodbye?

Very hard. Was it your decision? My decision. And very hard.

Why did you make that decision? I was missing my kids.

It's very long hours, long days.

I was really missing them and I thought, "No, I need to go away.

"I need to freshen up."

And if they ever want her back, I would go back but with force.

I'd go in and just be funny again and stick to that side,

because I enjoyed that side of her. Mm-hm.

So, Nina, what sort of TV do you like watching these days?

What do you enjoy?

Um, again, sticking with the comedy theme, but slightly different,

I was saying Modern Family is one of the ones that we can watch.

We tend to kind of, for evening telly viewing or a Saturday night

or something, we tend to watch something

that the kids will enjoy too, but that's funny.

I'm doing a lot more documentary watching.

You know, the kind of biopics of rock stars

and a bit more grown-up stuff, grown-up TV.

My guest obviously gets a chance to pick a theme tune for us

to play out on. Yes. What's it going to be? Oh, it's a tough choice.

I'm going to go with Dukes Of Hazzard.

OK, so it's going to be The Dukes Of Hazzard. Yes.

My thanks to you, Nina. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Aw.

You're brilliant. You've been an absolute joy

to have a little chat with today. So, my thanks to Nina

and my thanks to you for watching The TV That Made Me.

We'll see you next time, bye-bye.

MUSIC: Theme from The Dukes Of Hazzard (Good Ol' Boys)