What is "goodness gracious me"

interj. (context idiomatic UK English) (alternative form of goodness gracious English)

Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC English-language sketch comedy show originally aired on BBC Radio 4 from 1996 to 1998 and later televised on BBC Two from 1998 to 2001. The ensemble cast were four British Indian actors, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia. The show explored the conflict and integration between traditional Indian culture and modern British life. Some sketches reversed the roles to view the British from an Indian perspective, and others poked fun at Indian stereotypes. In the television series most of the white characters were played by Dave Lamb and Fiona Allen; in the radio series those parts were played by the cast themselves.

The show's title and theme tune is a bhangra rearrangement of a hit comedy song of the same name. The original was performed by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren reprising their characters from the 1960 film The Millionairess. The show's original working title was "Peter Sellers is Dead", but was changed because the cast generally liked Peter Sellers. In her 1996 novel Anita and Me, Syal had referred to British parodies of Asian speech as "a goodness-gracious-me accent".

The cast casually drop Punjabi and Hindi slang phrases into their speech, in the manner of many British Asians living in the UK.

The show won Best Entertainment at the Broadcasting Press Guild Award and the Team Award from the Royal Television Society, UK in 1999.

In March 2014, the BBC announced that the show would return with a special episode as part of celebrations of fifty years of BBC Two. An India special was broadcast on BBC Two on 25 August 2015.

Goodness Gracious Me is an interjection expressing surprise. It may also refer to:

• "Goodness Gracious Me" (song), comic song recorded by Peter Sellers & Sophia Loren
• Goodness Gracious Me (BBC), BBC radio and television sketch comedy show

Category:Interjections

"Goodness Gracious Me" is a comedy song recorded by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren, and was a top 5 UK single in 1960. It features Sellers acting the role of an Indian doctor, and Loren of his wealthy Italian patient – who fall in love.