LIFE ISN'T ALL HA HA HEE HEE'
Tuesday 10 May BBC ONE

Meera Syal, Laila Rouass and Ayesha Dharker star in this tale of friendship, betrayal and cross-cultural conflicts, as Meera Syal's acclaimed novel, Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee, is screened on Tuesday 10 May 2005 on BBC One. The story exposes the ties that bind the three women to their roots and a generation of men lost in the wake of feminism.

Childhood friends Tania (Laila Rouass), Sunita (Meera Syal) and Chila (Ayesha Dharker) are now in their thirties and at a crossroads in life but their friendship still holds them together.

Sunita, the eldest, used to be "super swot" until she flunked out of university to marry her psychotherapist sweetheart, Akaash (Sanjeev Bhaskar), when she turned into "SuperMummyji". Now she feels trapped by two kids and an unfulfilling job.

"Gob Almighty" Tania is the ambitious career girl who has left her family and her "community" behind. Speaking her mind got her into trouble but out of Ilford.

While the baby of the gang, sweet, naïve Chila, is getting married. She has bagged the Prince Charming of Chigwell himself, Deepak Sharma (Ace Bhatti) - the man of her dreams. But he has a catalogue of former girlfriends - including Tania.

The novel was originally inspired by the juxtaposition of two news stories running in the same newspaper on the same day headlined "Asian Women Top the Graduate League" next to "Asian Women Top the Suicide and Self Harm League" on the opposite page. Meera admits: "It disturbed me profoundly to see evidence of how much we can achieve, laced with our ability to destroy ourselves. It made me want to look at my life and the lives of my friends, all of whom were going through seismic changes in our belief systems and relationships. We had to face up to the fact that we weren't our mothers, no matter how much we loved them, and what would we hand onto our daughters?

"I also wanted to celebrate the richness of this journey we were all taking with immense humour and strength while sometimes making the biggest dramatic mistakes and discoveries along the way."

Producer Jo Willett summed up: "Life is about female friendships and how they can endure longer than husbands and lovers, but also about how much truth real friendship can stand. What would happen if your close friends really did tell you what you never thought you'd want to hear? Really it asks, 'can the strongest of friendships survive the ultimate of betrayals?'"

The serial stars Laila Rouass (Footballer's Wives, Hollyoaks), Meera Syal (The Kumars at No 42, Goodness Gracious Me), Ayesha Dharker (Star Wars II, Cutting It), Ace Bhatti (The Deputy, Bend It Like Beckham), Sanjeev Bhaskar (The Kumars at No 42, Anita and Me) and Matt Day (The Hound of the Baskervilles, Shackleton).

It is brought to the small screen by Hattrick Productions whose recent successes include The Kumars at No 42 and Jed Mercurio's Bodies.

The executive producer for Hattrick, Mark Redhead said: "Meera has given us a rich portrait of modern Britain, which deals with friendship, love and betrayal. Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee explores the choices that women - and men - face in today's society where the boundaries between culture, family, friends and identity are blurred and constantly shifting."

Gareth Neame, Head of BBC Drama Independent Commissioning added: "Meera's vibrant and exuberant tale is the latest contemporary adaptation alongside Jonathan Coe's The Rotters Club, Sarah Waters' Fingersmith and Robert Harris' Archangel. It represents part of our on going commitment to bring the best original adaptations of modern fiction to the BBC."

Filming on location in and around London until Christmas, the three-part serial will transmit on BBC One next year. Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee is adapted by Meera Syal (Anita and Me) with Abi Morgan (Sex Traffic), directed by Andy de Emmony (Canterbury Tales) and produced by Jo Willett (Dirty Tricks, A Rather English Marriage). The executive producer is Mark Redhead.