I was sexually assaulted by actor who offered to boost my career, BBC star Meera Syal says

F32F2T British comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress Meera Syal CBE. Credit: Alamy BBC sitcom star Dame Meera Syal has claimed she was sexually assaulted by an actor who offered to boost her career. The comedy actress, 65, has spoken about the incident for the first time after she says she was attacked at the man’s home in the 1980s. BBC sitcom star Dame Meera Syal has claimed she was sexually assaulted by an actor in the 1980s Credit: Getty She said the attack happened in her mid-twenties at the man’s London home Credit: Getty In her mid-twenties, Meera was singing in a jazz band and applying for waitressing jobs in the capital when an Asian actor she knew invited her to a gathering, she told The Times. She said he offered to introduce her to casting directors at a time where she was struggling to find acting work. Sign up for the TV newsletter Thank you! Upon arrival, Meera said she was the only guest there – but stayed for dinner with the man she said was nearly the same age as her father. After, as the pair were speaking, Meera said the man tried to rape her, reavealing: “This is the first time I’ve spoken about this publicly”. Despite resisting, she said the actor continued to sexually assault her before she fled in a cab back to a friend’s house. Meera never told anyone about the incident or reported it – when she later told friends what had happened years later, she said the majority had experienced something similar. “It completely changed my life and the direction of my career. I could have given up, but instead I sought out a group of south Asian writers,” Meera said. “They encouraged me to write more, they found me a place to live, they healed me and awakened me politically.” Most read in TV She said the horror experience inspired several strong female characters in hit shows Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No. 42. The comedy actress recently admitted that it was “weird” marrying her on-screen grandson on The Kumars. She played Sushil ‘Ummi’ Kumar in the show, alongside her real life husband Sanjeev Bhaskar, 62, who played chat show host grandson Sanjeev. Meera and Sanjeev married in 2005 and share a son, who was born in 2005. Meera also has an older daughter from a previous marriage. The Kumars At No.42 was about a fictional British Indian family who lived in Wembley and the show’s central premise was that Sanjeev’s parents supported his dream of being a television presenter by having a TV studio built on what used to be their back garden. Running gags included Sanjeev’s apparent social ineptitude, Ashwin’s obsession with financial matters and his tendency to tell long stories with no real point, and Ummi’s stories of her absurd exploits with her childhood friend Saraswati the bicycle (so named because of her contortionist skills). The Kumars At No. 42 ran from 2001 to 2006, but before this the pair also starred in Goodness Gracious Me from 1996 to 2001. Sanjeev played one of the main characters in the comedy sketch show – which originally aired on BBC Radio 4 from 1996 to 1998 and later televised on BBC Two from 1998 to 2001. Sanjeev was joined by fellow cast members Kulvinder Ghir, Nina Wadia and Meera. 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. Goodness Gracious Me won Best Entertainment at the Broadcasting Press Guild Award and the Team Award from the Royal Television Society in 1999.