Actress, comedian and writer Meera Syal is probably best known for two TV comedy series - Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars At No 42 - and her debut novel. Published in 1996, Anita And Me is this month coming to the stage for the very first time. It takes its inspiration from the novelist’s own upbringing in the Black Country mining town of Essington. 

Meera here talks to What’s On about her experience of growing up - as she once put it - “an exotic flower in Midland soil”...

Anita And Me was arguably the first novel by a woman of British Asian origin to enjoy high-profile international success. What do you think made it so appealing, Meera?

It’s a universal story - and although it’s ostensibly about a little Indian girl in a mining village, I think many people relate to it on different levels, be it Indian or English. It’s about a British way of life that disappeared with the close of the rural mining communities. It’s also about friendship - the pain and the joy of that.

Reviews of the novel made comparisons between Anita And Me and To Kill A Mocking Bird. Harper Lee’s classic novel is even mentioned briefly by Meena in the story. How great an influence was Mocking Bird on you?

It was a huge influence. We all have one of those life-changing books, and that was the one for me. Up until that point, I hadn’t actually read a book that I felt spoke to me and connected with how I felt as a first-generation immigrant growing up here. Even though it was written by a southern writer in the States many years before, it was Scout’s story - the pain of growing up, understanding what racism was about and discovering the need to do what’s right - that really struck a chord with me. It changed the way I felt about myself and how I looked at society.  

What motivated you to write Anita And Me? Was there an event or person in your childhood that influenced you to write it?

I wrote it because an editor approached me after he’d seen something I’d written for television. He asked me if I’d ever thought of writing prose and whether there was something I’d like to write about. I immediately thought of my childhood. It was so extraordinary, so influential, so unusual, and I liked the idea of preserving that little piece of British history. I suppose I needed to tell the story because I didn’t know if anybody would ever write it down again. I wanted people after me to know what it was like to grow up in that environment at that particular time. A lot of the book is fiction. The setting is autobiographical and a lot of the emotion is autobiographical, but there’s plenty in the book that I made up. I suppose the influential event which I cover in the book that really did happen in my life sees ten-year-old Meena in hospital because she’s broken her leg, as I did when I was four. I met a boy in hospital who passed away when I was there. It was my first experience of mortality. I was only four but I remember understanding then that life was short - and that it was a gift and I shouldn’t waste it. 

You wrote the film adaptation of Anita And Me. Were you ever tempted to be the person who also wrote the stage adaptation?

No, not really. I’ve never really written anything for the stage, other than a one-woman show many years ago. It’s not a medium I know well. Tanika Gupta, who did write it, is a dear friend. She’s a brilliant playwright and I knew she could do a much better job than me. Also, I was in the midst of writing my third novel at the time Anita And Me was being developed for the stage, so timing-wise I wasn’t free to do it. Even if I had been, I still think I’d have said Tanika was the right person. And she’s done a terrific job.

Was playing a part in the play not an option for you?

I don’t know if that would’ve been just too weird; it’s already like therapy on stage! I don’t know if I’d want to take it a step further than that and actually be in it.

But you played Meena’s aunt in the film... 

I did - because it was a fun sort of part. But no, I’m quite happy just to let people take it and run with it.

Going back to the storyline - when Meena is asked what she wants to be when she grows up, she replies ‘Blonde’. What life opportunities was a young Asian girl likely be denied in early-1970s Britain that would’ve made her want to grow up to be white?

I think most kids just want to fit in. Nobody likes being different. It’s no different in 2015 than it was in 1972. We all have a pack mentality - particularly as teenagers. Kids like me growing up didn’t have any role models. We didn’t see anybody who was like us being regarded as beautiful by the media or working in the media. As far as acting, writing and presenting were concerned, we were pretty invisible. When you don’t see positive reflections of yourself out there, you begin to think you’re invisible -  or that how you are isn’t beautiful or important. That’s the sort of mindset that Meena’s in, to some extent. Even though she has so much spark and potential, in Jackie magazine the pretty girls are always blonde, so that’s what she thinks is pretty.

While at university you won the National Student Drama Award for your performance in One Of Us. How did that feeling of accomplishment compare to when you received your CBE at the start of this year for your service to drama and literature?

I suppose the first one is sort of almost more significant because I was on the verge of having a completely different life. I had an MA place booked and a teacher training course. I was all set to go off and have a sensible life. The award was quite a shock at twenty-two because I didn’t know if I was any good at acting. I didn’t know if anybody would get what I was trying to do, so the fact that people thought what I was doing was quite interesting sort of changed the course of my life. The CBE was lovely. It’s gratifying when your work reaches people, but that first award was the one that actually made me think I might have a shot at doing this for a living.

So looking back on your career, what have been the highlights?

There are so many. I still wake up feeling a very lucky woman. It’s such an insecure profession and I’ve been in it a while now. I’m gratified that I’m still managing to make a living out of something I never thought I would do and something that I love so much.  

But there are lots of highlights. Goodness Gracious Me has been groundbreaking for all of us. It turned around all of our careers and changed the landscape a little bit. Personally, doing my first Shakespeare a couple of years ago, playing Beatrice at the RSC, was a great highlight because I’d never done any Shakespeare before. To do Shakespeare at the RSC, and play that iconic part, was pretty special. Shirley Valentine was another amazing experience. So there have been a few lovely things.

Quite diverse as well - Shirley Valentine, a bit of Shakespeare...

As an actor you want to keep pushing yourself and surprise people occasionally - and obviously surprise yourself. You need to be kept on your toes. That’s how you learn.

Have you got to the point in your career where you’ve stopped worrying about where the next job is coming from?

I wish I had reached that point. I’m a woman of a certain age, I’m a woman of colour, so it’s never going to be straightforward. You always have to keep pushing. Success for me would be knowing what I’m doing for the next year. If I could look ahead and go, ‘I’ve actually got work for a year and I’m doing this and that and then I’m having a holiday’, that, for me, would be the definition of success. I haven’t reached that yet, so you have to keep knocking on that door. At least they open it now, which is great.

Have you ever turned down a role and then later regretted it?

I’ve had to turn down quite a few lovely roles because of my kids and tag-teaming it with an actor husband, but that’s just par for the course. As a working mother there are some things you just can’t do - or at least that’s the choice I’ve made while I’ve still got young children.

Going back to Anita And Me, is the play true to the book?

It’s really faithful to the book, which is delightful. Tanika said the hardest bit was choosing what to keep in and what not to keep in. What she’s done beautifully is ease out the friendship and the story and the life of that village and kept all of the humour. I think people will get in the play exactly what they loved about the book, which is obviously what you’d hope.