Editorial

BBC One

BBC One Channel Islands

Asian Provocateur

Comedy

Romesh Ranganathan travels the world to discover to his far-flung family.

Comedian Romesh Ranganathan embarks on ramshackle odysseys around the world to discover his eccentric extended family.

Series 1

BBC Three HD

BBC Three

BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

BBC One Northern Ireland

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

BBC One Oxfordshire

BBC One region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

BBC One East Midlands

BBC One Yorkshire

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

BBC One HD

The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

BBC One North East & Cumbria

Simulcast of BBC One Northern Ireland in high definition. From 24/10/2012

BBC One Northern Ireland HD

Simulcast of BBC One Scotland in high definition. From 14/01/2013

BBC One Scotland HD

BBC One Cambridgeshire

BBC One London

London

BBC One Wales

Wales

The BBC South region started on 5th January 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South.

BBC One South

BBC One North West

The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

BBC One East

BBC One West Midlands

The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

BBC One West

The BBC South West region started on 20th April 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South West.

BBC One South West

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One South East

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

Simulcast of BBC One Wales in high definition. From 29/01/2013

BBC One Wales HD

Romesh Ranganathan

Benjamin Green

Emily Hudd

Iain Wimbush

Rumpus Media Ltd

Asian Provocateur: Series 1: Episode 2: Uncle Ragu

Uncle Ragu

Episode 2

Episode 2: Uncle Ragu

BBC Three - Asian Provocateur, Series 1, Uncle Ragu

Romesh visits Batticloa to meet his Uncle Ragu, but is soon leading the poor man astray.

Romesh Ranganathan takes an odyssey around Sri Lanka. He visits Batticloa to meet his Uncle Ragu, but is soon leading him astray by deserting their pilgrimage.

Comedian Romesh Ranganathan considers himself British through and through. He grew up in Horsham, doesn't speak a word of Tamil, doesn't know any of his relatives, has no idea about his cultural heritage and has almost zero desire to go to Sri Lanka. Like thousands of other British children of immigrants, he knows very little about the land where his parents came from. As his mother Shanthi says - he's a coconut. Sri Lankan on the outside but British on the inside. 

Now Shanthi wants her son to connect to his roots - so she's decided to change all that by sending Romesh on an odyssey around the motherland. Not that he's that happy about it.

Romesh is sent to Batticloa to meet his Uncle Ragu who has been given a mandate from Romesh's mum. Keen for him to explore the spiritual side of his background, she's given Ragu a long list of things she wants Romesh to do. They visit the village where his mum grew up and Romesh is slightly taken aback to discover that not only is everyone living there related to him, they're related to each other too.
 
Ragu and Romesh join a 200km barefoot pilgrimage to Kataragama, where there is a holy festival. Romesh finds himself surrounded by people piercing odd and frankly disturbing body parts and meeting a man possessed by a snake who he thinks might be able to fix his lazy eye. 

However, Romesh is quickly leading Ragu astray - persuading him to desert their pilgrimage after an hour because 'his knees hurt' and questioning how good an idea it is to get his mouth speared together at the festival. 

Is Romesh going to become the good Tamil boy his mother hopes? Will he uncover a deep-rooted spiritual connection with the land of his forefathers? Or will he remain the perpetual teenager and lead his Uncle Ragu astray?

Asian Provocateur: Series 1

A multi-platform service for 16-34s, featuring comedy, entertainment and factual content.

The BBC’s multi-platform service for 16 to 34s, innovating with breakthrough comedy, stand-out entertainment, brave documentary and intellectual factual content.

Romesh Ranganathan embarks on a ramshackle odyssey to discover his roots in Sri Lanka.

Comedian Romesh Ranganathan is sent by his mother on a ramshackle odyssey around his parents' homeland of Sri Lanka in an attempt to connect him with his roots.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Asian Provocateur

Series 1

Episode 2: Uncle Ragu

Contributors

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC One Channel Islands

About BBC One