Liz Shannon

A New Labour MP, part of the wave of defections to the Purple Alliance in the lead-up to the general election. Liz has been in politics for years and helps Dorothy Crowther find her political feet. But is her allegiance to the Purple Alliance anything other than opportunism?

Meera Syal
Meera Syal became a household name in the UK as one of the stars of the spoof BBC talk show, The Kumars at No 42.

She had her big break with 1991 as a writer and performer on sketch show The Real McCoy. Seven years later she wrote and starred in another sketch show, the award-winning Goodness Gracious Me, alongside her future husband (and Kumars collaborator) Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Syal has appeared in a wide range of TV programs, including The Bill, Taggart, Absolutely Fabulous, Band of Gold, Soldier Soldier, Bad Girls, Kingdom and Jekyll.

A best-selling author, Syal adapted and starred in two of her own novels for the BBC (Anita and Me and Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee), wrote the screenplay for the film Bhaji on the Beach; co-wrote the BBC drama My Sisterwife; and penned a West End musical with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Bombay Dreams, based on her book of the same name.

She was awarded an MBE in 1997.