Sharat with Meera Syal

Tributes are being paid today to comedy writer Sharat Sardana, who died suddenly after a short illness on Tuesday aged just 40.

Sharat apparently collapsed at his father’s home after suffering from a streptococcal virus. The Evening Standard added that he later died at Whipps Cross University Hospital in East London.

Sharat was one of the writers behind the hugely successful shows Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars At Number 42…

Stars of the shows Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar described Sharat as being like a “brother”. In a press release, they told how they’ve been left “stunned and completely broken hearted” after his untimely death.

The statement read: “He was not just a gifted writer and a long-standing colleague and friend.

“We were part of each other’s extended families and losing him feels like losing a brother.”

Jon Plowman, Executive producer of BBC Comedy said that Sardana’s death a “truly shocking loss” adding, “It’s a very sad day for comedy to lose a writer who managed to help comedy break through in the way that Goodness Gracious Me did”

Here’s a compilation of scenes penned by Sharat…

He is a terrible loss to comedy; our condolences to his family.