Bridgerton star voices the CBeebies cartoon series

Children’s entertainment companies Cake, King Banana TV and Paper Owl Films have announced the cast for Nikhil & Jay, a 52 x 11 minute animated family sitcom for CBeebies.

“Nikhil & Jay” is based on the books by Chitra Soundar and tells the adventures of two Indian-British brothers and their lovely family.

British-Tamil actress Charithra Chandran leads an authentic voice cast as Nikhil and Jay’s mother Amma. Chandran is best known for her roles in Alex Rider, How to Date Billy Walsh, her stage debut in Instructions for A Teenage Armageddon and as debutante Edwina Sharma in the hit historical drama Bridgerton. She will star in the upcoming season of Dune Prophecy.

Charithra Chandran said: “It’s really wonderful to see a programme like this on the BBC and to see my culture represented so concretely. I never experienced anything like this growing up.”

Making their voice acting debut in the title roles are 7-year-olds Shiv Senthilkumar and Sai Ganesh Nadesan, who lend their voices to Nikhil and Jay respectively and are proud of their Tamil heritage.

A full cast of promising new talent as well as experienced actors includes Janine Duvitski as Nana (Old Jack’s Boat, One Foot in the Grave, Abigail’s Party, Benidorm); Mark Benton as Grandpa Jim (Early Doors, Waterloo Road, Christmas Lights, Catterick, Shakespeare and Hathaway, The Syndicate); and stand-up comedian and Sunday Times bestselling author Tez Ilyas, who voices his friend and neighbour Mr Awan. Ben Harris plays the boys’ father Appa, Janaki Sabesh voices Grandma Ammamma, Ravi Swami voices Grandpa Thatha and Harriet Carmichael plays the family cat Max. Casting is by Michelle Jones Brilliant Casting.

Nikhil & Jay follows the adventures of two young brothers whose mother is of Indian descent and whose father is of English descent. With both Indian and English grandparents, their lives are a rich mix of customs, traditions, festivals, food and music. Nikhil & Jay celebrate the similarities and differences with fun and relatable stories that authentically portray British-Asian children of dual heritage.

Produced by King Banana TV (Yakka Dee!, Meet the Experts) and Paper Owl Films (Pablo, Happy The Hoglet), executive produced and distributed by CAKE (Angry Birds Summer Madness and Supa Team 4) and with support from Northern Ireland Screen, the series is also executive produced and written by Chitra Soundar.

A diverse team of writers, animators, composers and directors make up Nikhil & Jay’s talent off-screen.

Nikhil & Jay will launch on CBeebies later this year.

Pippa Considine

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