Comedy star Romesh Ranganathan said he was mortified when bosses of his BBC show sent a man to sort out his garage.
Because of social distancing, the stand-up is filming the return of his BBC Two topical comedy, The Ranganation, at home.
The series features Ranganathan with 25 members of the public, from a “cockney geezer” to a “vicar’s daughter”, who take a “sideways and topical look at modern Britain”.
Watch The Ranganation on catch up here :https://t.co/Pkf9iIaWzm pic.twitter.com/63DfdJTPwx
— Romesh Ranganathan (@RomeshRanga) May 21, 2019
This time, the comic, 42, will be fronting the show from his garage, which has been spruced up to look like a studio, and the panel will be seen virtually from their homes.
Ranganathan told the PA news agency: “The garage is your dirty little secret for most people. It’s where you keep all the stuff you don’t want people to know about.
“The experience of the production company sending someone … to have a look at the garage, to sort it out and see all the stuff you’ve banished to this Narnia dimension in your house, it’s so embarrassing. It was awful!”
He added: “Occasionally when you do shows or tours, people send you … pictures of your tour poster for how many dates you’ve done or … a certificate from some TV series.
United we stand, together at home@RomeshRanga checks in on his mum 😂 pic.twitter.com/tb5mWNgSpY
— BBC (@BBC) April 7, 2020
“All that stuff I’ve put in the garage. That guy must have thought that’s like some sort of shrine, that I go to the garage to revel in my achievements. I was so embarrassed!…
“He didn’t say anything but I was so horrified. I thought this looks really bad, like a narcissist lives here.”
The maths teacher turned comic has considered the tone of the BBC show during the pandemic.
“I’m trying to be careful to walk that line of being entertaining, light and funny about things without being disrespectful and harsh, and ignoring the fact that this is something that is affecting so many of us,” he said.
“The truth is it’s a balance and when you’re joking about something that’s happening at the moment you have to be even more careful.”
The Ranganation returns to BBC Two on Sunday, May 10