THE creator of hit comedy series Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No 42 has died after collapsing in Wanstead.

Sharat Sardana, 41, died in a London hospital on Tuesday. The writer contracted a streptococcal virus and collapsed at the home of his 82-year-old father on Friday.

Wanstead-born Sardana is credited with helping to bring Asian comedy to mainstream British audiences.

BBC Comedy executive producer Jon Plowman said: "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.

"Sharat began his career at the BBC as a very insightful and enthusiastic script editor and went on to co-create, with his writing partner Richard Pinto, the ground- breaking comedy that gave us the British Asian perspective on the world.

"He never forgot that comedy should be funny first and provocative second."

Sardana was a long-time collaborator with friends and colleagues Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar, from South Woodford. Together, they developed sketch material for Goodness Gracious Me, originally a radio programme aired on BBC Radio 4 before it transferred to television.

In a statement, Syal and Bhaskar said they were "stunned and completely broken hearted about Sharat's death".

They said: "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. There is so much he should have and could have done, though we're grateful and so very proud of what he achieved in his all-to-brief life."