The show's central premise is that Sanjeev's parents have supported his dream of being a television presenter by having a TV studio built on what used to be their back garden.

Running gags include Sanjeev's apparent social ineptitude, Ashwin's obsession with financial matters and his tendency to tell long stories with no real point and Ummi's stories of her absurd exploits with her childhood friend Saraswati the bicycle (so named because of her contortionist skills).

The show has an improvisational feel, though in reality much of the regular cast's performance was scripted but the guest interviews were not.

Sanjeev Bhaskar told interviewer Mark Lawson in August 2007 that the inspiration for the series was an embarrassing evening when he took a girlfriend to meet his parents.

[citation needed] The Kumars also made a guest appearance on the 2003 Comic Relief single "Spirit in the Sky" performed by Gareth Gates.

[citation needed] The Kumars at Number 42 was shown in Asia (including India and Malaysia) on the Star World satellite TV channel and on SABC in South Africa.

ARY Digital has produced a Pakistani version of the show called Ghaffar at Dhoraji featuring a Gujarati family living in Karachi.

The idea of the show was that an Armenian named Rubik (played by Ruben Dzhaginyan) and his family interview the Russian stars (such as pop singers Vera Brezhneva and Anna Semenovich; TV presenters Dmitri Dibrov, Timur Rodriguez (real name Timur Yunusov), Valdis Pelsh and Sergei Svetlakov; and actors Igor Vernik and Anastasia Zavorotnyuk).

[14][15] Meera Syal revived her character from the series in 2021 for BBC Radio 4's Gossip and Goddesses with Granny Kumar.