her defence when a character insults her or China. When she quotes Chairman Mao, Mr Brown replies "That's a matter of opinion". Ricardo Montez (42 episodes) as Juan Cervantes, a Spanish Catholic bartender with an optimistic outlook. Juan is always laughing at himself, confident of his answers even when they are completely wrong. Early in the series, Juan speaks almost no English (apart from "An Inspector Calls", where he describes Miss Courtney as "Plenty awesome, very good!") and answers everything with "Por favor?" (please), necessitating Giovanni to translate some key terms for him (as Spanish and Italian have many mutually intelligible words). His typical catchphrase is "S'alright!" and sometimes when he is corrected he says "Sorry, wrong number." Juan's English improves as the series goes on, but he remains one of the worst speakers, often speaking a mix of English and Spanish. He cares a great deal for Mr Brown, whom he considers almost as part of his family. Albert Moses (42 episodes) as Ranjeet Singh, a London Underground employee from Punjab, India and a religious Sikh. In the first episode, Mr Brown mistook him for a Pakistani when he asked him to sit next to his "fellow countryman", Ali Nadim. He has a good vocabulary but tends to mix up his general knowledge, and upon being corrected he always puts his hands together and says "a thousand apologies". When angered, he threatens his tormenters with his kirpan. He usually comes late to class. In "A Fate Worse Than Death", a woman named Surinder appeared at the school and he told everyone that they had been betrothed to each other as children, but he no longer wished to marry her. He often clashes with Ali, but they become friends in the later episodes. Dino Shafeek (29 episodes) as Ali Nadim (Series 1-3), a Muslim from Lahore, Pakistan. Religious and cultural differences often bring him into conflict with Ranjeet. He is one of the most honest and hardworking students in the class, which sometimes gets Mr Brown and him into trouble. He used to work at the Taj Mahal Tandoori Restaurant, but is unemployed at the beginning of the series and later gets a job as a travelling salesman. He is married, and his wife Rehana appears in "Better to Have Loved and Lost" and "What a Tangled Web"; in the latter episode, they have had a child. Françoise Pascal (29