Comedians Ken Cheng and Evelyn Mok are to appear in a new BBC Three series. Too Fat Too Ugly Too Asian explores why the desire to “fit in” to a foreign culture while meeting the standards demanded by an Asian family leaves so many British East Asians feeling like they’re in an almost-impossible situation, and how stereotypes and expectations can leave them feeling too fat, too ugly and too Asian.

Cheng and Mok share their experiences of being of East Asian origin in the West. Ken speaks about the challenges of dating as an East Asian man, and Evelyn talks about the expectations placed upon East Asian women to be as skinny as possible in order to find a husband.

The three-part series suggests that for many British East Asians, daily life can feel like a battle between never being quite Asian enough, or quite British enough. Chinese-British journalist Elaine Chong sets out to challenge everything she learned about being Asian growing up. She explores why the desire to “fit in” to a foreign culture while meeting the standards demanded by an Asian family leaves so many British East Asians feeling like they’re in an almost-impossible situation, and how stereotypes and expectations can leave them feeling too fat, too ugly and too Asian.

The first episode looks at how or many British East Asians, daily life can feel like a battle between never being quite Asian enough, and never being quite British enough. Food can often be a way for British East Asians to communicate with their family and heritage, but the pressure to lose weight often exists at odds with this. Elaine Chong meets comedian Evelyn Mok to discuss this strained and often unhealthy relationship with food. 

The third episode looks at sex and the popularity of Asian pornography. While Asian women often find themselves hypersexualised, Asian men like comedian Ken Cheng often find themselves de-sexualised in the West as weak or undesirable. Ken and Elaine speak to JT Tran, an Asian dating coach, to see how Asian men are affected in the dating world, and how JT thinks they can improve their confidence.

Too Fat Too Ugly Too Asian will be available on BBC Three from August 12.