The build up to yesterday’s Britz (Channel 4, Wednesday, 9pm) was pretty intense, with Channel 4 seemingly desperate to get everyone watching it. I normally view this with a fair amount of cynicism, thinking that they’re trying to flog me something they’ve spent a bit too much money on. Oh how wrong I was. Britz, despite its rubbish name, managed to be one of the most interesting, gripping and stimulating bits of telly I’ve seen in years.
The show, concluding tonight (Channel 4, 9pm), looks at the lives of two British Muslims… a brother and sister no less. On the surface of things, Britz looks like a tale of goodies versus baddies, with the brother, Sohail, siding with the goodies in MI5 and the sister, Nasima, siding with the terrorist baddies. However, things are never that clear cut and last night, the story of Sohail, showed that a level headed viewer will find themselves not knowing who sympathise with.
Last night, we focused on Sohail, who grew up in Bradford and saw the rough side of British life… and more importantly, the blunt end of racism. In post 9/11 Britain, Sohail, lives in London studying law. From the off, it is clear that this show wants to address certain issues and quickly. For the most part of the first 30 minutes of the feature, Sohail’s life blows a few misconceptions out of the water. We see Sohail asking a girl out on a date (what?! No arranged marriage?) and hanging around with his best mate who is a white American lad (what?! Muslims mix with all kinds of people!?). He pokes fun out of his mate for dressing like “a fuckin’ arab” (what?! They don’t all wear kaftans and kufis?!). It’s a bit obvious to use these tools in a show like this, but sadly, it’s probably quite needed too. Of course, I was being a little sarcastic with my brackets there and I’d probably be surprised at how little people know about the Muslim community (it’s easy for me as I live in a largely Muslim area).
After we found out that British Muslims are no different to the rest of us, we follow his story from University to MI5. Sohail is proud to be British and feels that he “owes this country everything” for giving his parents the chance to thrive and look after the family. Plot twists and turns show Sohail to be a maverick of sorts, sharing incredibly modern and honest views with his MI5 peers… at one point yelling “this is part of the problem! And you wonder why people are radicalising!” after he and his friends are arrested for absolutely nothing, with one of them being called a “Paki fuck”. It’s testament to modern Britain… or at least the modern Britain I know… that this moment left me feeling a bit sick. I haven’t heard that kind of abuse since I was at school. For me, that was a pretty hard moment but again, it’s probably all too common in certain pockets of the UK.
Aside from the obvious political tone of the show, what really made Britz work was the script and plot. Each character is completely believable and the story that unfolded was as scintillating as anything I’ve ever seen. Sohail is involved in unearthing terrorism plots at MI5 and is as surprised as anyone to find that people he grew up with, some close friends, are involved in terrorist activities. With each twist and turn, the tension grew, and it wasn’t unlike the first series of 24… by which I mean that it was impossible to drag your eyes away from the screen.
Tonight is usually the night I stick with BBC Two (for the funny hour) and when I sat down to watch Britz, I was aware that it needed to be something special to keep me with it tonight for the closing episode. What I got was an incredible programme that left me demanding to know what happens next. Seriously. I need to know now. I feel like a smack head. The twist at the close of ‘Sohail’s Story’ left me white knucked and shouting “WHAT?!” Sohail had traveled to Pakistan where his sister had run too after their parents had found she had a black non-Muslim boyfriend. Angry cousins beat the boyfriend and in to the night she ran. She was found dead, partially buried and badly mutilated. However, Sohail, acting on a hunch two weeks later, goes to stop a suicide mission and guess who he found in London ready to attack? That’s right. His sister Nasima. I’ve got no idea how this can be and I need to find out now.
In short, Britz is probably the best thing I’ve seen on TV this year. It is an incredible piece of work and one that every single person in the world should see. Coming in at well over an hour long, you’d be forgiven for thinking it might be a little too much to digest in one sitting. That’s absolutely wrong. The show flew past and every second of it was hugely enjoyable. Here’s hoping that tonight’s show is as good… I’m betting it’s going to be even better.
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