Citizen Khan
Citizen Khan | |
---|---|
![]() Series Title card | |
Genre | Sitcom |
Created by | Adil Ray |
Developed by | Anil Gupta Richard Pinto Adil Ray |
Written by | Anil Gupta Richard Pinto Adil Ray |
Directed by | Nick Wood |
Starring | Adil Ray Shobu Kapoor Kris Marshall Maya Sondhi Bhavna Limbachia |
Theme music composer | Kam Frantic |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 6 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Mark Freeland |
Producer | Paul Schlesinger |
Production locations | Sparkhill, Birmingham MediaCityUK[1] |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company | BBC |
Original release | |
Network | BBC One & BBC One HD |
Release | 27 August 2012 present | –
Related | |
Bellamy's People Down the Line |
Citizen Khan is a family-based British sitcom produced by the BBC and created by Adil Ray. It is notable as being the BBC's first South Asian-related sitcom.[2] It is set in Sparkhill, Birmingham, described by its lead character Mr Khan (Adil Ray) as "the capital of British Pakistan." Citizen Khan follows the trials and tribulations of Mr Khan, a loud-mouthed, patriarchal, self-appointed community leader, and his long suffering wife (played by Shobu Kapoor) and daughters Shazia (Maya Sondhi) and Alia (Bhavna Limbachia).[3] Kris Marshall also stars as Dave, the manager of Mr Khan's local mosque.[3]
The title of the show is a play on the title of the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane.[4] The character Mr Khan has already featured in the BBC Two comedy series Bellamy's People,[5] on BBC Radio 4's Down the Line[3] and on his own online series on the BBC Comedy website.[6]
On 27 September 2012, the BBC announced that Citizen Khan had been commissioned for a second series, to the despair and groans of the nation, who largely considered it to be unfunny, desperate and generally a crock of shite, rife with canned laughter to tell people when to at least force a laugh.[7] All the cast from the first series will return in the second series.[1]
Broadcast and reception
The first episode of Citizen Khan was first broadcast on BBC One on 27 August 2012, in a late timeslot of 10:20pm. It received what Digital Spy referred to as an "impressive" 3.41 million viewers and 20.9% of the audience.[8]
Critical reaction has been largely negative (and rightly so), with The Independent's Arifa Akbar commenting negatively on its many clichéd jokes and character traits and drawing many comparisons with 1970s-style sitcoms.[9] Mark Jones of The Guardian was more optimistic, describing it as "an affable enough debut, deserving a wider audience than this post-watershed slot is likely to attract".[10] The BBC received over 700 complaints following the airing of the first episode with a further 20 complaints to Ofcom. Some British Muslims have claimed that the show "ridicules" and "insults" Islam. The BBC claimed it had evidence the complaints were part of a lobbying campaign and countered it saying a number of people, including those of Muslim communities, praised the show and referred to its audience figures as a "very positive start".[11]
The Islam Channel made a special show tiled "Politics and Media: Citizen Khan - racist stereotypes or harmless fun?" The Presenter John Rees discussed whether the BBC comedy is stereotyping Muslims, or whether it's fun and can be laughed about by Muslims. Rees was joined by Ashgar Bukhari of Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK, Freelance journalist and religious commentator Hasnet Lais and Anjum Anwar, Chair of Women's Voices.[12]
By the second episode, broadcast on 3 September, Citizen Khan clips had become viral. Opinion outside the United Kingdom has also been mixed, with many heated views that centred on its apparent cultural disposition. Pakistani newspaper The News International criticised the BBC's use of Pakistani flags in the Khan's home and Mr Khan's younger daughter quickly putting on a hijab and pretending to read the Qu'ran. The Pakistan News Watch website countered "shows like Citizen Khan are essential in multicultural societies and help put all communities on an equal footing - if everyone can have a laugh at everyone else's expense, then no one can claim superiority".[13]
The debate continued into a third week with the Yorkshire Post publishing an article by Sabbiyah Pervez appealing to her own community to "stop being so defensive and learn to laugh at itself".[14]
Despite the criticism, the BBC ordered a seven episode second series on 27 September 2012 due to good ratings.[7]
The show joined London 2012, Top Gear, The Apprentice, Doctor Who, Sherlock and The Voice UK to make up the list of the most watched shows on the BBC iplayer in 2012. [15]
On May 12, 2012, it was announced that Citizen Khan would air in Australia and New Zealand on Seven Network in 2013. [16]
In July 2013 the show premiered in India on Comedy Central and was repeated soon after becoming an instant hit on of the worlds biggest TV audiences. [17]
On September the 18th 2013 the BBC announced that the second series will air on Friday nights in the primetime 9.30pm slot from the 4th of October. [18]
Characters
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/54/Citizen_Khan_Cast.jpg/220px-Citizen_Khan_Cast.jpg)
- Adil Ray as Mr Khan - A local business man and community leader.
- Shobu Kapoor as Mrs Khan - Mr Khan's wife.
- Maya Sondhi as Shazia Khan - Mr Khan's Daughter and Amjad's fiancée.
- Bhavna Limbachia as Alia Khan - Mr Khan's Daughter and Shazia's Sister.
- Kris Marshall as Dave - The Mosque and Community Centre Manager.
- Abdullah Afzal as Amjad Malik - Mrs Malik's son and Shazia fiancé.
- Harvey Virdi as Mrs Malik - Amjad's mother.
- Nish Nathwani as Riaz - A friend of Khan's and a the Mosque undertaker.
- Felix Dexter as Omar - A friend of Khan's and a fellow Mosque goer and undertaker's assistant.
- Rani Moorthy as Mrs Bilal - A Mosque goer who flirts with Mr Khan.
Episodes
Series 1 (2012)
# | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "Episode 1" | Nick Wood | Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto with Adil Ray | 27 August 2012 | |
Plans are being made for Shazia's forthcoming wedding to fiancé Amjad. Mrs Khan's on the warpath because Mr Khan's forgotten to book the wedding venue, but it shouldn't be a problem as long as he can persuade mosque manager Dave to do him a favour. The mosque is given when Mr.Khan takes Mrs.Bilal to a theme park with her friends. | |||||
2 | "Episode 2" | Nick Wood | Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto with Adil Ray | 3 September 2012 | |
Mrs Khan's mother is staying with the family. But Mr Khan's big opportunity to hobnob with the bigwigs of the Sparkhill Business Association is threatened when he has to take his mother-in-law on a shopping trip she will never forget. | |||||
3 | "Episode 3" | Nick Wood | Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto with Adil Ray | 10 September 2012 | |
Mr Khan is reluctant to dip into the rainy day fund to finance a holiday, but an eventful Annual General Meeting at the mosque seems to provide a solution. | |||||
4 | "Episode 4" | Nick Wood | Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto with Adil Ray | 17 September 2012 | |
Mr Khan is determined to be the impresario behind the new call to prayer at the Sparkhill mosque, and sets out to hold his own X Factor-style auditions. | |||||
5 | "Episode 5" | Nick Wood | Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto with Adil Ray | 24 September 2012 | |
Mr and Mrs Khan find themselves at loggerheads when she requires calm for a prayer meeting and he hopes to invite some friends over to watch a cricket match on their new TV. | |||||
6 | "Episode 6" | Nick Wood | Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto with Adil Ray | 1 October 2012 | |
The Khans have a spare invite for the wedding. For Mr Khan the fewer the guests the better, which is why he believes in inviting only influential people like Councillor Javed. So when Mrs Khan suggests inviting the Parvez family, Mr Khan is faced with an important decision. To add to his concerns, it also happens to be the Khans' wedding anniversary. |
Series 2 (2013)
A second series of seven episodes has been confirmed. The BBC would keep airing an ethnic aimed programme and will be recorded at MediaCity Studios from 6th June 2013 until 18th July 2013 and is set for broadcast 4 October[7][1]
The first episode will be about Alias college. It will broadcast on BBC One.[19]
Ratings
Series | Episode No | Airdate | Viewers (millions) | Share | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | |||||
1 | 27 August 2012 | 3.66 | 20.9% | [8][20] | |
2 | 3 September 2012 | 2.88 | 19.3% | [21][22] | |
3 | 10 September 2012 | 2.55 | 15.8% | [23] | |
4 | 17 September 2012 | 2.35 | 16.4% | [24][25] | |
5 | 24 September 2012 | 2.89 | 19.7% | [26][27] | |
6 | 1 October 2012 | 2.29 | 19.2% | [28] | |
2 | |||||
1 | 4 October 2013 | TBA | TBA |
Distribution
DVD
Series | Release name | No. of discs | UK release date (region 2) |
NZ release date (region 4) |
AU release date (region 4) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Citizen Khan | 2 | 22 October 2012[29][30] | 3 April 2013[31] | 29 May 2013[32] | No Bonus Extras, despite being filmed in HD no Blu-ray release. |
Digital Version
Series 1 is available to buy on iTunes in both Standard Definition and High Definition.[33]
References
- ^ a b c "BBC One re-commissions family sitcom Citizen Khan". BBC Media Centre. 27 September 2012.
- ^ "Citizen Khan: an Asian sitcom star is born". The Guardian. 22 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
- ^ a b c "A new sitcom for BBC One created by and starring Adil Ray". BBC. 17 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
- ^ khuramshaz (27 August 2012). "BBC: Citizen Khan". Musk & Moccasin. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
- ^ "TV series for Bellamy's People character Mr Khan?". British Comedy Guide. 8 April 2010. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
- ^ "BBC - Comedy - Clips from 'Mr Khan'". BBC. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
- ^ a b c "Citizen Khan gets second series from BBC despite 'anti-Islam' controversy". Metro. 27 September 2012.
- ^ a b "'New Tricks' series nine launches with 7.8 million". Digital Spy. 28 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
- ^ "Last night's viewing - Citizen Khan ( Tawqir Asghar)". The Independent. 28 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
- ^ "TV highlights 27/08/2012". The Guardian. 26 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
- ^ "Sitcom Citizen Khan prompts 185 complaints to the BBC". BBC News. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- ^ "Politics and Media: Citizen Khan - Racist stereotypes or harmless fun". Islam Channel. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
- ^ Brown, Paul (7 September 2012). "Citizen Khan - view from abroad". BBC. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
- ^ Pervez, Sabbiyah (11 September 2012). "Sabbiyah Pervez: My community should stop being so defensive and learn to laugh at itself". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
- ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2267712/How-tablet-taking-TV-BBC-reveals-record-iPlayer-figures-mobile-devices.html
- ^ "BBC comedy Citizen Khan to air on the Seven Network in 2013". BBC. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ^ http://www.indiantelevision.com/release/y2k13/july/julyrel57.php
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/40/bbcone-citizenkhan.html
- ^ "BBC Media Centre Citizen Khan". BBC. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
- ^ http://www.overnights.tv/public/TopRatings.aspx
- ^ Millar, Paul (4 September 2012). "Martin Clunes ITV drama, C4's Paralympics dent BBC One's 'New Tricks'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
- ^ http://www.overnights.tv/public/TopRatings.aspx
- ^ http://www.overnights.tv/public/TopRatings.aspx
- ^ Millar, Paul (18 September 2012). "BBC One's 'New Tricks' extends lead over ITV's 'Leaving' in 9pm slot". Digital Spy. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
- ^ http://www.overnights.tv/public/TopRatings.aspx
- ^ Millar, Paul (26 September 2012). "'Only Connect' tops Monday multichannel ratings". Digital Spy. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
- ^ http://www.overnights.tv/public/TopRatings.aspx
- ^ http://www.overnights.tv/public/TopRatings.aspx
- ^ "Citizen Khan (DVD)". BBCShop. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
- ^ "Citizen Khan [DVD]". Retrieved 24 September 2012.
- ^ "Citizen Khan Region 4 NZ". mightyape.co.nz. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
- ^ "Citizen Khan Region 4". jbhifionline.com.au. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ^ "Citizen Khan, Series 1 HD". iTunes. Retrieved 23 June 2013.