The long weekend of Thanksgiving 2008 would be the one that would go down in my diary as absolutely dreadful! Not only did I get exposed to the irreparably brain damaging Zohan movie with Adam Sandler, but I also ran across this equally implausible 2 part series shown by BBC America. The show feels like it might as well have been written by Daniel Pipes. Its characters are soap opera-ish, based more on a zealot's imagination than fact. The story goes like this, two Pakistani brother and sister, born and raised in the UK, have taken two different paths. The brother, a law student, secretly joins the Mi5. His story is the first half of the series. It all starts going downhill in the second part where his sister's side is told. His sister, Nasima, a girl with strong opinions about rights and justice, participates in protests, maintains a boyfriend, and also juggles a medical residency on the side. When her best friend is jailed on flimsy grounds, it sets off a chain of events that lead to her undoing. Upon release, her friend, also of Pakistani origin, commits suicide. Rather than mourn the loss with friends and family, the tragedy convinces her to attend a Jihadi recruitment session (go figure!). Her boyfriend, a black UK born Christian, a residence at the same hospital she is in, gets infuriated with her as he is asked to leave the session because he is non-Muslim. After attending the session, she obviously feels guilty about hiding the fact she has a boyfriend from her father, and one night confesses to him (such power these sessions have over young, naive and guilt-ridden girls that they would take such a risk). Obviously, that is too much for him to bear and orders the girl and her mother to sit on the next flight to Pakistan. Financially, the whole trip would cost more than 8000 pounds, a kings ransom for a family of her financial background, especially when you think how expensive seats tend to be when you book them the day before you leave (what to talk of other logistics such as Visa, vaccinations, the type of carrier, packing, buying gifts for relatives etc). It would have been more believable if the father, told her daughter to get out of his house, and that would have been the end of it, but no wait, the plausibility gap gets wider. The viewer, is asked to suspend reality for the duration of the rest of the drama. We see mother and daughter on-board a plane to Pakistan. The Jihadi outfit's representative is also on-board. He passes her an email address to a contact in Pakistan (how the rep gets wind of her impromptu travel plans is beyond my comprehension). Once in Pakistan, Nasima resides with relatives and her mother in some unknown village, and is paraded in front of relatives, played by somewhat more believable characters. Her boyfriend somehow finds the money to buy two return tickets, not even sure of where she is, travels to Pakistan and miraculously hones in on her location amongst the THOUSANDS of villages that dot the Punjabi countryside.Unfortunately, he comes all the way only to get beaten up by her relatives as he makes his clumsy approach towards her in their courtyard. Nasima, obviously distraught runs away and joins up with the Jihadi outfit where she learns to make explosives. The outfit arranges to have a fake body shown to her relatives to have them believe she has been killed in a fire. Lo and behold, after the relatives buy the story and bury her in Britain, she is given the dead girls identity, who conveniently, seems to look like her, and is also a British passport holder (I told you). In a nutshell, she makes it back on British soil, without being identified, whatsoever, and bombs a major London landmark killing innocent women and children. The message from the movie: Don't mess around with Muslim Youth, even the ones who are seemingly successful as they will take any excuse (friends death, arranged marriage, arrest and detention, political persecution etc), as a cause for waging Jihad, and they will hit you where you least expect it! They will justify killing Western babies, one way or the other, without an ounce of humanity, because the means is less important than the end result. Mr. Pipes couldn't have done better. The British Muslims I know, though very vocal about rights (as they should be) would shudder at this portrayal. If in-fact, they appreciate this garbage, they deserve whatever they get!

I was greatly impressed with this - it bravely raises issues around racial harmony, integration or persecution that are little examined in contemporary British media.The plot is suspenseful, if at times a little unbelievable.The acting is very good, the production and direction artful without overdoing it. Scenes on location overseas very well done.Overall a very enjoyable, and thought provoking film, which raises difficult political questions for individuals, nations and faiths to think about carefully, but the film reminds us we don't have the luxury of time to ponder these thorny issues, when so many lives hang in the balance day by day.Well done to all the production staff, and people involved in this project. Goodstuff Channel 4.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Sohail (Riz Ahmed) and Nasima (Verjinder Virk) are a British born Muslim brother and sister with differing views on Islam and modern Britain. Though he thinks the war in Iraq was unjustified and isn't shy about saying exactly what he thinks about those who hate him and the people he cares about just for the colour of their skin, Sohail also despairs of the misguided teachings of extremist Muslim scholars and, most importantly, feels he owes a huge debt of gratitude to the country that took him in, gave him a home and the best chance of a decent education and the best chances in life. On the other hand, Nasima's earliest memories are 'of them smashing our windows and putting dogshit through our letterbox...I hate this country.' And in her eyes things haven't got much better over the years. This two-part drama thriller follows the different paths these two choose, as Sohail secretly joins MI5 and has to search his conscience when he's asked to spy on his close friends and people he's grown up with. Meanwhile, Nasima's best friend is arrested and held without charge on suspicion of terrorism, but is then released, only to have ridiculous bail conditions imposed on her, learn she won't get fair representation in court and for the stress of it all to drive her to commit suicide. When Nasima's father, a strict Muslim with traditionalist beliefs, learns she's been seeing a black man, he sends her off to Pakistan for an arranged marriage. Instead, she finds herself on a journey to a terrorist training camp...and becoming a suicide bomber.With a plot taken straight from today's headlines, Britz focuses in on two characters who are so close but so far apart. It's a hot potato story about Muslims in modern Britain and their attitudes and feelings towards UK foreign policy and their own treatment back home.Sohail is an interesting character, who shows the problems on both sides with heavy-handed authorities who make young Muslims feel alienated but also the backward, fanatical teachings, beliefs and ideals of his own people. Nasima's story, on the other hand, zooms in on all the bad points only from the Muslim point of view, with the right to free speech/protest being chipped away, a lot of heavy-handed new anti-terror laws being introduced which give the feeling of being aimed at Muslims, and the harsh attitude they are met with by the authorities. The police are painted in a bad light in both stories. I'm sure they don't play completely by the book when going after terror suspects, but some of the behaviour they display in this does seem a bit over the top and I'm sure they wouldn't get away with it in real life.This is an ambitious and highly-charged two-parter but at over two hours each, the narrative flow in both stories gets disjointed and doesn't flow smoothly, making it feel like a bit of a slog to sit through at times. And the ending, when it eventually comes, just doesn't pay off. I couldn't buy Nasima's transformation into a woman who's mind had been completely warped and was capable of mass murder. A lot of bad stuff had happened to her, but it just didn't feel like she'd changed to that extent. Sensationalism is a big part of the problem, here, from the portrayal of the police to Nasima's end decision. Her haunting, impassioned suicide video is a neat end, though, and reminds you of a lot of the good stuff going on here.This set it's sights very high, and there's a lot to write home about, but some crippling flaws mean it doesn't ascend to the heights it should have. ***

What the hell were you doing staring in a Television Drama that is so weak in narrative structure that i honestly thought i was watching an episode of East Enders.What the hell does the director Peter Kosminsky know about being this topic? On reading an article about the director what does he know about British Muslims???"British Muslims are fantastically angry and disillusioned," he says. "They are infuriated by a foreign policy that appears to be an attack on Muslims worldwide – a new Crusade – and a shockingly large series of security measures which seem to be aimed solely at them."The man that is saying these words is white, Jewish, privately educated and in his fifties. He is drinking tea at his beautiful cottage in the Wiltshire countryside. Yet he is trying to describe how a young, moderate medical student from Leeds could become so outraged by what is happening around her that she is willing to strap on explosives. This is just so weak, Its an excuse for C4 to pretend that they are covering controversial topics regarding stories about post 911 yet they are still are made by white middle class film-makers? If C4 were insistent in employing a white director why didn't they let Michael Winterbottom make this film He would of clearly done a better job.The character for Nasima was totally outrageous and unbelievable Yet Kosminsky insists her motives are fact. Kosminsky also states that he knows a lot of people will be angry! You have got that right we are angry because it was such a weak story and by far this is radical drama.I am also disappointed by Riz Ahmed, your performance was good, but what were you doing working on such a weak premise ,that is only exploiting and sensationalising Radical Islam. A complete farce.Riz if your reading this i suggest you next time pick your film projects wisely. As there will be a number of British Muslims that will feel that you have let them down1- 10 a disappointment! I suggest C4 begin to employ the next generation of British Pakistani's & British Muslim writer & directors who would paint a more realistic picture behind a story which needs authentic voices. Not White Middle Class film directors that have just jumped on the bandwagon. Its about time we hear the real voices of British Pakistani Muslims for a change.Shame on you C4!