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.

I didn't get to see this when it was first shown on t.v so I watched it about a week after on 4OD. It's not the kind of thing I would normally watch but let me tell you, it is so worth watching. Its very hard hitting and intense and makes you think about the issues that are raised in it. The acting is awesome and there is never a dull moment. Its very clever the way they have split it in two and have managed to combine them. When you watch the second one you can almost see what is about to happen but nothing can prepare you for the shock ending. I personally thought that this was so good I have researched it for my media studies coursework. Before I watched this I had no idea how unfair this country has been to British born Muslims and it makes you wonder how people have stood by and let these laws continue. I am white British and from the northeast of England and if it managed to make me stop and think about the issues raised then I think it can do the same for anyone else.

This was portentously long and teeth grindingly slow. This is to signify that it wants to be taken VERY seriously and to do so, make you SERIOUSLY suffer. It forced me to watch bits and pieces of Jeremy Paxman just to get to the end, which should define for you what boredom really means.Apparently the guy who wrote it couldn't find any bomber types to research his story. So he decided to "draw on his own experiences." Must have been his experiences waiting at the bus stop. That is, back in the days before Channel 4 sent a limo to pick him up.Suffice to say, the best way to cast light on a serious issue in British society is to come up with the most corny Hollywood plot contrivance. Reverse the obvious gender roles (Gosh, how ironic, how cutting edge) and have two members of the same family but on opposite sides end up chasing each other's tails. Brilliant! No idea what the ending was meant to signify. The ambivalence of the Muslim in British society today? I've no idea. Trouble is, neither did the writer/director if he had been honest with himself in the first place.I don't know what's more frightening. Islamic terrorism or the money wasted on this project.