Reading some reviews of The State, it seems some have completely missed the point of this mini-series. Far from glamourising IS this excellent series lays bare the lie that is at the heart of the death cult of Daesh. That lie draws impressionable, idealistic young Muslims across the west into a situation way out of their depth. Some argue that all who join IS know exactly what they are doing, which seems to leave some viewers unable to find anything sympathetic about the four young Brits portrayed here. Frankly, being unable to experience empathy for these characters says more about the person reviewing than it does about the situation itself. Far from idealising and glamourising IS this remarkable mini-series shows the brutality and evil at the heart of it in a way nothing else I've seen quite does. Several scenes are incredibly difficult to watch, clearly intentionally so, and I found the changes of focus from the young jihadis experiencing the terror of battle and the brutalisation of witnessing torture, to the stories of the women and children equally brutalised and adapting (or not) to an almost alien culture, incredibly compelling. This was brave television and for the most part well done. I feel it would have benefited from more time given to the ending, as this felt rushed and uncertain, but otherwise an excellent and compelling story.

The premise is simple so I will skip that. The Muslim Jihad is a call to arms for all Muslims regardless of one's life in the false world. Those who have been called are fed propaganda by the previous waves of fighters who answered the call to jihad. We learn that each person truly wants and believes in their faith. They each want to believe in the struggle and participate in their own way. We also learn that the Mujahadeen or soldiers know this is a losing battle. For them it is a path to shaheed or martyrdom. This is the ultimate gift from God.But what each person thought they were seeking in their faith or even their own personal lives cannot be had in the caliphe or Islamic State. Each person has a different challenge that defies the teachings of the hadith or prophet. They each learn that it isn't the lies but the truth that scares them.

The manner in which this programme tries to win sympathy for the main characters by pretending they were innocent victims who simply didn't know that ISIS sold women into sexual slavery, murdered Shia Muslims, behead people etc, would be laughable if it was not so disgusting.For example, in episode 3, one of the recruits objects to a slave market as 'rape', while another attempts to 'rescue' the victim by buying her. Both recruits would have known perfectly well that ISIS behaved this way long before joining ISIS - it's all over the media. Similarly, we are supposed to sympathise with a female doctor who is disgusted by the misogyny and violence of ISIS. Unless she had been living in a cave, she would have known precisely what she was signing up for.Trying to paint these characters as 'victims' for whom we should feel sorry, is evidently a more 'nuanced' approach. If, that is, you are willing to ignore the plain facts about their behaviour. Coming to terms with the fact that such recruits are wilfully complicit in ISIS' crimes is evidently more than some people can cope with.

Story of 4 Brits going out to Syria to support IS state in the overthrow of the Syrian regime. As the majority of British Moslems are Sunni and IS state supports the Sunni Muslims against the Shia followers, it doesn't take much effort for Sunni Muslims in Britain to go and support their fellow believers in Syria. The series pulls no punches of the brutality of the IS State and shows where it ignores the teachings of Mohammed "for their own ends" thereby corrupting the teachings of Islam. You can see how the four Brits start to slowly realize that the teachings of Islam is not really the main force of the IS leadership, they are looking for power and control and are just using the teachings of Mohammed, to lure the stupid and vulnerable, for their own ends. It shows how decent people are used, against their wishes to be humane, because of a corrupt ideology.