The only ‘REALLY DISGUSTING’ thing about ‘Citizen Khan’ was the stupid ‘Brummie’ accent perpetrated by the actor paying ‘Citizen Dave’ (sic) the Mosque Manager in my opinion….We need to know more about other peoples’ traditions and cultures so I welcome ‘Citizen Khan’ as an important step along that particular road, otherwise Birmingham will become ‘ghettoised’ with people living in ethnic silos in their own suburbs……In London, all races, creeds and cultures live ‘cheek by jowl’ mostly together and there are no particular ‘ethnic’ be it white, black, yellow or brown neighbourhoods. This is patently not the case in Birmingham and until we learn about our neighbours’ culture and way of life we will not be truly ‘One Birmingham’…..a great diverse melting pot of a city….Oh and another thing, the correspondent who criticises ‘Citizen Khan’ for poking fun at (Aktar) Islam (sic again!) saying that there are no similar sitcoms parodying Judaism or Christianity needs to watch more TV….what about Dawn French’s comedy female vicar Geraldine in the BBC’s Christianity-parodying ‘The Vicar of Dibley’ or the recent BBC2 hit sitcom ‘Rev’….? Or Channel 4’s excellent ‘Father Ted’. All three poke fun at Christianlty mercilessly. I think some of those following The Qu’ran need to take their religion far less seriously and need to develop a particularly British trait: tolerance and being able to laugh at oneself, the typical self-deprecating ‘Brummie’ humour if you like? And as for there being no ‘Jewish Jokers’ poking fun at the Jewish faith please, please please look on YouTUbe at the much-missed Jack Rosenthal’s ‘Bar Mitzvah Boy’ or anything that his lovely widow Maureen Lipman is in, such as the 80’s BT TV adverts. And what about the great American tradiition of ‘Jewish’ comics…..from the Marx Brothers, to Woody Allen, to Jackie Mason, to Jerry Seinfeld…..are they not ‘taking the Mickey’ out of Jews……Sorry about the rant……I rest my case M’lud, Citizen Khan is in the dock on ‘Trumped-Up charges. In my eyes it is an excellent sitcom in the tradition of ‘Love They Neighbour’ pillorying racism and pointing up its stupidity and paints a very positive portrait of a vibrant ‘Multi-Cultural’ diverse Sparkhill in Bimingham…..one other thing…..why couldn’t the BBC film the interior scenes in Birmingham rather than Manchester? Ah…..yes I forgot the BBC abandoned Birmingham in favour of Manchester…..Birmingham with its fantastic tradition of ground-breaking TV production at the former ATV studios in Broad Street which gave us the revolutionary and anarchic TISWAS
Keith Bracey the Brummie Bard Birmingham & Black Country poet & writer
Bearwood Blogger Blogging Bout Birmingham
Keith Bracey the Brummie Bard Birmingham & Black Country poet & writer 
I watched Citizen Khan with intent and had great expectations for it 1) because it was the first major/mainstream sitcom with Brit Asian actors 2) it was based in Birmingham. Having watched the whole of series/season 1, I was very disappointed. Why? not so much the fact that it was ” in the tradition of ‘Love They Neighbour’ pillorying racism and pointing up its stupidity” but because it was badly acted, the dialogue was dire, the script was tired and dated and the jokes were self indulgent. I was an avid fan of Love thy Neighbour, Mind Your Language and all the other comedies of yesteryear, but they were very much of their time. “Citizen Khan” as a breakthrough comedy fails on a number of issues. It didn’t offer up anything new, original or exciting. I agree the accents were appalling, especially Kris Marshall as the Mosque Manager, the scenes should have been set in Birmingham to provide more authenticity and the only characters that could offer more insight into the traditions or cultures of the young south Asian population were the two daughters…but even then we’ve seen THAT side of Muslim girls portrayed better for laughs on CH4s’ Shameless and Goodness Gracious Me with its self effacing humour had more charm and wit until they parodied the Indians in India. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see more of Birmingham but the one saving grace was the fact that Citizen Khan mentioned a deceased character called Mr Qureshi and The Pakistan Welfare Association. I have a feeling he took inspiration from my late father who founded The Pakistan Welfare and Sports Association back in the 1970’s!?
I enjoyed Adil Ray’s parody of ‘BritAsian’ Life ‘Citizen Khan’…..I recall the Pakistan Welfare Association back in the 1970’s which has been superceded by newer Muslim-inspired groups like ‘Islamic Relief’ the charity which aims to help Muslims all over the world from its base in Birmingham……more power to their elbow…..It is interesting that they mentioned your father Mr Qureshi as a deceased character….they must have had great respect for him to have mentioned him in ‘Citizen Khan’….let us hope that there is a second series of ‘Citizen Khan’ as much of the news about Birmingham Muslims is very negative att he moment with some Brummie Pakistanis being characterized as ‘Terrorists’ with two more Brummie Muslims pleading guilty to terrorist charges today and the wife of one of them being tried for not informing West Midlands Police that her husband was engaging in terrorist activities…..The events of the past few months have illustrated why WMP put CCTV cameras high up on lamp posts in Sparkhill and Sparkbrook…..I would rather see positive images of Birmingham Muslims being portrayed like the ‘Balti Triangle’ of Asian restaurants in Sparkhill and Sparkbrook, with my wife going for a fantastic meal at Adil on Ladypool Road tomorrow night, one of the very first Balti Houses in Birmingham where her late brother Ian Sherwood first took her to eat over 40 years ago….the ‘Birth of the Balti’………!!!!!!!!!!
Reblogged this on keithbracey and commented:
Citizen Khan is a much-loved #Brummie character…..a true BrummaGEM
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