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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Hideously diverse Britain: Are you laughing at me? | Hideously diverse Britain: Are you laughing at me? |
| (8 days later) | |
| Can you write about a community, with all its absurdities and idiosyncrasies, making the material amusingly authentic to that community; at the same time avoiding the temptation to lampoon that group for the delectation of those outside it? If so, you'll get laughs inside the tent and outside, and probably win a Bafta. If not, duck; here comes a ton of trouble. | Can you write about a community, with all its absurdities and idiosyncrasies, making the material amusingly authentic to that community; at the same time avoiding the temptation to lampoon that group for the delectation of those outside it? If so, you'll get laughs inside the tent and outside, and probably win a Bafta. If not, duck; here comes a ton of trouble. |
| And there is the predicament of the BBC's Muslim sitcom Citizen Khan. More than 200 complaints so far from viewers, many Muslim, who think it is offensive and stereotypical. | And there is the predicament of the BBC's Muslim sitcom Citizen Khan. More than 200 complaints so far from viewers, many Muslim, who think it is offensive and stereotypical. |
| But also, it should be said, a few plaudits from web types who recognise some of the situations portrayed by the co-writer/star Adil Ray as things that could or do happen at home. | But also, it should be said, a few plaudits from web types who recognise some of the situations portrayed by the co-writer/star Adil Ray as things that could or do happen at home. |
| Is it offensive? Hard to pronounce with authority, because what I see doesn't impinge on my experience. But none of my Muslim friends like it. Cliched and too much like panto, said one, the main character overblown like a brown-skinned Widow Twankey. | Is it offensive? Hard to pronounce with authority, because what I see doesn't impinge on my experience. But none of my Muslim friends like it. Cliched and too much like panto, said one, the main character overblown like a brown-skinned Widow Twankey. |
| lt's sad, because I am sure that behind it all is an attempt by the BBC to broaden its comedy canvas. And no-one wants to seem po-faced. | lt's sad, because I am sure that behind it all is an attempt by the BBC to broaden its comedy canvas. And no-one wants to seem po-faced. |
| So how to do it? I asked Paul Sirett. He's white English and he wrote the brilliant and very successful musical Big Life, about Windrush-generation West Indians finding their way in 1950s Britain. The key was collaboration, he says. "I make jokes about everything. And as a writer you need to be able to take risks. But I worked with a trusted group who will say, 'This is rubbish' when it is rubbish." Paul used a telling phrase. You need, he said, to be "respectfully disrespectful". And never lapse into stereotypes. They might have worked on Mind Your Language in the 1970s, but they won't in this day and age. | So how to do it? I asked Paul Sirett. He's white English and he wrote the brilliant and very successful musical Big Life, about Windrush-generation West Indians finding their way in 1950s Britain. The key was collaboration, he says. "I make jokes about everything. And as a writer you need to be able to take risks. But I worked with a trusted group who will say, 'This is rubbish' when it is rubbish." Paul used a telling phrase. You need, he said, to be "respectfully disrespectful". And never lapse into stereotypes. They might have worked on Mind Your Language in the 1970s, but they won't in this day and age. |
| It's definitely doable on TV. Look at Goodness Gracious Me or the black and Asian sketch show the Real McCoy. Or Desmonds, the sitcom set in a West Indian barber shop that ran for six series. But it's a challenge. And a really big challenge when the community behind the laugh track feels less than secure about its place in society. Always the question, are they laughing with or at me? When the jokes are lame, that's even worse. | It's definitely doable on TV. Look at Goodness Gracious Me or the black and Asian sketch show the Real McCoy. Or Desmonds, the sitcom set in a West Indian barber shop that ran for six series. But it's a challenge. And a really big challenge when the community behind the laugh track feels less than secure about its place in society. Always the question, are they laughing with or at me? When the jokes are lame, that's even worse. |
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