:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::BBC2::::::::::::::::WHITE GIRL::::::::::::::::::::::::9pm::::::::::::::::::::::::

[RTKangaDYSONMummy]

TONIGHT

oh, thanks - I'd have forgotten !

Is this one of the Beeb's "White" season? Or is it something else entirely?

it is part of BBC2 White season

Drama
White Girl Monday 10 March
9:00pm - 10:30pm
BBC2
Picture this: an 11-year-old girl with blonde hair and cautious blue eyes washes her face, dons a headscarf and joins in with prayers at her local mosque. As an image of cultural crossover it's hard to beat, and it's at the heart of this luminous, beautifully filmed drama by Abi Morgan (Sex Traffic). The girl is Leah (tremendously played by Holly Kenny) and her family is a wreck. Her stepdad makes her run drug-dealing errands, her mum (Anna Maxwell Martin) drinks and their lives revolve around pizza, scratchcards and one screaming row after another. When mum and kids try to flee, they're re-housed in a Muslim district of Bradford and Leah's redemption begins, with the Islamic culture she comes to embrace shown as a haven of calm after her shambolic upbringing. There's a fairytale quality to the story, but if the idea of the White season (of which this forms part) is to celebrate the white working classes, this feels like a shot in the opposite direction.

RT reviewer - David Butcher
VIDEO Plus+: 1039
Subtitled, Widescreen, Audio-described
Episode written by Abi Morgan

Cast
Debbie Anna - Maxwell Martin
Stevie - Daniel Mays
Sonya - Melanie Hill
Leah - Holly Kenny
Adam - Jay Simpson
Rehan - Tariq Jordan
Yasmin - Jade Islam
Abdullah - Aaron Neil
Fatima - Balvinder Sopal
Headmistress - Joanna Swain
Miss Shakina - Shaida Choudhary
Mr Iqbal - Mohammad Rafique
Housing officer - Perveen Hussain
Malik - Junaid Khan
Tariq - Hasan Mahmood
Chip shop man - Paul Oldham

you're welcome

Ooh... might sky+ that. Thanks RTKM

oke doke

you're welcome

bump

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why does the bbc portray people like this, it's so sterotyped and grim.

SEA I have to say it is the first positive gentle portrayal of Islam that I have seen in something like this.

I am finding it totally moving and understand the decisions she is making.

my heart breaks for those kids what an old head that young girl is being forced to have on her shoulders!

i think it is beautiful.

i think you could reverse it and equal kindness might be shown. but the power and history mean that mostly it isn't.

I found it beautiful too. I know that it was also simplistic in many ways, but am so grateful for such a positive portrayal of Islam.

fantastic

I thought it was very good too

I thought it was very good. I felt so sad when she was thrown out of her own home and so sad for all the kids being treated that way tonight and every night.

very good I thought...