Press clippings Page 5
Citizen Khan a huge success in India
Risky BBC comedy Citizen Khan, accused of stereotyping Asians, is proving to be a surprise hit with viewers in India.
The Sun, 7th September 2015Pointless Celebrities announces comedy special
Doon Mackichan, Nigel Planer, Adil Ray, Kevin Eldon, Nerys Hughes, Jeremy Dyson and The Chuckle Brothers are due to appear in a Comics edition of Pointless Celebrities. The episode will be broadcast on September 26 on BBC One.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 30th July 2015Video: Adil Ray on Fox News 'Muslim Birmingham' comment
The Birmingham-born creator of BBC comedy Citizen Khan has criticised a terrorism commentator who said the city was a no-go area for non-Muslims.
BBC News, 13th January 2015Radio Times review
Christmas needn't be all doom and gloom, you know: try to see the funny side of it with this collection of amusing clips and comedians' anecdotes. The age-old staples of festive observational comedy are thoroughly dealt with, from office parties and last-minute shopping to cooking the turkey and feeling sick on Boxing Day.
Jane Horrocks narrates, with Christmas bonuses also heading into the bank accounts of Al Murray, Linda Robson, Adil Ray, Eamonn Holmes and, offering some hope of frosty freshness, Dame Edna Everage.
Jack Seale, Radio Times, 21st December 2014Citizen Khan Christmas special review
In the past, Citizen Khan has been accused of being offensive and perpetuating stereotypes. It does perpetuate stereotypes and not particularly pleasant ones either. Misogyny, chauvinism, bitter, deep-rooted ethnic tensions. That being said, it manages pull off the trick of not being offensive. The ham delivery and predictable punchlines of all of these jokes are so crass and juvenile that it's impossible to be insulted. That's an achievement of sorts.
Clare Bowden, On The Box, 14th December 2014Boomers and Citizen Khan get another series
It has been confirmed that BBC One sitcoms Boomers and Citizen Khan will both return for another series, as the BBC outlines its plans for comedy in 2015.
British Comedy Guide, 11th December 2014Radio Times review
Step onto the Citizen Khan shuttle and travel right back in time, stopping in the early 1970s when you could make a joke about "a dicky bow" on a TV sitcom and audiences would die laughing.
But Citizen Khan scoffs in the faces of chronology and fashion and yes, there it is, a joke about a dicky bow, as in "maybe I'll get my dicky bow out". "Steady on!" wails Mr Khan (Adil Ray) and we are back in the age of innocence. Do people even refer to "dicky bows" any more?
Never mind, Citizen Khan's world is a lost paradise of pratfalls and silly misunderstandings. Tonight he's involved in a daft scam involving cut-price nappies and he faces his formidable sister in law, Aunty Noor (Nina Wadia).
Alison Graham, Radio Times, 21st November 2014Citizen Khan wins big at 2014 RTS North West Awards
Citizen Khan has scooped two awards at the 2014 RTS North West Awards, winning "Best Comedy Programme" and "Best Performance In A Comedy" for Adil Ray.
Andrew Dipper, Giggle Beats, 16th November 2014Radio Times review
Citizen Khan is the perfect pre-watershed retro-comedy. Kids love the pompous community leader because he's as daft as a brush and those of us old enough to remember 1970s telly will sigh with happy recognition at the ancientness of the gags.
Khan (Adil Ray) gets in a tangle with that greatest of all comedy staples, trying to impress his daughter's prospective mother-in-law, coupled with probably the second of all comedy staples, trying not to mention another man's terrible toupee.
Naturally Khan can't help himself and falls headlong into numerous tonsorial traps. Watch out, too, for a piece of slapstick involving a remote-controlled swivel chair as the Khans invite doltish Amjad's parents for a pre-wedding dinner. Mind the best china!
Alison Graham, Radio Times, 7th November 2014Radio Times review
I know, Citizen Khan is puerile and silly, and possibly promotes unhelpful stereotypes. I'm in no position to comment on the latter (Khan is created and played by British Muslim Adil Ray), but in comedy terms, I love its old-school innocence.
Khan is every fumbling sitcom man-child since Terry Scott in Terry and June (which Citizen Khan resembles), a buffoon surrounded by sensible women. There is nothing sophisticated here, it's not Veep or Modern Family.
This is a very British comedy. Khan gets into scrapes because of his own stupidity, arrogance or overweening ego. He tries to get out of them, and digs himself deeper into the mud. It's a pantomime and its laughs are broad.
In the first of a new series, Khan tries to stop his wife's mother from going to live in a care home. But only because he thinks she's worth £25,000.
Alison Graham, Radio Times, 31st October 2014