Citizen Khan

Citizen Khan: Can't we do better than this?

Citizen Khan has very few redeeming features as a sitcom which is a shame as Mr Khan himself is a classic comedy character in so far as he is someone who has delusions of grandeur thinking he is much more important in his local community than he actually is.

BBC1's new comedy Citizen Khan (10.20pm) stars its creator, Adil Ray, in the title role, as a self-appointed - and selfimportant - community leader in Sparkhill, Birmingham.

He's a character who's already popped up in other shows, including the sketch series Bellamy's People, but this is the first time he's had a sitcom all of his own, focusing on his family life.

To be honest, the show's weakness isn't so much that it's a niche comedy but the fact that its style feels incredibly dated, like an old-fashioned studio sitcom from 20-odd years back.

Scripting a broad comedy scene around a rebellious teenage girl ironically reading the Quran is either really brave or really stupid. And that just about sums up this inheritor to the racially dysfunctional sitcoms of the '70s - Love Thy Neighbour et al. Of course, this being 2012, the intentions are sound. The show's normalising image of British Muslim family life will (we hope) bring out any EDL-oriented viewers in hives, and you don't have to have been raised in a Pakistani household to recognise how keenly the Khan family and their pompous patriarch have been drawn. What really rockets this back to the bad old days of suburban sitcom is the abject awfulness of the gags. Episode one, certainly, is a litany of sub-Terry & June mugging. And that is what makes Citizen Khan so deeply offensive.

To give you the flavour of this new comedy set around an Asian family, at one stage its hero, self-appointed "community leader" Mr Khan, drives to his local mosque and parks in a disabled space. As he gets out of the car passers-by shoot him a look, so he starts limping heavily.

It's not the episode's finest moment but it shows that writers Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto are not proud about where they'll look for laughs. Luckily, Khan himself is a brilliant creation by Adil Ray. Tonight, his daughter is set to get married, but Khan has foolishly failed to book the mosque.

Citizen Khan review

Full of hilarious one-liners and great mannerisms Mr Khan is a true comic character that will leave many an audience member laughing, and it's no wonder he was given a sitcom all to himself.

A new family-based sitcom starring Adil Ray as self-appointed community leader Mr Khan, previously a character in Radio 4's Down The Line and its underappreciated television offshoot Bellamy's People. This opener sees Khan struggle to keep face after forgetting to book the venue for his daughter's upcoming wedding, leading to conflict with well-meaning mosque manager Dave (Kris Marshall). Despite the occasional laboured gag, it's an affable enough debut, deserving a wider audience than this post-watershed slot is likely to attract.

This good-natured new comedy, the UK's first ever Muslim sitcom, is set in the capital of British Pakistan, Sparkhill in Birmingham. It follows self-appointed community leader Mr Khan - played and created by Adil Ray, the character has already appeared on Radio 4's Down the Line and its TV incarnation Bellamy's People. First up, one of Mr Khan's feisty daughters is about to get married and his wife's on the warpath because he has forgotten to book a venue. Can he call in a favour from mosque manager Dave (Kris Marshall)?

Citizen Khan: an Asian sitcom star is born

Citizen Khan is notable for being the BBC's first Asian sitcom, but it's also the creation of Adil Ray, a radio presenter who has reinvented himself as a TV funnyman.

Adil Ray interview

"If my intention was to ridicule Asians then I'm doing it for the wrong reason - all I'm trying to do is genuinely make people laugh."

Watch out BBC One... It's Khan time!

It's official folks! Our very own Mr Khan - self appointed community leader, future President of the Sparkhill Pakistani Business Association and esteemed expert on everything you never wanted to know about cricket, has landed his very own sitcom series on BBC One!