Citizen Khan


Citizen Khan is a British sitcom produced by the BBC and created by Adil Ray. Five series have been shown so far. It was set in Sparkhill, East Birmingham, described by its lead character, a British Pakistani Muslim Mr Khan, as "the capital of British Pakistan". Citizen Khan follows the trials and tribulations of Mr Khan, a loud-mouthed, patriarchal, cricket-loving, self-appointed community leader, and his long suffering wife and daughters Shazia and Alia. In Series One, Kris Marshall starred as Dave, the manager of Mr Khan's local mosque. The first name of Mrs Khan is Razia, however Mr Khan's first name is never revealed.
The title of the show is a play on the title of the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane. The character Mr Khan had already featured in the BBC Two comedy series Bellamy's People, on BBC Radio 4's Down the Line and on his own online series on the BBC Comedy website. On 27 September 2012, the BBC announced that Citizen Khan had been commissioned for a second series. On 2 December 2013, BBC controller Charlotte Moore announced that Citizen Khan had been renewed for a third series which began airing on 31 October 2014. On 11 December 2014, BBC comedy controller Shane Allen announced that a fourth series had been commissioned. On 14 October 2015, the official Facebook page of Citizen Khan confirmed through a video of Mr Khan that the fourth series would begin on 30 October 2015. On 20 January 2016, it was confirmed the show would return for a fifth and final series which started airing on 4 November 2016.
Although Adil Ray is a Muslim, the show has divided opinion on whether its humour is a mockery of followers of that religion. Ray maintains that Mr Khan is a comic character who is intended for families of any ethnic background to relate to, as with other British family sitcoms.

Broadcast and reception

The first episode of Citizen Khan was first broadcast on BBC One on 27 August 2012, in a late timeslot of 10:20pm. It received what Digital Spy referred to as an "impressive" 3.41 million viewers and 20.9% of the audience.
The Independents Hasnet Lais stated "Credit must be given to Adil Ray for not sparing any sacred cows and shining light on the conundrum of some British Muslim women under the patriarchal cosh."
The BBC received over 700 complaints following the airing of the first episode with a further 20 complaints to Ofcom. Some British Muslims claimed that the show "ridicules" and "insults" Islam. The BBC claimed it had evidence the complaints were part of a lobbying campaign and countered it saying a number of people, including those of Muslim communities, praised the show and referred to its audience figures as a "very positive start."
The Independents Arifa Akbar commented negatively on its many clichéd jokes and character traits and drawing many comparisons with 1970s-style sitcoms. Mark Jones of The Guardian was more optimistic, describing it as "an affable enough debut, deserving a wider audience than this post-watershed slot is likely to attract."
The Islam Channel made a special show titled Politics and Media: Citizen Khan – Racist stereotypes or harmless fun? Presenter John Rees discussed whether the BBC comedy is stereotyping Muslims, or whether it is fun and can be laughed about by Muslims.
By the second episode, broadcast on 3 September, Citizen Khan clips had become viral. Opinion outside the United Kingdom has also been mixed, resulting in many heated debates. Outside of the UK, Pakistani newspaper The News International criticised the BBC's use of Pakistani flags in the Khan's home and Mr Khan's younger daughter quickly putting on a hijab and pretending to read the Qur'an. The Pakistan News Watch website countered "shows like Citizen Khan are essential in multicultural societies and help put all communities on an equal footing – if everyone can have a laugh at everyone else's expense, then no one can claim superiority." The debate continued into a third week with the Yorkshire Post publishing an article by Pakistani journalist Sabbiyah Pervez appealing to her own community to "stop being so defensive and learn to laugh at itself."
The BBC ordered a seven-episode second series on 27 September 2012 due to good ratings. On 18 September 2013, the BBC announced that the second series would air on Friday nights in the prime time 9.30pm slot from 4 October.
In an interview with The Guardian, Adil Ray stated "What I’ve intended to do with Citizen Khan is a good thing – to make Mr Khan a good character, to make him universal and a communication between different communities." The television industry newspaper Broadcast run an article entitled ‘Rise of a sitcom hero’
Series 3 of Citizen Khan gained an audience of around 5 million per episode, including iPlayer views. Ahead the Series 4 debut in October 2015, Vicky Power of The Daily Telegraph stated "It’s harmless, friendly fun for the whole family." Series 4 of Citizen Khan made its debut on 30 October 2015. The series attracted a record 3.3 million viewers.
Citizen Khan has been exported to Australia, India, Russia, Bulgaria and New Zealand, spawned Christmas specials and prompted a UK-wide “live” tour of regional theaters. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph in 2015 ahead of the launch of series 4, Adil Ray stated that fans of the show realise it is a "big laugh out loud comedy, not a reflection of every Muslim or Pakistani family in the country."
From Series 4, the role of Shazia Khan was taken over by Krupa Pattani replacing Maya Sondhi.
Adil Ray has reported that he received death threats for the show, including one threatening a riot. He has stated that his influences came from comedies such as Only Fools and Horses and Fawlty Towers that were aimed at family audiences, and he desires for families of all backgrounds to be able to see elements of Khan's character in their father figure. Ray has claimed that for every complaint he had over a scene in which Khan's daughter Alia hurriedly covers her head in the presence of her father, he received ten from Muslims, Catholics and Jews relating to the experience of a child behaving similarly.
In April 2016, the show was condemned in parliament by Rupa Huq, Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, who called its portrayal of a Birmingham Muslim family "quite backward".

Awards

Khan has made appearances at Children In Need 2014 in which he appeared as a guest in the EastEnders’ pub, The Queen Victoria, Comic Relief 2015, in which he joked he was hoping to be considered for Jeremy Clarkson’s job at Top Gear, the FA Cup Final 2015, supporting local Birmingham team Aston Villa, and in October 2015 took over the train announcements at Birmingham New Street station for an hour. On Friday 18 November 2016, the cast of Citizen Khan made an appearance on Children in Need in a live sketch Citizen Khan v Citizen Kane where they were joined by comedian Russell Kane and his family for a dance off. On 11 March 2017, Adil Ray appeared as Mr Khan on Let's Sing and Dance for Comic Relief as a judge.

Episodes

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodesBroadcast timeNotes
127 August 20121 October 2012610:30pmN/A
24 October 20138 November 201369:30pm+1 Christmas special
331 October 201412 December 201468:30pm+1 Christmas special
430 October 201511 December 201568:30pm/7:30pm+1 Christmas special
54 November 201623 December 201668:30pm+1 Christmas special

Characters

CharacterActorYearsSeriesEpisode Count
Mr KhanAdil Ray2012–161.1–5.734
Mrs Razia KhanShobu Kapoor2012–161.1–5.733
Alia KhanBhavna Limbachia2012–161.1–5.734
Shazia KhanMaya Sondhi2012–141.1–3.720
Shazia KhanKrupa Pattani2015–164.1–5.714
Amjad MalikAbdullah Afzal2012–161.1–5.734
RiazNish Nathwani2012–161.1–5.727
Mrs MalikHarvey Virdi2012–161.1–5.714
NaaniAdlyn Ross2012–161.2–5.715
Dave 1Kris Marshall20121.1–1.66
Dave 2Matthew Cottle2013–162.2–5.716
KeithPhil Nice2012–2014, 20161.5–3.7, 5.712
OmarFelix Dexter2012–131.1–2.713

Ratings

Total viewers include overnight views plus views on BBC iPlayer, BBC HD and recorded catch-up services. Official accurate figures are released 10 days after original transmission by BARB. For instance, Citizen Khan Series 2 Episode 1 attracted overall figures of 4.53m, a consolidated share of 15.1% including 1.17 million BBC iPlayer requests.
SeriesEpisode NoAirdateOvernights ShareBBC iPlayer requestsSource
1------
1127 August 20123.4120.9%852,000
123 September 20122.7819.3%1,032,000
1310 September 20122.5515.8%865,000
1417 September 20122.2916.4%795,000
1524 September 20122.8019.7%
161 October 20122.5919.2%660,000
2------
214 October 20132.9414.3%1,055,000
2211 October 20132.6911.7%854,000
2318 October 20132.6613.0%
2425 October 20132.8514.1%
251 November 20132.8613.9%
268 November 20132.3110.8%745,000
2720 December 20133.0714.6%843,000
3------
3131 October 20142.8613.5%978,000
327 November 20143.0514.0%
3321 November 20142.7812.7%
3428 November 20142.4811.6%
355 December 20142.9513.5%737,000
3612 December 20142.7112.4%
3719 December 20142.9214.2%
4------
4130 October 20153.3317.5%
426 November 20152.6412.9%671,000
4320 November 20153.0514.8%
4427 November 20152.5212.2%
454 December 20152.2410.8%
4611 December 20152.3411.7%
4718 December 20152.7313.9%
5------
514 November 20162.8813.8%785,000
5211 November 20162.7712.7%
5325 November 20162.5412.6%
542 December 20162.6212.5%
559 December 20162.3311.9%
5616 December 20162.2912.1%
5723 December 20162.6513.6%

Distribution

DVD

SeriesRelease nameNo. of discsUK release date
NZ release date
AU release date
ClassificationNotes
1Citizen Khan – Series 1 122 October 20123 April 201329 May 2013PGNo extras.
2Citizen Khan – Series 2 111 November 20134 June 201430 April 201412No extras. Does not include Christmas Special.
3Citizen Khan – Series 3 122 December 2014TBATBAPGIncludes 2013 Christmas Special, Deleted Scenes and Outtakes
1–3Citizen Khan – Series 1–3 322 December 2014TBATBA12Includes 2013 Christmas Special, Deleted Scenes and Outtakes
4Citizen Khan – Series 4 121 December 2015TBATBA12Includes 2014 Christmas Special and Outtakes
5Citizen Khan – Series 5 116 January 2017TBATBAPG2015 Christmas special, others TBA

Broadcasts

Premiering on 12 July 2013, the series airs on Comedy Central India in India. In the United Kingdom, reruns of the show air on Gold.

Digital

Series 1, 2 & 3 are available to buy on iTunes in both Standard Definition and High Definition, "A Khan Christmas" and "A Khan Family Christmas" have also been made available to buy.