Britz
Britz is a hard hitting and thought provoking drama following the life of a young Muslim man and his sister following the 9/11 attacks.
Student Sohail is studying law in London and intensely proud of the fact that he is British. He finds it difficult being a Muslim in Britain. He is from Bradford and returns there one weekend to find armed police and many of his friends wearing traditional Muslim dress. His sister, Nasima is a medical student and holds more extreme views, not wanting to be in Britain.
He attends a group meeting where he is told that the Quran says that you should not take up arms against a country which gives you sanctuary, but being born in a country is different. Upset at the message, Sohail undertakes a surveillance exercise and interview to join MI5, where he finds many of the families under surveillance are Muslim. He joins MI5 whilst conducting a double life as a student.
Sohail is put in a difficult position, as he finds that one of his friends, Sajid is linked into a network of people associated with the attempted bombings in London. MI5 suspect that the Jiu-jitsu meetings that both Sajid and Sohail attend are actually an excuse for Jihad meetings. Later Sajid is arrested apparently on drink driving charges by a highly racist Policeman, but the charges are related to terrorism.
After finding out that Nasima had a boyfriend, Jude (a Black non-muslim), her family took her to Pakistan with the intention of finding her a husband. Her boyfriend followed her but she ran away and he was given a severe beating. Sohail’s sister was apparently found dead, sexually assaulted and her body burned.
Back in the UK, Sohail decifers a message about two towers and sees footage of an Asian female entering a house in London. He is convinced that someone is trying to enter the country and asks for airports to be closed. His boss cannot afford the resources, so Sohail takes matters into his own hands and heads for Canary Wharfe and the scene of an outdoor concert. There he meets his sister Nasima just as she is about to become a suicide bomber. Tomorrow’s episode of Britz looks at Nasima’s story.
Randall and Hopkirk (deceased)
Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk are a pair of private detectives, trouble is that Marty is dead. A classic 1960’s comedy drama pairs Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope as the eponymous heroes. Jeff runs the agency on his own but relies upon the ghost of Marty to get him through all of his investigations. Marty shows up dressed in a white suit and follows supsects around to give Jeff help. He can also manage to have an effect on some physical objects but he must concentrate extremely hard. Marty appears and disappears in an instant, blinking as he does so. A great source of conflict bewteen the two is Marty’s wife Jeannie, played by Annette Andre, as Marty suspects feelings between Jeff and her.
Tonight’s episode of Randall and Hopkirk (deceased) sees Jeff arrested for the robbery of money due for incineration by the Bank of England. Jeff had learned about it from a character called O’Malley, who had devised the plan but failed to implement it. Somebody does implement it and as Jeff is the only other person that knows of it he is implicated in the crime. Jeff assumes that O’Malley has done the job and O’Malley assumes Jeff has. Things get worse for Jeff when £20,000 is found under the floorboards in the agency office. As the year is 1968 this is a significant amount of money and so Jeff is charged.
O’Malley is a smooth, rich Irish charmer whose accent varies from broad leprachaun to Sloane-ranger within a single sentence. Aso in the frame is Jeff’s lawyer, Elizabeth, who has the improbably unmoving but very big hair. She is sussing out O’Malley in the form of a restaurant date at his own restaurant. He disappears off to find a missing singer who lives above his club, who is packing and ready to do a runner with half a million pounds worth of used fivers. As he threatens to take her to the police her accomplice and senior partner turns up and she has a gun. O’Malley is eventually clattered around the head with a chair, whilst the pair of women escape. He follows with Elizabeth and the spiritous Marty in Eliabeth’s very small and very full Triumph sports car.
The two women manage to hop into a light aircraft and take off whilst the GT6 is negotiating a corner. Marty hitches a lift and manages to affect the compass on the plane getting them to land in Surrey, rather than France, where the police are waiting. Jeff should thus be released but his lawyer, Elizabeth, is otherwise engaged with O’Malley.
Randall and Hopkirk (deceased) is a fabulous old series where the terrible special effects are overcome by neat stories and a great buddy combination. Kenneth Cope was wonderful as the departed but still quirky Marty but Mike Pratt nicely plays Jeff down as a great counter-point. The re-working by Reeves and Mortimer in 2000 was a nice idea but the original series still stands up as classic British television.
Spooks
The new series of Spooks started tonight and is now in its sixth series. The drama series is not about ghosts, but the slang term for spies and is centred upon MI5 in London. The programme started in 2002 and starred Keely Hawes and Matthew Macfadyen. It has had several changes of cast but now stars Peter Firth as Harry Pearce (the head of the team), Hermione Morris as Ros, Rupert Penry-Jones as Adam and Raza Jaffrey as Zaf. Robert Glenister put in an appearance as the Home Secretary in tonight’s episode.
The programme started at an underground military laboratory in Iran were scientists were developing a serum with the ability to wipe out entire cities. Unfortunately a test tube broke and the contents released with the laboratory technicians being infected.
Back in London, there are discussions about a peace process with Iran. An informer suggest that Mehan Asnik is planning an attack on London. The Home Secretary is concerned that the peace process with Iran is in jeopardy and asks Harry Pearce to “deal with” Asnik, but that any assassination attempt is made to look that it is a result of internal troubles within Iran, rather than having British involvement.
Iranian intelligence suggests that Asnik is travelling to London and taking a train from Tehran. A bomb is planted on the train but the Spooks hear of Asnik’s intention to switch trains and that there will be unnecessary lives lost when the bomb goes off. Asnik is told to switch trains (when the time is right) but leaves his briefcase on the train minutes before the bomb explodes. The briefcase was blown wide open and carries vials of the deadly serum .
Asnik is caught and admits to being a double agent who is wanting to defect but is receiving instructions from someone named as “Copenhagen”. MI5 learn about a virus developed by the Americans but thought to be completely destroyed. It is known as Strain E34 and incubates in 18 hours, after which people become infected and start to cough up blood. The purpose of the strain is to kill people and it effects anyone who comes into contact with the virus. The strain has been cultured and modified. The Spooks realise that they have been given false intelligence and that Asnik’s intention was not to bring a bomb to London, but that the virus was a lethal bio hazard.
In Tehran, Adam and Zaf try to get Asnik to a safe house and realise he is infectious. Their car fails forcing them to make their journey on foot through the woods, where Zaf is shot and he and Asnik are kidnapped. A deal with the kidnappers goes horribly wrong with Zaf still be held by them and Asnik roaming the streets of London carrying the highly infectious virus.
