Did the BBC get cold feet over Baddiel’s Infidel comedy?
LAST week a comedy called The Infidel opened in UK cinemas. It tells the story of Muslim family man Mahmud Nasir, played by comedian Omid Djalili, who discovers he was in fact born a Jew called Solly Shimsillewitz.
In a light-hearted, low-budget movie written by David Baddiel, Mahmud strives to learn more about his real roots from an alcoholic Jewish cabbie called Lenny while at the same time trying to impress his son’s prospective father-in-law who is a firebrand Muslim preacher.
The BBC, according to this report, had originally been a co-producer of The Infidel, but, says Baddiel, then got cold feet.
The BBC changed character. The BBC became much more wary about doing anything that might be considered to be offensive, trouble making or whatever.
Should we have expected any less from the Bible Broadcasting Company, a whiff of religious controversy and they run for the hills, I’m surprised it has the nerve to maintain a news service with the amount of jelly that constitutes its spine.