Ah, the romance of the exotic east--harems, sheiks,desert vistas, burkas, honour killings, amputations, beheadings, violent jihad...

Posted by: scaramouoche at May 30, 2005 2:48 PM

Re: "...new romantic drama about Islam."

Who would've thunk. Talk about an oxymoron, romance and Islam.

Posted by: johnb at May 30, 2005 2:58 PM

I wonder how many silly girls will decide that polygamy isn't so bad, after watching this?

Posted by: Absolution at May 30, 2005 3:40 PM

Absolution:

Sadly, probably more than you'd care to think.

Recently, we were told of the number of marriage offers Scott Peterson (at least I think that's his name) received after being convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and unborn child so he could cavort with other women unhindered.

Posted by: waterdragon52 at May 30, 2005 3:56 PM

The Irish Examiner link isn't working for me, but let me guess: is it a BBC production?

Posted by: Doctor Phibes at May 30, 2005 4:29 PM

I can see why Martine McCutcheon would want to revive a flagging career after the unfortunate My Fair Lady disaster, not all of which was her fault. Art Malik must, like Imran Khan, be reverting to type with age. Shame.

Unless the series shows the jealousy, misery and degeneration into abuse that would be the real stuff of episode 2.

Thankfully a marriage is still not valid in this country if it is potentially polygamous. Although the later wives of polygamous marriages entered into abroad are treated as wives not mistresses under English common law for the purposes of ancillary relief, welfare benefits, and the legitimacy of their children. So the McCutcheon character cannot validly marry the Malik character in England. Were she to purport to marry him in Pakistan the marriage would be voidable. I think my understanding of this area is still the case.

Posted by: Granny Weatherwax at May 30, 2005 4:31 PM

Preparing the lands of the infidels for the inevitable.

Tolerance, ladies: Tolerance!

Ask the Imam:

'The benefits of having 4 wives outweigh the boredom of monogamy. And Allah knows best!'

Posted by: Terminator at May 30, 2005 4:40 PM

"racist ex-boyfriend plots to get her back...

But of course! Who but racists would oppose such an arrangement"

Let me guess...the racists are Christian?

Posted by: Carolyn2 at May 30, 2005 5:25 PM

For a truly fresh comedy, why not show a young Tibetan woman (refugee?) in Britain having a REALLY DIFFERENT KIND OF "multiple marriage". Tibet, where polyandry(multiple husbands) was once the custom, would provide a lot more original humor than this 'same old same old' pro-Muslim vaudeville-level pap. Polygamy is old hat. Mormons have been wrestling with it, in imitation of Solomon, etc., for over a century. But polyandry? Who has ever done that on t.v.?

They could call it "A Bunch of Bananas", and instead of portraying the tried and true (ho-hum) demeaning of women, this would be a real source for exploring the moral and emotional and relationship difficulties involved in the same idea -but from an entirely NEW perspective.

(BBC, feel free to steal the idea. Anything but promoting more of the Muslim [custom] invasion!)

Rowan Atkinson could play the adoptive father of a bunch of four very different young guys (a regular Anglo Brit Anglican, a Jamaica Rasta, a Chinese Confucian and a Persian Zoroastrian) who ALL fall for and end up marrying the same girl. A Bon tribalist, herself, who is always picketing the Chinese embassy to FREE TIBET (which, of course, complicates her marriage to the Chinese fellow, for loads of political laughs).

Now doesn't that sound better than the tepid 'harem' cliche?

OM mane padme hum-dinger!

Posted by: BigSleep at May 30, 2005 6:00 PM

I hope it bombs due to bad ratings.

Posted by: Voltaire at May 30, 2005 7:08 PM

Another attack on a fundamental aspect of our Western culture by the nasty, anti-Western media elites. Our Western culture has been monogamous for a very long time.

Now we will be pressured to be "tolerant" of this deviant, destructive family arrangement or be branded as "racists".

I already see the handwriting on the wall.

We are going backwards, not forwards.

Posted by: Suzan at May 30, 2005 7:13 PM

I'm pretty sure this is based on a novel of the same name, which I read a while ago. It's really insidious - quite sympathetic in its portrayal of the girl and accurate in its description of her sink estate background. Yet its promotion of this blatantly sexist and discriminatory institution is despicable.

Yuk!!

Posted by: Interested at May 30, 2005 7:40 PM

What will the script be like?

Muslim sex freak: "I love you I really do. That is why you are number 3!!! By the way you don't mind if I go looking for a number 4 right after I marry you? Oh and don't forget that if I go on Jihad and manage to enslave a few dozen or so girls it is ok for me to bring them back here and lock them up in my custom made dungeon. Remember also that if you try to marry another man I will kill you in a really nasty manner. Call me an dark age fashioned romantic"

Posted by: obl r us at May 30, 2005 9:58 PM

So.
This is British culture now?

These rats eat up your British civil decency one bite at a time.

Posted by: skidd at May 30, 2005 10:57 PM

It's said that at the last meeting of the Anglican Archbishops, when Canada's Hutchinson and America's Griswold tried to explain homosexuality as santioned by the laws of several jusridiction, their Pakistani counterpart retorted, "So, next time, I should appear with four wives in tow?" (i.e., homosexuality and polygamy were both anathema to Christian morality, and inappropriate for Christian bishops).

Posted by: Kepha at May 30, 2005 11:25 PM

Maybe the chap in the show should get a 4th marriage done... with another chap. That should provide some serious humour. And then his first 3 wives leave with the 4th guy....

The saddest thing I've read is the remark by skidd

"So.
This is British culture now?"

How depressing is that...

Posted by: Absolution at May 31, 2005 12:45 AM

Hrmm. I wonder if the ex-boyfriend might be an American Republican Southern Bpatist fundamentalist evangelical.

I mean, as long as we are stereotyping and everything . . .

Posted by: MrSpkr at May 31, 2005 1:34 AM

I've noticed that many girls with a similar background (housing estate) seem to confuse control with caring.

Their own backgrounds are so dysfunctional and their parents so uncaring that they are attracted by structure - strict rules, strict religion, etc etc.

Its only when they are trapped that they realise they have made a bad bargain - exchanged freedom of choice, no matter how disastrous, with slavery.

Vile. How any western actress could connive at this, no matter how badly her career needs a boost, is beyond me. Hope it bombs badly.

Posted by: DianaC at May 31, 2005 2:21 AM

A working link:

http://breaking.tcm.ie/2005/05/29/story204741.html

We should find out who are the persons responsible so we know who are the traitors.

Posted by: Germen Roding at May 31, 2005 5:55 AM

I think the series should be renamed to "Desperate Housewives".

Posted by: Shy Guy at May 31, 2005 6:23 AM

Synopsis from Amazon:

Hilarious, provoking, vivid story of food, love, menus and Islam The English Harem is the story of Tracy Pringle who begins the book daydreaming at the checkout till of Sainsbury's. Sacked suddenly for watching an old lady shop lift she tries her luck as a waitress at a Persian restaurant. Her father thinks she's turned to prostitution and Sam, the restaurant owner is bewildered by the arrival of the unsuitably dressed Miss Pringle at his establishment. But Sam has problems of his own, reconciling his vegetarianism with his family's tradition of working in the butcher trade in Iran. The longer Tracy works the more involved she gets with Sam. his two wives and the complicated menu...McCarten shows the same flair for dialogue and a brilliant sense of place (a scene where Tracy and Sam try and use the lift in her council block is priceless). With the setting being London this has possibly more commercial potential in the UK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0330488554/026-3925929-2184400

Posted by: Zico at May 31, 2005 6:29 AM

The couldn't just do Bluebeard?

Posted by: Leveller at May 31, 2005 6:51 AM

Doc Phibes:

the story identifies ITV as the culprit

Posted by: waterdragon52 at May 31, 2005 8:33 AM

And I used to like Martine McCutcheon - cute as a button, a first-rate actress, and a lovely singer. But this is beneath obscene. What makes it particularly obnoxious is that Martine's own family background contains violent and feckless men, and she used to represent herself as a girl from the sink estate making it against all odds. This is a kick in the face of her own image and an insult to her background. As for the writer, director, producer, and all others involved, the less said the better. By the way, wanna bet that the series will feature quite a few energetic rolls in the hay - or in whatever substance lends itself to use - to liven things up a bit?

Posted by: Paolo at May 31, 2005 9:01 AM

The question, of course, ladies and gentlemen, is who is bankrolling the production? Hmm? Who would have an interest in such a film being made, and why?

Dig deep, and glorious treasures you will find, I expect.

And allah knows least.

Sheik Geoff

Posted by: Geoff at May 31, 2005 12:50 PM

The answer, of course, is for British people to simply refuse to watch it.

And perhaps to write letters to the tv station explaining exactly why they refuse to watch it.

Posted by: DianaC at May 31, 2005 9:42 PM

Islamic push to make polygamy mainstream and acceptable in western society is just the begining. The next social taboo that will be assaulted by Islam will be paedophilia and I foresee that is will come by the push for the lowering the age of consent for sex and marriage. Today Muslims are feeling the heat of defending the marriage of Aishah, who was nine years old to Islam's most holy prophet when he was 53 years old.

Posted by: Nicolei at May 31, 2005 11:50 PM

Nicolei
Paedophilia seems to be the place where Western liberals have drawn the line at last as to what is morally acceptable now that Gay relationships and co-habiting have become mainstream.

Feminists are strangly silent on the abuse of women in Islam, gay activists are a little more vocal, but I hope that the abuse and rape of children, as sanctioned by the sufferings of Aisha will be one of the rocks on which Islam founders. Shukri did me a great favour when he directed me to the Islam answers site which confirms, indeed celebrates, her youth and draws a "lesson" for future generations from it. A little disemination will go a long way.

Posted by: Granny Weatherwax at June 1, 2005 4:14 AM

When the Repugnant Becomes Ordinary

I never thought the day would come when I, am American woman, would have to defend monogamy as the modern standard for relations between the sexes.

The spirit of monogamy is totally at odds with the spirit of polygamy. They are mutually antagonistic.

However, if society relentlessly tells people that they cannot criticize something which is patently repugnant, and if society relentlessly tells people that they must live next door to something that is patently repugnant... then the repugnant is redefined as acceptable by public law.

You cannot welcome and legitimize customs which are antagonist to your own and expect to preserve your own customs. One will prevail over the other. (Cannot serve God and Mammon)

Side note: I have read that some girls in Italy who were raised in Roman Catholic families state that they have considered Muslim men as mates, because Muslim men "get married" while their Christian counterparts are only willing to agree to casual living arrangments. Yes, Christian women going with Muslim men "for the stability." Awful.

Posted by: Athena at June 1, 2005 5:41 AM

"Yes, Christian women going with Muslim men "for the stability"

But it's a false stability from many Moslem men. The ease of Talaq, the concept of the temporary marriage to give respectability to a fling. The likes of Old Man Laden who had 40+ children (I think Ossie is no.17) by 11 women married in stages by a process of marry, divorce, marry divorce, never actually married to more than 4 at any given moment. I'm a big supporter of conventional marriage, but I do know of some alternative arrangements that are still going strong after 25 years.

Posted by: Granny Weatherwax at June 1, 2005 6:01 AM