BBC One's 'Citizen Khan' gets Christmas special

The BBC has yet to officially confirm this, but insiders tell me that they had long planned having a Citizen Khan Christmas Special and it was for that reason that when the series was re-commissioned back in September 2012 the BBC announced a seven episode order.

Adil Ray interview

To coincide with the release of Citizen Khan on DVD, I spoke Mr Khan himself, Adil Ray, to discuss how Citizen Khan as we know it came about, what his influences were and some more general thoughts about his show.

Video: Writersroom interviews... Adil Ray

Adil talks to us about the writing process for the show, the challenges involved in representing a community on screen, and how he developed the Mr Khan character.

He responds to some of the reactions to the series and tells us about the sitcoms he's grown up with, and loved.

It was uncanny that the plot of Monday's episode of BBC1's family sitcom Citizen Khan revolved around Mrs Khan spoiling her husband's TV viewing. Because my wife did exactly the same thing to me on Monday night. She put Citizen Khan on.

Devised by and starring Adil Ray, Citizen Khan (BBC One) has been greeted as an all-time stinker. Is it really that bad? I'm afraid so, but it has its moments. The leading character is a Pakistani. Amiable and generous with his time, he is ready to have a long conversation with a cold caller until it turns out that the cold call is coming from India. He bangs down the phone, to a convulsive response from the audience.

Mind you, the audience responds convulsively to anything. At one stage Mr Ray did nothing but walk out of the kitchen to answer the phone in the hall, and he was met by a ripple of laughter. Why? No, the show is dreadful. But it might not be hopeless. There is room for it to grow. It might even turn into something as richly informative as the movie East is East, although for that to happen someone will have to get some writing talent from somewhere.

Spotlight On... Citizen Khan

The programme was critised for lazy cultural stereotypes and for insulting Islam, but certain prominent Muslims defended the show.

The sitcom set among Birmingham's Muslim community has provoked a rash of complaints to the BBC, mostly regarding disrespect towards the Qur'an. Few mention the BBC'' offence against comedy itself in commissioning yet another sitcom constructed almost entirely from clichés. Tonight Mr Khan (Adil Ray) becomes the Simon Cowell of Sparkhill in seeking a star performer for the local mosque's call to prayer.

Citizen Khan is not racist, but it's not funny either

The programme's offence is to bring back sitcoms to the slavery of one-liners.

Citizen Khan - the view from abroad

Debate over the BBC's new comedy series Citizen Khan has spread beyond the UK thanks to the availability of video clips online.