‘Disturbing, disturbing, funny’: inside funny jokes about Muslim school girls | Television

Menot every drama dares to show someone who wants to hang herself with her hijab. However the BBC’s Proper Ladies has caused a storm on social media due to its violence and focus on young people, drawing comparisons to shows such as Derry girls and Other Girls. “We saw our first update and it had 100,000 likes,” says author Sabrina Ali. “Sounds like we made it.”

Set in a religious school, Proper Ladies is a 10-minute short that follows four schoolgirls in prison, where friendships, conflicts and gangs develop. Clever, witty and quick, it leans towards the bigger picture of teenage life – where little things grow fast and everything is fast. In another photo, a student makes a very interesting statement about setting off the alarm to hide the fact that he used the staff toilets in the restroom.

It was created by Ali and imitated by him Dugsi Dayz award winning dramaand trying to make TV “disturbing, chaotic, and funny”. It follows Salma, a model student and prefect played for the first time by Samira Tahlil, who tries, and often fails, to restore order among her misbehaving peers – whose threats include substituting sweeteners for their teacher (Lisa McGrillis). Detention and visits to the headmaster (Mark Silcox) follow, which leads Salma to notice that she is wearing a dress, and unwittingly informs the whole school.

Ali plays the role of Munira, who runs an underground liquor business from inside the school. He was joined by Yasmin, singer and Ebada Hassan (Brides), “fashionable girl”, and Hani, played by Kosar Ali (First of all, Stones), a selfish, emo-loving student who secretly writes Harry Styles fan fiction.

“Most of the girls I know are fantasy,” says Kosar, reflecting on the play, which the cast says draws heavily on their experiences at school. You were really running away. And every girl faces some kind of emotional problem.

Together, the four form a tight-knit group that is built around the familiar archetypes of youth, filtered throughout the world of high school. The pilot is growing with the potential to become a full series, following the four-year journey from stage to screen.

Dugsi Dayz, which started in October 2022, established Ali as a writer working with British Somali stories on stage. He began editing the film that year, with the help of executive producers including Michaela Coel. Ali met Coel at a press night where they shared the idea for the play, and later produced her first drafts at Coel’s River Library, a writing center for women of color in her home. “The support is circular,” he says. “It gave me the confidence to expand my writing.”

Ali says the transition from theater to television hasn’t changed the nature of the show. He said: “What I didn’t want to lose was seeing the world through the eyes of the girls. Just looking into their lives.”

The open call, which went viral on Instagram and TikTok, invited applicants who did not have the skills to play sports, attracting young people who might not have considered the industry. For many, this was their first attempt. “A lot of times, people don’t feel like there’s an opportunity, so they don’t pursue it,” says Ali. To combat this, he felt it was important to make the process “open and less restrictive”.

Ali hopes his comic style will change the way black and Muslim people are often portrayed on British television. He said: “Sometimes when people look like us, people just expect them to take away weapons. Especially with Islamic characters. I didn’t want that.”

Instead, he says, humor allows for recognition without instruction. “When you laugh at someone, you realize there is someone in them.”

Along with the growing interest, the show’s performers have also faced racist and Islamophobic abuse online since it aired. Some have pushed back on social media because of this.

“If we are the ones who cause such violence, it shows that people like us are not seen on British television,” says Ali. “But it also shows why shows like this need to exist.”

In addition, he added: “For every message of hate, there has been an outpouring of love.