'They'll be cutting people's hands off next'

Citizen Khan has been accused of being 'Islamophobic' during a Commons debate.

Labour MP Rupa Huq said she wouldn't be surprised if the 'backward' BBC One sitcom was to include a storyline in which people's hands were cut off.

She said: 'It's a beardy weirdy chap and they're not quite cutting off people's hands but I can imagine that being in a future episode.

'You would think it's an everyday tale of a Birmingham family of Muslims but they're really quite backward.'

Ms Huq, sister of former Blue Peter presenter Konnie and MP for for Ealing Central and Acton, was speaking during a debate about diversity at the BBC.

It is not the first time the show has been accused of stereotyping Muslims, but the BBC said it was a popular show that had been well-received.

A BBC spokesman added: 'We have had positive comments from members of the Muslim community for the show and for creator Adil Ray who, like the family portrayed, is a British Pakistani Muslim. As with all sitcoms the characters are comic creations and not meant to be representative of the community as a whole.'

When the series launched in 2012, the BBC received more than 700 complaints over the series. Especially contentious was a scene in the first episode in which Mr Khan’s daughter rushed to put on a hijab and pretended to be reading the Koran when her father enters the room.

At the time, Ray defended the show against criticism of being offensive, saying: 'Citizen Khan is not a Muslim comedy, it is a British family sitcom. It is family comedy with universal themes of hypocrisy, deceit, and relationships that we can all connect to.

'We are not all the same. This is something I want to get away from. It is a great opportunity for Muslims to be seen as like everybody else. To say, “Look we have the same human flaws as everyone else but we just have a different religion”.’

And in a separate interview he denied claims the comedy leans on negative stereotypes. 'We didn’t want to play to the negative portrayal of Muslim parents as domineering or pretend that Muslim teenagers don’t have boyfriends,' he said. 'Mr Khan’s wife and two daughters are fiercely independent women who get their own way.'

Published: 14 Apr 2016