King of the Ghetto explained

Genre:Drama
Director:Roy Battersby
Country:United Kingdom
Language:English
Bengali
Urdu
Num Series:1
Num Episodes:4
List Episodes:King of the Ghetto#Episodes
Producer:W. Stephen Gilbert
Location:London, England
Runtime:55 minutes
Company:BBC
Channel:BBC Two

King of the Ghetto is a 1986 British four-part television drama miniseries which was aired on BBC Two, it was directed and written by Farrukh Dhondy, and stars Tim Roth. The drama is about racial tensions in the East End of London in the 1980s.

Overview

Set in and around Brick Lane, white Matthew Long (Tim Roth) mobilises his Bengali neighbours around a squatting campaign in defiance of the Labour-run council. Also, young Bengali vigilantes patrol the streets against National Front skinheads and white liberal Sadie Deedes (Gwyneth Strong) argues for an Islamic school. Meanwhile, Bangladeshi businessman Timur Hussein (Zia Mohyeddin) accumulates wealth and power by trading profitably with local politicians, criminals and police officers simultaneously.

Cast

Reception

In 2014, Dave Hill of The Guardian said, "In King of the Ghetto we see the unfolding of a grassroots struggle... Thirty years on, some things have changed, some have not, but the big themes explored in Dhondy's drama survive."[1]

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Hill. Dave. Tower Hamlets: distortions of the snakepit. The Guardian. 21 May 2014. 1 February 2014.