| Native Name: | Persian: زیر تیغ|italic=yes |
| Alt Name: | Under the Blade |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Num Episodes: | 19 |
Zir-e tigh (Persian: زیر تیغ|italic=yes,) is an Iranian drama television series that originally aired on the IRIB TV1 on October 31, 2006. The series contained 19 episodes, and was a popular success among the viewers. It aired on Wednesday nights after the nightly national news on IRIB TV1. The show was later re-run daily on IRIB 1, IRIB 2 and IRIB 3 for those living abroad. The show's finale aired on March 12, 2007.
The show focuses on the lives of two close, yet torn apart by a tragic event families.Mahmood and Jafar are two close working class friends who work with each other at a refrigerator manufacturing factory. Their families are also very close to each other, as Jafar's son is engaged to Mahmood's daughter.Jafar's older brother Ghodrat, opposes the engagement. Ghodrat wants his daughter to marry Jafar's son. Ghodrat and his friends attempt to split up the two families in order to sabotage the engagement.Mahmood, who is the head of the storage and inventory facility at the factory, is fired from his job after the allegations of the theft come up. Mahmood and Jafar get into a fight and Mahmood accidentally kills Jafar. This leads to a rift between the two families, including the engaged couple as well as other people close to Mahmoood and Jafar.
The cast of Zire Tigh was considered to be one of its strong points. Parviz Parastui, Fatemeh Motamed-Arya and Atila Pesyani portray as four of the main characters in the series. Parastui's performance in particular was widely acclaimed.[1]
The show gained huge success by viewers. According to a survey conducted by the IRIB, more than 80% of those surveyed watched the show, and a large percentage of them claimed they were depressed as an outcome of watching. Additionally, viewers considered the performance of the actors as a strong point of the show and its often depressing plot was considered a negative.[4]