Yahoo News Viewers call Channel 4's The State 'brutal'
Over the past two nights, Channel 4 has aired one of the most controversial programmes of the year with The State. The drama follows four Britons who are indoctrinated into the world of ISIS and how they react as the reality of the situation unfolds around them.
As you can expect, the subject matter itself is incredibly divisive, but the viewers who didn't condemn the show and switch over found it to be a harrowing drama that wasn't an easy watch, but an important one.
In particular, a lot of people compared it to the recent series The Handmaid's Tale which, although set in a fictional dystopia, shared similar themes of religious subjugation and totalitarianism.
What an opening 10 minutes of #TheState on @Channel4, chilling and a tough watch but my gosh.
- Sarah Robertson (@sarah_robbo) August 21, 2017
The people who think #TheState is glamorising ISIS must also think that Schindler's List glorifies Nazism.
- Joey (@ThusTweetsJoey) August 21, 2017
#thestate has got to be one of the most terrifying things I've ever seen.
- Abigail Smith (@Babz59) August 21, 2017
#thestate Controversial, raw, and eye-opening.
- Becky Louise Davis (@BeckyDavisX) August 21, 2017
It's the Islamic version of "Handmaid's Tale" #TheState
- Serenity Sam (@SerenitySid) August 21, 2017
I'm confused - I don't know whether I'm watching #thestate or the #handmaidstale tale #dystopian
- AngiM (@WorkPsychol) August 21, 2017
#thestate part 2 tonight. Important drama told in a difficult unsettling way. Just as it should be....just as it is!!
- Emma Noakes (@emmanoakes1) August 21, 2017
The similarities between #thestate and #handmaidstale are scary. What's scarier is one is fiction, the other isn't!
- Maaiysa (@Maaiysa) August 21, 2017
If you still think #thestate is glamourising isis after that idk what to tell you ....
- Miranda 🥀 (@virtualmirandaa) August 21, 2017
I feel no sympathy for ISIS, don't get me wrong. But that shot of those babies lying dead in the hospital is heartbreaking #TheState
- Bekah (@LeaBekah) August 21, 2017
God they weren't lying when they Said may contain disturbing images #thestate. That was brutal
- Ashleigh Stone (@ashleestone18) August 21, 2017
The scene on #thestate on @Channel4 with the children after the attack is one of the most powerful scenes I have seen on tv.
- James Skinner (@JamesSkinner1) August 21, 2017
#thestate highlighting the innocent people caught up in between ISIS and opposing forces. Poor babies :(
- Lisa Boyle (@HybridTheoryLMB) August 21, 2017
A few viewers had issues with the storytelling of The State, however. Tonight's episode contained plenty of harrowing scenes, but some said they would be a lot more invested if they knew more about the characters and why they had joined ISIS.
Maybe this is on purpose for thematic reasons, or we will find out during flashbacks or something, but as it stands, a few people think that something is missing.
Wish we knew more of the characters back stories #thestate
- Makrina 🌞 (@Makrina91) August 21, 2017
The scene with the pharmacist provides the first hint of proper characterisation #thestate
- Patricia Murphy (@Mspmurphy) August 21, 2017
Think this would have worked best if this was the third episode, the first being showing the reasons why they defected #TheState
- Robert Judd (@kedvesemraj) August 21, 2017
At the time of announcing The State, Channel 4 said: "After a year of extensive research, (writer/director Peter Kosminsky) has written a fascinating fictional story that sheds light on an unknown and unimaginable world."
The State continues tomorrow night (August 22) at 9pm on Channel 4.
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