My Week as a Muslim might be 2017's most divisive show

From Digital Spy

It probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Channel 4's documentary My Week as a Muslim become one of the most controversial shows to air on UK telly this year.

Even just the trailer was met with a wave of criticism on the grounds of cultural insensitivity and accusations of brownface for its editorial choice to use prosthetics on a Caucasian woman named Katie in order for her to fit in Manchester's Pakistani Muslim community (specifically, the Alvi family).

Not only is My Week as a Muslim's premise controversial, Channel 4 filmed the special directly in the aftermath of the horrific suicide bombing at Ariana Grande's Manchester Arena in May. That terrorist attack killed 22 and injured 250 others.

The show followed Katie as she spent a week living with the Alvi family, whose matriarch Saima expressed a goal of showing her: "We're not aliens. We don't have horns sticking out of our heads. We're just normal, kind people who care about our communities and society at large."

It was sure to be a tall task, since Katie admitted to never even eating Asian food before, spending time with a Muslim person. She also openly described wearing the hijab as being not "typically British" at the start of her journey.

On the first night of her week-long stay with the Alvis, the Manchester terror attack played out and left Katie worrying if she was putting herself "in harm's way" by embedding within the city's Muslim community at such a sensitive time.

Saima's reaction to the Manchester bombing was perhaps more universal, as she stressed: "[The attack] is senseless. It's appalling. It's disgusting. It makes me sick to my stomach."

Although she had her doubts, Katie chose to carry on in an effort to learn more about the experience of British Muslims during a time of such crisis. What she witnessed was the Muslim community in Manchester gathering together in solemn tribute to the attack victims and volunteering to feed first responders.

"Hate is not spread in mosques. Love is spread in mosques," Saima explained to Katie.

The Channel 4 show later documented Katie experiencing the coupling process among Muslims, and getting an explainer on why some women choose to wear the hijab or the burka.

"I did feel anger towards the Muslim community," Katie admitted at the end of the week. "After this week, I realise [those reasons] were kind of unfounded. I've seen it first-hand now. I can't believe I felt that way in the first place."

A post-script noted that Katie and Saima remained friends following their week together. With all of this baggage beforehand, Channel 4 was probably bracing for a hostile response to My Week as a Muslim - and that's exactly what the hour-long special got from some.

Viewers immediately took issue with the decision to use brownface.