This isn't a rumour but something I've thought could be a potential storyline. Obviously there has been a few instances in London of young, alienated Muslim teens being groomed by terrorist groups in the middle east, and it's something that hasn't been covered by any soap yet.

I think it would be a good opportunity to show the realities of it while showing the horrified reactions of his family that will be a good way to show people that all Muslims don't agree with what's happening.

Reckon they could do a good storyline from it.

I don't watch much EE but is Shakil a Muslim? No references to it from what I've seen

He's Kush's brother and his name is a Muslim name. I think the fact that it's not a big part of his identity would be better for the storyline actually.

This is getting extremely offensive. Shakil is mixed race and hasn't showed interest in any scenes of being Muslim. Also I am hating the idea people keep saying about any Muslim character in this show should do a terrorist plot what sort of message is this sending out? Terrorists (ISIS) have hijacked a religion as an excuse to do terrorist plots. THE RELIGION DOES NOT boast terrorism.

Too deep for EE.

There already doing the storyline of him & Bex taking indecent images and sharing them.

I think it would be a good plot but I don't think the current actor is strong enough to pull it off.

I feel like Shakil would just text al-Baghdadi for pics then quit when he doesn't get any.

Excellent post, Adam. Intelligent and spot on. If only more folks spoke like you .

Agreed with the BIB. Especially in the current climate and the rise of a certain American politician (He Who Must Not Be Named ) and his scaremongering about minority groups, I actually think it's dangerous to portray a Muslim that way at this particular time and would only serve to reinforce the stereotype; as you said it would send out the wrong message to people. Obviously soaps are partly about tackling real life issues, but I just don't think a soap can do it justice, it's a deep and complicated issue. That's probably why none of the soaps have attempted it. But yes, I often see these comments too.

I remember when Shabnam first came back to EE, a lot of people on here speculated that she became some sort of wackjob radical terrorist back in Pakistan, just because she lost her temper with Masood for keeping alcohol in the house. I kept telling people it was because alcohol is forbidden in her religion, but nobody listened.

Exactly. Thanks for acknowledging my point.

No probs .

Besides I think Shakil is inflicting enough terrorism on his girlfriend Bex .

Agree with you both.

So sick of the "Terrorist Muslim VS Token Good Muslim to prove we're not Islamophobes" troupe in films and tv dramas, it's boring and been done to death and plus never done that well anyway to begin IMHO.

Would be nice if films/tv shows started writing some characters who just happened to be Muslim acting like normal, interesting folks, whether they be a nice person or a douche, WITHOUT the terrorist troupe for once.

Though having said that, Eastenders & Corrie to their credit have already done this (with the Masoods & Nazirs being the obvious ones).

Bib: names mean nothing, I know many people who have Christian first names, (Mary, Peter, John etc) but have not been in a Church for years. Likewise my pal had an Iranian Father & several of her siblings have Muslim names, but I doubt they have ever been inside a mosque, they were likely named after relatives. They were brought up atheists.

On a lighter note I do think Shak would like a bunch of virgins waiting for him

It would be a bold move by Eastenders

BIB: Voldemort is an American politician now?!

As for the thread topic, I agree with you, it's too controversial. Plus, we have limited Muslim characters in soaps in general, so if they start linking them up a terrorist organisation (even if it's fictional) then it'll no doubt strengthen the Muslims = terrorists argument.

Plus, it's too risky with the way things are at the minute. Storylines can be disrupted if it mirrors something that's currently happening in real life. In Corrie, they had to delay the broadcast of Tony Gordon's factory siege because of the real life mass shooting that happened that week in Cumbria. I didn't watch at the time, but a child kidnapping plot had to be scrapped in Eastenders because of a child going missing at the time. So if they were to go ahead with this storyline, they'd have to alter it or scrap it in the event of a real terrorist attack. So on that basis, it's probably not worth all the effort that would go into for planning the storyline.

No, a really terrible idea.

Brilliant Idea!

They should do it right when Coronation Street do their 'Vicar Billy fondles little kids' and when Emmerdale do their "Finn gets caught in public toilets with Kasim" storyline and when Hollyoaks do their "Louis starts dealing drugs and gets a gold tooth storyline".

Some of y'all are worse than WWE. See an off-white skin tone and just throw all the stereotypes at them.

Thank you. Great post. I remember similar posts about Nancy being 'radicalised' just because she was dating Tamwar; never mind the fact that Tamwar was possibly the most peaceful and sweet-natured character EE have ever had, so I'm not entirely sure how people thought Nancy was heading towards a radicalisation plot simply by dating him.

Having a Muslim, non-white or white-but-dating-a-Muslim character at the centre of a terrorism plot would be a horrible, HORRIBLE idea for any soap to consider in the current climate of fear the UK press and politicians have whipped up for their own personal gain in recent years.

BBC would never do that - far too pc - looking back I'm surprised they had the guts to let Masood drink and gamble, Sayd be gay - Shabnam sex before marriage etc. - OK, all roles performed by Indian actors - but can't help wondering if they could have got Pakistani actors to do the same.

WRONG THREAD SORRY

Lola / Lexi - I mean, it's not as if they live on the other side of the world - and they are family (Billy - and to a certain extent the other Mitchells incl Ben of course) - never even mentioned ? or is that soap for you ?

He could hide the bomb in his man bun

It's not going to happen for the following reasons:

- Shakil is half Iranian in the soap.
- Iranians are Shia
- ISIS are Sunni
- Al Qaeda are Sunni
- This actor couldn't pull it off

Just as well it's in his manbun, because if brains were dynamite...

It would be predictable and lazy in the extreme. I remember Eastenders depiction of irish people and it was apalling. Clichéd and stereotyped. This would be the same

Wasn't there talk of a terrorist plot a while ago and EastEnders said it's something they'll never do.