Murdered by My Father

TV series or program

Adeel Akhtar
Kiran Sonia Sawar
Mawaan Rizwan
Salman Akhtar
Reiss Jeram

Composer

Samuel Sim

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Original languageEnglishProductionExecutive producers

Damian Kavanagh
Aysha Rafaele

ProducerToby WelchCinematographyFelix WiedemannEditorJosh CunliffeRunning time75 minutesProduction companyBBCOriginal releaseNetworkBBC ThreeRelease29 March 2016 (2016-03-29)

Murdered by My Father is a British drama television film written by Vinay Patel, directed by Bruce Goodison and produced by Toby Welch, and starring Adeel Akhtar and Kiran Sonia Sawar, that first aired on BBC One in March 2016. The drama tells the story of an honour killing of a British Asian Muslim teenage girl by her father.^[1]^[2]^[3]

For his performance in the film, Akhtar won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor.^[4] The film itself won Best Single Drama at the Royal Television Society Awards in 2017.^[5]

Summary

Widowed father Shahzad is bringing up two children, daughter Salma and son Hassan, alone. Teenager Salma has been promised to Haroon in an arranged marriage but she falls in love with Imi. Following a confrontation with Haroon and with men from their community, Shahzad murders his daughter and kills himself.^[6]

Cast

Adeel Akhtar as Shahzad
Kiran Sonia Sawar as Salma
Mawaan Rizwan as Imi
Salman Akhtar as Haroon
Reiss Jeram as Hassan

Critical reception

Ceri Redford, writing in The Daily Telegraph, described the drama as "nuanced and unbearably heart-breaking" and "a brave piece of television".^[7] Kasia Delgado, in the Radio Times, wrote that the drama "deserves a Bafta [award] for depicting this very real issue so brilliantly".^[8]

References

^ Ahmed, Tufayel (29 March 2016). "'Murdered by my Father': inside the BBC's honor killing drama". Newsweek. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
^ Rutter, Claire (5 April 2016). "Murdered By My Father tells harrowing tale of honour killing as sexy selfies and forbidden love lead to tragic end". Mirror. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
^ Harrison, Bernice (8 April 2016). "Television: The spoiler is in the title in dramas that borrow from real life". The Irish Times. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
^ "Bafta Television Awards 2017: the 5 best moments". Telegraph. 14 May 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
^ "RTS Programme Awards 2017". Royal Television Society. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
^ "Murdered by My Father". BBC. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
^ Radford, Ceri (30 March 2016). "Murdered By my Father was a brave piece of television". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
^ Delgado, Kasia (29 March 2016). "Murdered by My Father is a horrifying but award-worthy drama about "honour" killing". Radio Times. Retrieved 8 April 2016.