Category Archives: Media

We gotta get out of this place: Small town boys & the curse of pop stardom

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Samira Ahmed

“I used to scrump apples in the grounds here here,” says Jim Dale, smiling that boyish smile as we sit for our interview in a grand medieval manor house. Now a country house hotel it used to be a school … Continue reading →

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Young, British and Imam-in-Training: Who we met and why

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Samira Ahmed

There were two things producer Georgia Catt and I tried to do with this half hour documentary for Radio 4. One: avoid random isolated Muslim voices claiming to speak for a majority saying  “That’s not Islam” about anything problematic, like … Continue reading →

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Shylock: A Traveller in Time

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Samira Ahmed

The film producer Davina Belling once said of Jonathan Pryce that she always uses him as a lesson for actors “not to count their lines when they’re offered a role. He had 20 lines in the whole film [Breaking Glass] … Continue reading →

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Serial killer stories: From Burke and Hare to Tales Of The Grim Sleeper

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Samira Ahmed

It was late, I was tired and I needed cheering up and I found this great comedy on TV that I’d never seen before which did just the job. Burke and Hare, directed by John Landis in 2010 and starring … Continue reading →

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Where the line is: Some case studies in journalism ethics

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Samira Ahmed

These are links to some of the stories and further reading featured in today’s 1pm Kingston University class. Callous treatment of victims of crime The Sun and Rochelle Holness – Distressing speculation about her suffering, supposedly based on police sources … Continue reading →

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Page 3 and pushy feminists

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Samira Ahmed

The weird argument being wheeled out over how feminist campaigners somehow made The Sun keep Page 3 just to spite them reminded me of this Radio 4 programme I made about Procrastination and what Martin Luther King had to say … Continue reading →

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The truth about true crime: A crime reporter’s qualms about Serial

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Samira Ahmed

I’ve reported on violent crime for 25 years including the OJ Simpson case. I consider it a privilege to cover trials. Strip away the glamour of celebrity and a very large proportion, such as the OJ Simpson case, are about … Continue reading →

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Body swap Muslims & playing “The Jew”

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Samira Ahmed

Had a great discussion with David Baddiel and David Schneider on Front Row this week about why Britain was hosting its first Jewish comedy festival. It  made me revisit  this 2009 news film I made on location at the shoot … Continue reading →

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Interstellar’s Heart of Darkness & the Dust Bowl

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Samira Ahmed

I like to go to the cinema to escape the gloom of a Sunday evening and what better escape than Interstellar? An epic journey to other worlds. It begins in a rural America devastated by environmental disaster. Real survivors of … Continue reading →

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I can’t believe he did that: David Guetta on Serge Gainsbourg

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Samira Ahmed

Super producer and DJ David Guetta came onto Front Row for last night’s show. Having grown up in the 70 and 80s in France he listened to American soul, funk and British synth and electronica, quoting Ultravox lyrics through our … Continue reading →

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