C4 in line of fire over IS drama

JIHADRAMA Show follows pals who go to Syria to fight for ISIS It took 18 months’ research and speaking to sources close to the situation before writer and director Peter Kosminsky even began work on The State. But Channel 4’s drama is still likely to upset some by humanising people from the UK who join ISIS in Syria. We meet Jalal (Sam Otto) and best friend Ziyad (Ryan McKen), doctor Shakira (Ony Uhiara) and teenage extremist Ushna (Shavani Seth). Kosminsky, asked why he made them likeable, says it’s “easy and comfortable” to regard all those who go to join IS in Syria as “clinically insane”, but adds: “Unfortunately it’s not true.”