Gritty show on Huddersfield’s drugs gangs nominated for top TV award
JOURNALIST MOBEEN AZHAR ALSO NOMINATED FOR BEST PRESENTER
A HIT documentary series which uncovered Huddersfield and West Yorkshire’s deadliest drug gangs has been shortlisted for one of the most prestigious TV awards.
Hometown, made by the Huddersfield-born journalist Mobeen Azhar, is one of three series nominated for the Royal Television Society Best Documentary Series award.
The eye-opening eight-part series goes head-to-head against the Channel 4 justice system documentary Crime and Punishment and The Choir: Our School by the Tower, a BBC series in which choirmaster Gareth Malone leads a choir in a school next to the tragedy-hit Grenfell Tower.
Mobeen himself, is on the shortlist for Best Presenter for his work on Hometown. He’ll be up against actress Vicky McClure for presenting Our Dementia Choir and Fred Brathwaite, aka hip hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy, for A Fresh Guide to Florence with Fab 5 Freddy.
Mobeen says the awards should be for the people trying to improve society and the people of Huddersfield.
He said: “I’m grateful for the acknowledgement. I think the series and nominations will help to draw attention to problems that need urgent action.
“There are great people, like Imam Alyas, the Star Youth Project and ‘Mums United Against Violence’ that are on the front line. These award nominations are a victory for them.
“I’m happy that the series is being commended but the most important thing is that we have an honest conversation about the problems and we get informed.
“We have to back the people that are fighting for change. These nominations are for them, and for Huddersfield.”
Also representing Yorkshire on the shortlist is Gentleman Jack, Sally Wainwright’s biopic of the Halifax businesswoman, diarist and ‘first modern lesbian’ Ann Lister which is up for Best Drama Series. School drama Ackley Bridge, which is also filmed in Halifax, is up for the same award.
The winner will be announced on March 17 at The Grosvenor House Hotel, London. The ceremony will be held behind closed doors and livestreamed due to coronavirus fears.
Hometown, which resumed this week with two new episodes, investigates the police shooting of Huddersfield drugs kingpin Yassar Yaqub on the M62 between Huddersfield and Halifax.
Mobeen, an award-winning documentary maker, returns to his childhood neighbourhood of Birkby and goes inside Huddersfield and Bradford’s Asian drug gang underworld to find power struggles, grooming of teenage dealers, extreme violence and an otherwise law-abiding community prepared to look the other way.
In his follow-up episodes, Mobeen confronts Hometown’s critics and asks what the police and policymakers are doing to combat gang violence and drug dealing in West Yorkshire.
He also investigates the torture and murder of drugs courier Mohammed Feazan Ayaz, whose naked body was dumped by his killers in a Bradford Street.