Citizen Khan creator Adil Ray plans to take BBC sitcom to the big screen

Exclusive: A film on the theme 'Citizen Khan Goes to America' would allow Ray to explore terrorism and airport security

Ray said a film would allow the writers to tackle sensitive issues around Muslim communities (BBC/Jack Barnes)

A Pakistan-born grandfather from Birmingham would once have been an unlikely British global icon but Citizen Khan is set to become a movie star, theatre performer and all-around international ambassador.

Adil Ray, creator of the bumbling BBC1 sitcom character, is planning a feature film version on the theme “Citizen Khan Goes to America”. Transatlantic travel would allow him to address the sensitive issue of terrorism and airport security, a subject the television show has avoided.

Ray is also talking to promoters about a touring stage show featuring the self-appointed “community leader”. The television series, which returns to BBC1 on Friday, is filmed before a live audience at Media City in Salford.

Ray said a film would allow the writers to tackle sensitive issues around Muslim communities (BBC) (BBC/Jack Barnes)

In an interview with The Independent, Ray said his co-writers – Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto – had discussed with him the idea of making a feature film. “If we did a film I’d like to concentrate on Mr Khan being this quite big physical character [so] that even if you didn’t know Mr Khan but you saw a big poster… and it was ‘Mr Khan Goes to America’, the Muslim that went to America to meet the President - I could see what that could be about.”

He said a film would allow the writers to tackle sensitive issues around security and Muslim communities. “In this sitcom we have avoided jokes around the issue of terrorism around airports but if you were doing a movie and going over to America you probably could play on that a little bit,” he said.

Asked why the topic doesn’t feature in the TV comedy, he answered: “When I sit at the dinner table with my mum we talk about going on holiday. We don’t talk about those things. [The show makes] a bigger point by almost not dealing with it – the idea that we are a universal family just like everybody else is, I think, more precious.”

Ray has been talking to the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, about extending Citizen Khan as a global TV format. The show is already sold to Russia and Bulgaria as well as more obvious territories such as New Zealand and South Africa. He said there were great opportunities for the show in the Muslim world, especially in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Middle East. “There is a history of comedy in the Middle East. They have even got satirists who satirise Isis on channels in Iraq.”

Discussions are taking place to reformat the sitcom for local markets. “If you took out the British element, Mr Khan could be a Turkish guy living in Germany,” he said.

But Ray, 41, said he had a “genuine worry” about being typecast. “I have suddenly become Mr Khan and [employers have] lost any idea of who Adil Ray is.” A former BBC2 and BBC Asian Network presenter, he will restart his presenting career as a co-host of The One Show for one day next week.

He is working on a new comedy character based on the young British Asian experience of leading a “double life”, when the concept of “boyfriend and girlfriend” is not always recognised by elders. “A lot of British Asian kids will have a certain identity and reputation within their home but once they leave the house they are almost living a completely different life,” he said.

Ray, who lives in his home city of Birmingham, is unconvinced by proposals from fellow comedian and actor Lenny Henry for a portion of the BBC’s production budget to be set aside for ethnic minority shows. “I worry about this idea of quotas,” he said. “I want to compete for the same amount of money that Dawn French and Miranda Hart compete for.” He fears that such a scheme would marginalise ethnic minority writers and deny them opportunities to work with the best production staff.

Recurring claims of racial discrimination at the BBC could make things worse, he said. “Saying diversity is terrible reinforces the idea that the door is closed at the BBC but it’s not, it’s an open door,” he said. “At some point that message has got to change to Nadiya Hussain (Great British Bake Off), Anita Rani (Strictly Come Dancing), Mr Khan - that could be you next!”

Citizen Khan’s success is partly based on its appeal to children, and Ray tries to emphasise the “childlike qualities” of the lead character. Parents write to tell him they watch the show as a family and that their children approach bearded Asian men in supermarkets to shout Mr Khan’s “Oh twadi!” catchphrase. “The men laugh back at them. Before that, my worry was that children would think he’s Osama bin Laden or involved in the horrible grooming stories on the news,” said the actor. “I like to think Citizen Khan has a positive effect.”