After portraying Nasir Khan, the Pakistani American in the hugely successful HBO miniseries, The Night Of, news is that Riz Ahmad has now signed up for a nine-part television series for BBC titled Englistan, which will explore the story of three generations of a British-Pakistani family over four decades. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ahmed has written the series and will possibly be directing parts of it too.
“It’s set around three generations of British-Pakistani family in the UK, starting in the 1980s and ending up about now,†Ahmed said in 2016. “It’s like a revisionist’s retelling of recent British history, but also the story of a family and their relationships. To me, it’s a very British story.†Ahmed cited Howard Zinn’s book A People’s History of the United States as an inspiration for the project.
Proud to be announcing this 9 part drama with the BBC.
History = Our Story.
RT if you're repping #ENGLISTANhttps://t.co/EIJ9XL7WNR— Riz Ahmed (@rizwanahmed) April 30, 2018
The actor had previously written and directed a short film, Daytimer, which was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015. Ahmed will be seen in Jacques Audiard’s western dark comedy The Sisters Brothers and the Marvel Studios-Columbia Pictures production Venom.
He last visited Pakistan for the Lahore Literary Festival in February.
