TV's 'Spooks' slammed as racist

Complaints have flooded into the BBC following the broadcast of a controversial episode in spy drama Spooks that critics claim portrayed Islam as an extremist religion that poses a security risk to the UK's way of life.

A pilot for the show which showed a televised presentation at the United Nations over weapons of mass destruction based on secret intelligence was also criticised at the time as typecasting a minority in a derogatory light.

On that occassion, the negative depiction of a small group of terrorists from the Middle East who were almost exclusively Muslim, was believed to have sparked off violence against Muslims in Iraq.

TV critic and war reporter Andy Toss laid into both shows: "Almost no time after the disasterously poor actors appeared in the New York show, it spilled over into real violence in Baghdad: bombs, missiles and Allah only knows what else. I would understand it more if the show were any good, but with such a series of weak performances, there is just no justification in sticking it on the air. For the BBC to have gone and make the same mistake is simply incredible."

Nevertheless, the BBC went ahead with the episode's airing, hoping the combination of a semi-realistic plot combined with a cast of five hopelessly young randy actors and lots of rushing around would help it beat ITV into the coveted Top Nonsense TV Channel position.

In a further twist, the two main actors in the original production, Jack Shi*t and Coh-Lyn Powell, are understood to have been "deeply unhappy" with the script they were given. A close source to the duped duo said: "This whole thing was supposed to have been a realistic drama but the words they had to speak just made no sense at all. They were told that it was a serious production and not a second-rate black comedy."