King of the Ghetto
| King of the Ghetto | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Farrukh Dhondy |
| Directed by | Roy Battersby |
| Starring |
Tim Roth Zia Mohyeddin Gwyneth Strong Ian Dury Ajay Kumar Dinesh Shukia Aftab Sachak |
| Theme music composer |
Dave Kelly Peter Filleul |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English, Bengali, Urdu |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 4 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | W. Stephen Gilbert |
| Location(s) | London, England |
| Running time | 55 minutes |
| Production company(s) | BBC |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Two |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original release | 1 May – 22 May 1986 |
King of the Ghetto is a 1986 British four-part television drama miniseries which was aired on BBC Two, it was directed and written by Farrukh Dhondy, and stars Tim Roth. The drama is about racial tensions in London's east end in the 1980s.
Set in and around Brick Lane, white Matthew Long (Tim Roth) mobilises his Bengali neighbours around a squatting campaign in defiance of the Labour-run council. Also, young Bengali vigilantes patrol the streets against National Front skinheads and white liberal Sadie Deedes (Gwyneth Strong) argues for an Islamic school. Meanwhile, Bangladeshi businessman Timur Hussein (Zia Mohyeddin) accumulates wealth and power by trading profitably with local politicians, criminals and police officers simultaneously.
Matthew Long (Tim Roth) arrives in the east end London, is attacked by Asian youths and is helped by Saliq Miah (Dinesh Shukia). Sadie Deedes (Gwyneth Strong) arrives to find Matthew in her home. After talking about his time in prison with Sadie and about Timur's business ventures with Saliq Miah (Dinesh Shukia), Matthew leaves and breaks into a flat where he reminisces about how he ended up in prison.
18 months earlier, Riaz (Aftab Sachak) and Saliq canvass for a campaign event featuring music, poetry and dancing to save their school to Timur and Matthew. A policeman approaches Timur about a forged passport Jamal Ullah (Paul Anil) bought in an attempt to import his fiancée, not knowing that he can do this legally instead. Police asks Timur to find out who is making the passports; Timur approaches Sammy (Ian Dury), accuses him of being behind the illegal passports and then makes a business proposition. Sadie then visits Timur about her intention to create an independent Islamic school where she will teach and Timur suggests that they form a committee.
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