Five Guys Named Mohammed

Episodes

EpisodeFirst
Broadcast
Comments
0120110103As Mohammed - in all its spellings - becomes the most popular name for boys born in Britain, five men reflect on their lives and about what it's like to be a Mohammed this country today.

In the first in a new series, hard working medical student Mohammad Razai tells of his journey to Cambridge. Brought up in Kabul, his family were persecuted and disappeared in prisons. He was sheltered anxiously behind closed doors, but life was so dangerous his family told him to escape. Mohammad tells of his trek across the world and how it was a further struggle arriving to Britain without documents and barely any English.

Across the series we talk to a car mechanic in Huddersfield, a Scottish care worker and a rapper who converted to Islam, taking on the name Mohammed.

Producer: Sarah Bowen.

0220110104As Mohammed - in all its spellings - becomes the most popular name for boys born in Britain, five men from across the country reflect on their lives and what it's like to be a Mohammed here today.

Driven to succeed from a young age but never fully at home in the classroom, Mohammed Asif Ali only ever felt truly comfortable when working with his hands. After securing an apprenticeship scheme to learn the secrets of motor vehicles he has not looked back. With a busy Huddersfield auto-repair business that was set up less than a year ago he is already able to give an apprentice the same chance that he had. A tale of hard graft, deeply held principles and tenpin bowling.

Producer: Rich Ward.

0320110105As Mohammed - in all its spellings - becomes the most popular name for boys born in Britain, five men from across the country talk about what it's like to be a Mohammed here today.

Rapper and spoken word poet Mohammed Yahya has set up a unique Muslim Jewish band promoting understanding and tolerance. He tells how he fled civil war in Mozambique, poverty and racism in Portugal and fell in love with hip hop.

Producer: Sarah Bowen.

0420110106As Mohammed - in all its spellings - becomes the most popular name for boys born in Britain, five men from across the country talk about what it's like to be a Mohammed here today.

Drawn to Glasgow in the seventies, Mohammed Anwar now manages the Muslim Elderly Day Care Centre at the Central Mosque. A qualified chartered accountant who had to abandon his dreams due to family constraints, his role is to look after and entertain the men and women at the Centre - the 'Uncles' and 'Aunties'.

Producer: Rich Ward.

0520110107As Mohammed - in all its spellings - becomes the most popular name for boys born in Britain, five men reflect on their lives and about what it's like to be a Mohammed this country today.

Property developer Muhammad Hasan loves real estate. Whether he is looking at a high-rise glass and steel office block, or dodging stray dogs on a deserted industrial estate in Birmingham, Muhammad bubbles with enthusiasm and passion. After his father's early death, Muhammad became the family breadwinner, with little time beyond work. But now he is hunting for more than the perfect plot of land, he is looking for the ideal wife.

Producers - Gillian Darlington and Sarah Bowen.