iPlayer review by Steve Bennett

Man Like Mobeen starts imposingly, with Guz Khan’s alter-ego delivering a direct-to-camera missive about the ‘neo-conservatives' illegal war’ on brown people as a voiceover reiterates the views of Fox News terrorism ‘expert’ Steven Emerson that Birmingham was a ‘no-go’ city for non-Muslims, patrolled by religious police.

But it quickly becomes clear this is a silly mockery not only of the rhetoric of cultures at loggerheads, but also of the Muslim rude-boy culture.

Mobeen Deen is a 27-year-old trying to leave behind his criminal ties to look after his two younger sisters in Birmingham, replacing thug life with a job woking in a care home. Nonetheless his unsavoury uncle is trying to entice him back to the crew, via his useless emissary Wax, played by comic Tez Ilyas.

Pretty much everybody involved is a huge idiot – except perhaps Mobeen’s ever-mocking sisters – which does jar a bit with the suggestion the gang he fled might be truly terrifying. But this 11-minute taster episode is full of daft jokes, from Wax swiping though a Muslim Tinder to find someone he’s not related to, to the ridiculously out-of-character activities of the care-home pensioners.

It all engenders a spirit of fun while Mobeen grappling with the central dilemma of his life drives the story; though how this would play out over a full series of longer episodes might be a moot point, given its resolution so quickly here.

But it’s another string to Khan’s comedy bow, following his previous short for Ramadan last year, cementing his image as a goggle-eyed clown reluctant to take anything seriously. And in a breakout scene unrelated to the rest of the narrative, he demonstrates a mastery of the posh English accent, far from his normal street vernacular.

• Man Like Mobeen is one of the BBC Three Comedy Feeds released on iPlayer as part of the BBC’s Landmark Sitcom season. Click here to view.

Review date: 7 Sep 2016
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett