TV drama portrays Muslim being beheaded by Christian

A new television drama, debuting earlier this week, is drawing complaints from viewers and critics over its portrayal of Christians as extremists who take their inspiration from the Crusades and behead a moderate Muslim in an unprovoked attack.

In the six-part series, Bonekickers, a multi-ethnic team of archaeologists "uncovers a compelling mystery from the past that tells viewers something profound and revelatory about the present," the BBC press packet promised. "Archaeology has never been so dramatic."

The first episode of the program, titled "Army of God," has the team, headquartered in Bath, UK, called in to investigate the discovery of a group of 14th century medieval soldiers whose bodies were found with a Saracen coin at a construction site in Somerset. Application of their archaeological and forensic skills lead them to identify the remains as those of the Knights Templar – and a 2,000-year-old piece of cypress wood, identified as coming from the Holy Land, as possibly part of the True Cross.

Before the team can survey the site, the property is purchased by a right-wing religious extremist who believes the UK's Christian heritage is presently under siege. He declares the property holy ground, employing several violent "crusaders' – members of the fictional "White Wings Alliance" – to help him in his quest. In one scene, one of the extremist Christians beheads a moderate Muslim man in an unprovoked attack.

While the program, viewed by 6.8 million viewers, is receiving criticism online for its storyline and its depiction of archaeologists, the beheading has drawn particular ire and has been cited as further evidence of anti-Christian bias by the BBC.

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London Observer television critic Andrew Anthony panned the new drama:

"It wasn't the absurdity of the storyline that buried 'Bonekickers' so much as the BBC's paint-by-numbers version of political correctness. ... Thus Michael Maloney, as a vain academic, and Paul Rhys as a far-right Christian evangelist, were pantomime posh.

"A Martian watching TV drama of late would probably conclude that the country is crawling with homicidal Islamophobes, desperate to kill those few Muslims who have not already been interned by the government or shot by the police."

Andrew Billen, writing for the London Times, wrote:

"'Bonekickers' pretends to find history intriguing but has no real faith that we viewers will. So it manhandles the contemporary into its orbit. Last night it was the turn of the evangelical Christians to be dragged in. The script, I thought, slipped into serious bad taste when one of their loony-tune number lopped off the head of a law-abiding Muslim. I am not a Christian, but if I were, the demonization of evangelicals ... would make me cross. For the rest of us, 'Bonekickers' is, regrettably watchable, bunk."

One viewer, posting on the BBC website, wrote: "If it had been another religion portrayed in that manner, the PC police would have been up in arms about the nastiness and their rights not to have their religion ridiculed – as it was Christians, it was apparently OK."

The BBC, in a response to critics of the program, defended the portrayal of Christian extremists in the UK who would behead a law-abiding Muslim:

"We regret that some viewers felt the beheading scene was inappropriate. It appeared half way through episode one of Bonekickers, by which time the character's 'extreme fundamental belief' had been revealed, providing the audience with a good build up to the scene in question.

"This storyline looked at religious fundamentalism within a fictional Christian group, and one character in particular who took his beliefs to an extreme. His ignorance and misguided behavior led to the beheading of a peaceful Asian Muslim character in the drama. His actions are clearly condemned by leading Muslim and Christian clerics. The drama also has the balance of a Christian character that has a deep faith which she uses humbly and only for good.

"The killing and the method used reflected the flawed beliefs that the character had. It does not attempt to condone or glamorize such a violent act in any way. The drama seeks to highlight the consequences of a misguided fundamentalist taking his beliefs to violent extremes.

"The inclusion of the scene had been carefully considered and was very much central to the story line and reflected the character's extreme fundamental beliefs and state of mind.

"The Army of God" episode debuted on Tuesday, one day after the third anniversary of the July 7, 2005, bombings on the London subway that claimed 25 lives and injured dozens more.

Viewer Jordan, writing on the "Bonekickers" forum agreed: "I think the beheading scene was crucial to the episode. I've noticed some have said it was 'controversial', any reason for this? Before then I didn't take them too seriously. The actors were fantastic in taking to the role and that beheading scene shocked me so much. My eyes widened and from then on they really were the big antagonists of the episode."

Forum contributor EarbyLou, who identified himself as an archaeologist, took issue with his television tax being used to make the program:

"The whole thing was poorly scripted, horribly inaccurate concerning the archaeological profession and gives a bad impression of modern archaeological methods and health and safety.

"... I also like how they pretend that archaeologists earn enough money to live in lovely apartments on the Crescent in Bath!

"This isn't really what I pay my license fee for.

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