We Are Lady Parts star Faith Omole has said she is proud the show has given “visibility” to Muslim women.
The Channel 4 comedy, which aired earlier this year, follows a Muslim female punk band, named Lady Parts, as they try to find success.
The actress was appearing at the Edinburgh TV Festival in an event hosted by presenter Tan France. Her fellow cast members and the show’s creator, Nida Manzoor, also took part.
In conversation with our International Editor, @TanFrance, we are excited to bring some punk rock to #EdTVFest as the team behind the critically acclaimed anarchic and irreverent music comedy, We Are Lady Parts, take to the stage. Sponsored by @Channel4 #DesignedWithCanva pic.twitter.com/sUFKapoh8b
— Edinburgh TV Festival (@EdinburghTVFest) August 23, 2021
Omole, who plays bassist and backing vocalist Bisma in the series, said: “We were proud to bring visibility to people. We were so proud to do that.
“Looking at the world, I just think that stories are really just what’s going to change mindsets and hearts for people and I just think that more stories need to be told and we are privileged that we got to tell Nida’s and we got to bring that one to light.
“I’m just immensely proud of it, I watch it and I think, ‘This is joy, this is what should be going out into the world’.”
France added: “I know I sound like a completely crazy fan girl, but it was so beautifully done, it really was.
“I was wildly impressed that it wasn’t just one specific version of what the audience would assume is the Muslim community.
“There was so much diversity within this group.”
Manzoor said she felt it was “important” to show “all the different ways of being a Muslim woman”.
“The detail of who you are and your culture and the specificities of the family dynamics are so unique, so I was just wanting to show some variation,” she added.
The discussion, which was streamed online, took place on the first day of the Edinburgh TV Festival.
Comedian Sir Billy Connolly is being honoured with a lifetime achievement award as part of this year’s festival.
He is being given the award for his contribution to the television industry and will be interviewed by his wife, the writer and performer Dr Pamela Stephenson Connolly, as he reflects on his work.
Screenwriter Jack Thorne will deliver the MacTaggart lecture.
Thorne will draw attention to the “glaring problem” of the treatment of disabled people in the flagship session of the festival.
The MacTaggart lecture has formed the centrepiece of the Edinburgh International Television Festival since 1976.
The virtual festival will also feature appearances from Hollywood star and Hamilton writer Lin-Manuel Miranda, Greta Thunberg and Whoopi Goldberg, while comedian London Hughes will be this year’s Alternative MacTaggart speaker.
There will also be a Spitting Image session with Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings coming face to face in puppet form, as well as the traditional appearances by the commissioners of the TV channels.
The Edinburgh TV Festival runs until August 26.