This sitcom about a directionless millennial Muslim has long gone where other shows wouldn’t dare. But the inspired casting of season two makes for real brilliance
“I had sex with a married woman during Ramadan! It was after Maghrib though, just so you know. It was during eating hours. Not that that makes it OK … I don’t know. Does it?” If one mark of an outstanding show is that its dialogue is immediately recognisable out of context, we have a winner. The above lines can only be from Ramy (Channel 4).
This half-hour US dramedy sits alongside Girls, Atlanta, Insecure and Better Things in documenting a specific aspect of the modern American experience, in episodes that are profane but heartbroken, wistful but savvy. These shows tend to have a hero who doesn’t quite know what they’re doing with their life, and this is explicitly the case with Ramy (Ramy Youssef, who co-created the programme and is its main writer), a thirtyish Muslim son of parents who immigrated to New Jersey from Egypt.
