the state

I hope to catch up with this .

Really enjoy this but I don't really know why. It's a load of hokum isn't it?

I'm still pondering what was the point of the programme.
Was it to say: look it's not so bad as you've been told.
Was it to make us feel sorry for the brainwashed when they realise they've been sold a pup and and wanted to go home.

I watched it too and had mixed feelings about it. At the beginning i think it said that it was based on some real accounts but haven't yet decided whether it would serve as encouragement for someone to go for the excitement or to discourage anyone thinking about it. I will watch the following episodes but its clear that some of the characters are going to be killed and all are going to be brutalised in some way or other. I couldn't get over the young woman doctor (a supposed intelligent person) taking her young son along. What did she think would happen?

In real life I would have no sympathy whatsoever for anyone who found themselves in this situation having travelled of their own free choice and then making the horrible realisation that it wasn't what they expected. Tough.

I heard an interview with the program-maker, and he's obviously put in a lot of research, but it wasn't clear who with - presumably people who've decided to return?

I believe some of the relatives who were executed at the hands of Jihadis, such as David Haynes' daughter did not want this programme to be shown.

It follows immediately after the murder of innocents in Barcelona, Finland and another today in Marseilles. Returning Jihadis are in the serious throes of a sustained campaign to terrorise Europe.

These people didn't go out to Syria led by any high ideals, once there they kidnapped, murdered, raped and tortured the indigenous people of the town and cities they occupied. The women were just as bad, glorifying brutality on social media and some took their innocent children with them. The bat shit crazy white woman, Sally Jones' child was photographed, aged about 11, shooting a kneeling man at point blank range in the back of the head. I haven't watched this programme so can't make a judgement but I'd hate to think the Jihadis were being portrayed in a sympathetic light, or even glamourised by some western apologist. I'd rather see a film about the westerners who went out to fight alongside the Peshmergers, they may have been misguided but at least they went to liberate rather than oppress.

Scathing article in the DM this morning on the person who made the programme.
It's ok to look, the reading material police won't know

Oops my ' hokum' comment was for Montelbano. I didn't see The State?

Ive recorded it but haven't yet decided whether I want to watch it. I've read the reviews, mixed, and listened to the director on Front Row tonight. My understanding is that the violence and savagery is going to get steadily worse so I'm not sure I'll ever want to see it.

I have no desire to watch it.

Dh watched it but I read my book as I found it unsettling.

Thought it was amazing. Can't wait to see tonight's episode.

I believe further episodes will show more harsh reality and disillusionment , but my worry is that young impressionable sympathisers , who only watch the first episode , will be encouraged to join them, as for the young men it was portrayed as a exciting .

I found it totally gripping, and a brave, honest piece of drama (and found it difficult to get to sleep after the final episode). I don't think anyone who has watched all of it could possibly feel encouraged to join or sympathise with ISIS; none of the main characters achieved glory or fulfilment, unless you count being killed or widowed. It seemed clear to me that none of the recruits was prepared for the brutality they encountered, and they faced a choice of either going along with it or facing horrendous punishment or beheading.

It was fascinating and informative to hear how the leaders justified their actions and attempted to convince or coerce the new recruits. Unless we begin to listen to their repulsive and deluded views, we can't begin to know how to stop this flow of young Jihadis to Syria.

well said grannyticktock . I was so glad that the little boy was taken into care as his mother, although a doctor who realised she had made a wrong move, was not in position to give him a safe upbringing even when back in Great Britain. It was just so sad and the characters where so deluded about what they were going to achieve.

I agree with grannyticktock and travelsafar out of all the characters I really disliked the doctor (woman) the most. An intelligent doctor for goodness sake, she dragged her young son from the safe environment of London to Syria. What did she expect? The woman was an idiot. I am glad she made it back for her sons sake but wouldn't trust her personally one little bit.

I am wondering if a second series might be on the cards.

I thought it was very good although I did fast forward through the really violent bits . I found it hard to believe that a Dr would take her 11 year old child into Syria though .
I think it will bring the stark and horrifying reality of life under Isis to any misguided person thinking of going .

Hard to believe what some people will do in the name of religion to their fellow man !

granny tick tock, I agree that anyone watching the entire drama would not be encouraged to go out there,mInwas just worried that some people may only have watched the * first* part, which gave a different perspective.

An excellent piece of drama. If it encourages the sort of thought provoked reaction as in some of the threads that's all to the good.

The doctor was really arrogant, she seemed to think that the rules would bend as soon as they realised who she was. Pity the foster family that has to de radicalise the little boy.
The other 3 just looked like idiots. Best character in it was the Dad who argued with his deluded idiot son.

I think Deep down the son probably agreed with everything his dad was saying to him Ilovecheese but being watched carefully he had to say what "they" needed to hear. His life hung in the balance.

I admit to having to hide behind a cushion every now and again.

I finished watching the series yesterday afternoon. I thought it was an excellent piece of drama. I'm not sure how any young person, especially female, could want to join a group that treated them in that way. Covered from head to toe in black, totally dominated by the men, absolutely no freedom of thought or deed. The men are so brainwashed and the violence was horrendous.
How could an educated doctor even think of taking her young son into such a dreadful life. I think she deserved all that was coming to her.

An excellent series. Goes a long way to explaining how seemingly intelligent individuals can be lured in. I'm absolutely certain any young person who watched this would have their eyes opened.

But did it explain though? Why did the doctor go, she must have known that having a career was incompatible with sharia.
I thought she was the only one that seemed intelligent, and that was only because we knew she was a doctor.
The other three didn't seem intelligent at all.