BBC receives 'Enders Ramadan complaints

The BBC has received around 110 complaints over EastEnders' treatment of the Muslim festival of Ramadan.

The September 11 episode of the soap saw Masood Ahmed (Nitin Ganatra) snacking on a chapatti during daylight hours behind his market stall 'Masala Masood'.

When confronted by Jane Beale (Laurie Brett), Masood branded himself a 'bad person', before going to on explain how difficult he is finding fasting when he's selling food all day.

During Ramadan, which was observed this year between September 2 and September 30, participating Muslims are not meant to eat or drink between sunrise and sunset, while also offering more prayer.

The BBC has defended the scene, which sparked complaints from viewers, and has issued a statement. It said: "We would like to assure viewers it was not our intention to insult Muslim or Islamic values.

"Within shows such as EastEnders we try to treat our characters as individuals with their own sets of behaviours and opinions, regardless of their religion, race or sexuality and, as in real life, they do not always strictly follow all the laws, traditions and customs of their religions."

It went on: "The Masoods have already proven to be popular with viewers, and we have in general been delighted by the response to them. However, they are a group of just four characters and should not be seen to represent the entire British-Asian or British Muslim experience.

"Although Masood is a practising Muslim, he has his own fallibilities as a human being. Our intention was never to focus primarily on the religion, but on the character's ability to meet the standards he aspires to in life."

Last month, EastEnders received over 200 complaints over its ongoing abuse storyline which sees Tony King (Chris Coghill) grooming his step-daughter Whitney Dean (Shone McGarty).