Comedy about teen Muslim schoolgirls blends messiness, chaos and humor

Sundus AbdiThursday May 21, 2026

BBC short Proper Ladies has struck a nerve online, winning praise for its manic humour and sharply drawn schoolgirl dynamics, while also prompting fresh debate about how Black and Muslim characters are written for television. Its creator says that, at its core, the show is an attempt to do something different.

Its creator opens up about trying to reshape the way Black and Muslim characters are used in TV

L-R: Kosar Ali (Hani), Sabrina Ali (Munira), Ebada Hassan (Yasmin) and Samira Tahlil (Salma) in Proper Ladies. Photograph: Dan Fearon/BBC

Not many comedies open with a character attempting to strangle herself with her own hijab. But Proper Ladies is not interested in playing safe. The BBC short has become a social media talking point for its chaotic energy and keen sense of teenage behaviour, with viewers likening it to series such as Derry Girls and Some Girls. “We saw our first fan edit and it had 100,000 likes,” says writer Sabrina Ali. “It feels like we made it.”

Set inside a faith school, the 10-minute film follows four girls as detention becomes the backdrop for friendship dramas, petty power plays and moments of outright rebellion. The pace is brisk, the dialogue clipped and the comedy deliberately heightened, capturing the all-or-nothing world of adolescence, where small incidents can spiral fast. One scene, for instance, features a student delivering a dramatic explanation for setting off the fire alarm in order to hide the fact that she had used the staff toilets to defecate.

Adapted by Ali from her award-winning stage play Dugsi Dayz, the project was built around the idea of making something “messy, chaotic, and funny”. At the centre is Salma, a model student and prefect played by first-time actor Samira Tahlil, who struggles to keep order among her unruly classmates. Their mischief includes slipping laxatives into their teacher’s drinks, played by Lisa McGrillis. A trip to the headteacher, portrayed by Mark Silcox, follows, and Salma’s discovery that he wears a toupee quickly becomes the kind of schoolwide scandal that teenage gossip thrives on.

‘As soon as you laugh at a character, you recognise something human in them’ … Sabrina Ali as Munira. Photograph: Dan Fearon/BBC

Ali also appears as Munira, a character running an underground energy drink operation from within the school. She is joined by Yasmin, played by Ebada Hassan of Brides, a style-obsessed “it girl”, and Hani, played by Kosar Ali, known for Muna and Rocks, an aloof, emo-inclined pupil who secretly writes Harry Styles fan fiction.

“So many girls I knew were into fan fiction,” Kosar says, reflecting on a script the cast describe as rooted in real school experiences. “It was a real form of escapism. And every teenage girl goes through some kind of emo phase.”

Played as a tightly knit ensemble, the four characters draw on familiar teenage types while remaining grounded in the enclosed, pressure-cooker setting of secondary school. The pilot is now in development, with the possibility of becoming a full series, after a four-year journey from stage to screen.

Dugsi Dayz premiered in October 2022 and marked Ali out as a writer bringing Somali British stories to the stage. Later that year, she began adapting the material for television with support from executive producers including Michaela Coel. Ali had first met Coel at a press night, where she shared the idea for the play, and later worked on an early draft in Coel’s River Library, a writing space in her home for women of colour. “Having her backing feels full circle,” she says. “It’s given me the confidence to develop my writing.”

Ali says moving from theatre to television did not alter the emotional centre of the story. “What I didn’t want to lose was seeing the world through the girls’ lens,” she says. “Not being guided through it. Just peeking into their lives.”

An open casting call shared on Instagram and TikTok invited applicants with little or no acting experience, and drew in young people who might otherwise have assumed the industry was closed to them. For several of the cast, it was their first audition. “Most of the time, people don’t feel like there’s access, so they don’t even pursue it,” Ali says. She wanted the process to feel “more open and less intimidating”.

She also hopes the comedy can help reset expectations around Black and Muslim characters on British television. “Sometimes, when characters look like us, there’s an expectation to disarm audiences,” she says. “Especially with Muslim characters. It becomes: ‘Show us why you deserve to be here.’ I didn’t want that.”

Comedy, she argues, creates recognition without the need for explanation. “As soon as you laugh at a character, you recognise something human in them.”

But the success of the short has come with a darker side. Since its release, members of the cast have been targeted with racist and Islamophobic abuse online, prompting some to pull back from social media.

“If us simply existing causes this level of abuse, it shows how rarely people like us are seen on British television,” Ali says. “But it also shows why shows like this need to exist.”

She adds: “For every hateful message, there’s been an outpouring of love. And those messages matter more than anything.”

Proper Ladies is available to stream on BBC iPlayer