Ahmed superbly tackles race and identity in his hilarious new show Bait, proving the British-Asian actor truly is the best of this country. I’m happy for him, I swear!
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onflicted feelings for me this week, watching Bait, the new comedy created by Riz Ahmed. I started a career in acting shortly after Ahmed, you see. For a decade, I lost every good job going to him. What made it worse was watching all of those projects and realising exactly how good he was. Anyway, I’m going to try to write the rest of this while suppressing Salieri levels of malcontent. Wish me luck.
Bait is the story of an Asian actor, Shah Latif, who finds himself lined up to be the next James Bond. The series covers the internet’s toxic response to the rumours, using it to dive deep into a conversation about racial palatability, Britishness, ambition and authenticity. It’s funny, surreal, provocative and boasts an incredible array of hot young British-Asian actors. Which reminds me, I must rewatch Sliding Doors.
It’s an astute premise. In real life, the casting of the secret agent has become a lightning rod. For many, Bond serves as a type of statue – demanding to be climbed, or pulled down. The Asian actor Nikhil Parmar wrote a very funny 2022 play, Invisible, exploring exactly this idea. In Bait, Shah’s ex-girlfriend, forthright film-maker Yasmin, dismisses Shah’s dream, describing the MI6 agent as a totem of white neocolonialism. “If I played him, he wouldn’t be white!” protests Shah. “Yeah, but you would be,” she shoots back.
