Little Mosque on the Prairie creator pens new comedy series
CBC
Acclaimed Little Mosque on the Prairie creator Zarqa Nawaz is returning to the small screen next summer with a new CBC comedy series.
She is the creator, showrunner and lead actor in ZARQA, a comedy about a divorced Muslim woman. The show follows Zarqa (the self-titled character played by Nawaz), who learns that her ex-husband is marrying a white yoga instructor half his age. To get back at him, Zarqa decides she will find a date for the wedding too.
For Nawaz, ZARQA is a chance to expand the types of Muslim stories available on TV in Canada.
"I was watching shows like Workin' Moms and Divorce, and there are all these shows with women who are single and divorced, but they tend to be white," she said.
"And I realized that we don't have a lot of shows out there with Muslim women who are struggling with the same issues. Usually Muslim women portray refugees or the wife of a terrorist — a very narrow range of personalities.
"And I thought, wouldn't it be interesting to explore this avenue with a Muslim woman? Because this also happens to Muslims. Divorce is a universal issue and we should explore it on television."
To secure her date for her ex's wedding, Zarqa finds a man named Brian on a dating app.
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