Tags: blog, tv, comedy, essential, 2026
Author: KickingK
Date: Thursday July 02nd, 2026
Honeytrap an Ayatollah
Riz Ahmed plays struggling actor Shah Latif who, thanks to a favour from a friend, gets a chance to audition to be Daniel Craig's replacement as James Bond. And, realising he has little to no chance of landing the role, leaks his involvement to the press, leading him into the centre of a media firestorm.
Crucial to the comedy working here is the tension between Riz the person, Riz the celebrity and Shah the character he's portraying. The script has him dancing around all three of them and refuses to settle. You never quite know where the truth lies so you're constantly wrong footed as it changes direction.
It comes from a long line of comedies featuring famous actors playing versions of not-quite-themselves. At it's worst it aggrandising and obvious. This is up there with the likes of The Trip.
Helping that light-footedness is the amount of experimentation that the six episode format allows the creators. Each episode shifts it focus to a different genre or influence. One episode is a Bollywood drama, another steals liberally from Tangerine and there's a Bourne/Bond episode that allows Rafe Spall to deliver a silent punch line for the ages. And it manages to do this without ever losing it's identity or forgetting what's it's trying to do.
The cast are universally excellent. Guz Khan uses his excellent comedy skills to mask just how good he is at pathos. Ritu Arya continues from her star making turn in Polite Society and Rafe Spall is, as ever, amazing. And if you ever thought you'd seen Patrick Stewart chewing the scenery, then this performance asks you to hold it's beer as he gives abusive, abrasive and angry voice to a severed pigs head.
And of course, Riz himself is fantastic. There are occasional flashes of just how good a Bond he would actually make. So good in fact that occasionally you wonder if this a double bluff audition for the actual part. Managing to show how good he'd be by showing how effortlessly skillful he can be bad at it. The Les Dawson approach.
I can't comment on the point that is being made here about Asian and Muslim representation in the media, that's not for me to judge, but it does feel incredibly heartfelt. It doesn't come across as a generic, PR approved message. It's clear that Riz Ahmed has something to say and has wanted to say it for a long time.
The question of why use the vehicle of James Bond to say it is something that hangs over the whole show. Yes it works but it doesn't seem necessary. That is until the end when the metaphor is repeated. Only this time, because of the journey we've watched Shah go through, it all makes perfect sense.
There's no doubt that Riz Ahmed would make an absolutely magnificent Bond. But if he's capable of brilliant and inventive fare like this, it would be such a waste.
