Season 32, Episode 20
Episode Synopsis:
A two-part adaptation of “White Teeth,” Zadie Smith's comic novel following two lifelong friends---a milquetoast Englishman and a tormented Bangladeshi---in multiracial North London from 1974 to 1992. As it opens, Archie Jones (Phil Davis), having just failed in a suicide attempt, finds himself at a New Year's Eve “End of the World” party. There, he meets his wife-to-be, a lapsed Jehovah's Witness from Jamaica named Clara Bowden (Naomie Harris), whose stern mother (Mona Hammond) really thinks the end is nigh. Meanwhile, intellectual Samad Iqbal (Om Puri) must take a job as a waiter in his cousin's restaurant. Iqbal's marriage was arranged in 1946. But his wife-to-be, Alsana (Archie Panjabi), wasn't born until 1955, so he had to wait for her to grow up.
Original Air Date:
May 11, 2003
Guest Cast
Phil Davis: Archie Jones
Robert Bathurst: Marcus Malfen
Maggie O'Neill: Poppy Burt-Jones
Archie Panjabi: Alsana Iqbal
Jacob Scipio: Magid Iqbal/Millat Iqbal
Om Puri: Samad Iqbal
Mona Hammond: Hortense
Naomie Harris: Clara Bowden
Geraldine James: Joyce Malfen