{"id":24601,"date":"2026-02-17T13:40:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-three-iplayer-slate-shabaz-ali-led-doc\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T14:01:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:01:06","slug":"bbc-three-iplayer-slate-shabaz-ali-led-doc-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-three-iplayer-slate-shabaz-ali-led-doc-2\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Three & iPlayer Slate Shabaz Ali-Led Doc"},"content":{"rendered":"

BBC Three and iPlayer have commissioned Shabaz Asks: Are Billionaires Bad?<\/em>, hosted by content creator Shabaz Ali, also known as ShabazSays.<\/p>\n

\u201cShabaz has built a strong connection with young audiences by combining his sharp humor with genuine cultural insight,\u201d said Kalpna Patel-Knight, head of entertainment commissioning at the BBC. \u201cWe are excited to be working with him on his television debut and see him explore such a relevant debate. Shabaz Asks: Are Billionaires Bad?<\/em> promises to be bold and conversation-starting and reflects the BBC\u2019s commitment to distinctive, homegrown storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shabaz Asks: Are Billionaires Bad?<\/em> is produced by Brighton-based Indie, Hello Mary.<\/p>\n

Ali, aka ShabazSays, has 4 million followers and creates online comedy content on wealth inequality, celebrity and culture. In this BBC commission, he will head out on a mission to meet a billionaire in person to try and understand what life is actually like for the super wealthy\u2014and whether they are as bad as some might think.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike millions of others, we\u2019re massive fans of Shabaz and are delighted to show his legions of followers a new side to him, as well as introduce him to viewers who have somehow not discovered him yet,\u201d said Steven Regan, executive producer for Hello Mary. \u201cWe love working with big characters at Hello Mary, and Shabaz is no exception: he\u2019s clever, funny and provocative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always looked at my social media content as only one way to approach important subjects,\u201d said Ali. \u201cI\u2019m interested in digging deeper into the issues\u202fof inequality, community and our comparative culture, and a film offers the most exciting opportunity yet to ask questions about our culture: whether it is broken, or whether we just need to update our perspective. There is no format quite like television in which to do that. I am super nervous, but I\u2019m super excited to be working with the BBC to make a film that will explore the burning question, \u2018Are billionaires bad?\u2019 It\u2019s going to be interesting to leave all the filming, editing and producing to someone else (since it\u2019s always been just me doing it all for my online videos), but TV is something I have always wanted to do and this is going to be very fun!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BBC Three and iPlayer have commissioned Shabaz Asks: Are Billionaires Bad?, hosted by content creator Shabaz Ali, also known as ShabazSays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7389,"featured_media":24600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[1050,5665,8206,12215,12214,12173],"class_list":["post-24601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-bbc-three","tag-iplayer","tag-kalpna-patel-knight","tag-shabaz-asks","tag-shabaz-asks-are-billionaires-bad","tag-steven-regan","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nBBC Three & iPlayer Slate Shabaz Ali-Led Doc - TVREAL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-three-iplayer-slate-shabaz-ali-led-doc-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BBC Three & iPlayer Slate Shabaz Ali-Led Doc - TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BBC Three and iPlayer have commissioned Shabaz Asks: Are Billionaires Bad?, hosted by content creator Shabaz Ali, also known as ShabazSays.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-three-iplayer-slate-shabaz-ali-led-doc-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-17T18:40:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-17T19:01:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2026\/02\/3-Are-Billionaires-Bad-226.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kloudia Sakowski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kloudia Sakowski\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-three-iplayer-slate-shabaz-ali-led-doc-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-three-iplayer-slate-shabaz-ali-led-doc-2\/\",\"name\":\"BBC Three & iPlayer Slate Shabaz Ali-Led Doc - TVREAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-17T18:40:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-17T19:01:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0c0fb596604e018568d0e01fe463109b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-three-iplayer-slate-shabaz-ali-led-doc-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-three-iplayer-slate-shabaz-ali-led-doc-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/bbc-three-iplayer-slate-shabaz-ali-led-doc-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BBC Three & iPlayer Slate Shabaz Ali-Led Doc\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\",\"name\":\"TVREAL\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0c0fb596604e018568d0e01fe463109b\",\"name\":\"Kloudia Sakowski\",\"description\":\"Kloudia Sakowski is the associate editor of World Screen. 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