An ITV crime drama has hit the number one spot on Netflix, based on a true story so horrifying it has left viewers in tears.
Honour is a two-part series based on the events leading up to the murder of 20-year-old Banaz Mahmod in 2006.
The show, originally commissioned by the British channel in 2020, has since made its way to the streaming service and is being discovered by a whole new audience.
The re-creation tells the powerful story of Detective Inspector Caroline Goode’s passionate quest to uncover the fate of Banaz, a Kurdish-Iraqi woman from South London, after she goes missing.
The actual murder shocked Britain as it was carried out on the orders of Banaz’s own father, Mahmod Mahmod, and her uncle Ari Mahmod, because she had fallen in love with a man they deemed unsuitable and had fled an arranged marriage.
An ITV crime drama has hit the number one spot on Netflix, based on a true story so horrifying it has left viewers in tears.
Keeley Hawes as Caroline Goode in ITV’s Honour. Inspector Goode helped bring justice to Banaz Mahmod’s killers
The Iraqi brothers, born in Kurdistan and living in Mitcham, organised the “barbaric” and “cruel” murder to restore their families’ “honour”.
Honour, starring Keeley Hawes, Mark Stanley and Rhianne Barreto, follows the heartbreaking true story of what happened to Banaz.
Many viewers have been left shocked and distraught by what they’ve seen since the show hit Netflix and took to X, formerly Twitter, to share their thoughts, writing:
‘I just watched #Honour on Netflix, absolutely awful and the fact that it’s based on a true story makes it worse.’
‘If there is evil in this world, then there is #Honor #netflix. Shocking.’
I just finished watching #honour and I can’t rate it highly enough. An absolutely heartbreaking story of a girl who deserved better. So much better. When will we learn to protect our women?
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking. That poor girl suffered so much #honor.”
‘Honour is truly one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever seen #Honour.’
Rising star Buket Komur plays Banaz in the series, while Moe Bar-El plays her boyfriend Rahmat Sulemani (pictured with Keeley), who had reported her missing at the time.
Many viewers have been shocked and distraught by what they’ve seen since the show dropped on Netflix and have taken to X, formerly Twitter, to share their thoughts.
‘If you want to understand what true poisonous evil is, watch #Honor on #Netflix.’
‘Just watched #honour on @netflix but it was an absolutely brilliant @ITV series, congratulations to everyone involved in this true story for catching the vile people.
‘I cried… I’m so sad. I’m so mean. I hope she rests in peace.’
I just finished watching #Honor and cried several times at this tragic story, which is the horrible reality for so many young women.
“This story needs to be told. Congratulations to @misskeeleyhawes for such an incredibly moving performance and to @ITVstudios for doing it justice.”
Detective Inspector Goode, played by Keeley Hawes, discovered that Banaz had gone to the police five times to report threats to her life from members of her own family.
Dismayed that her own colleagues had missed opportunities to save a young girl’s life, she vowed she would not rest until she finally got justice for Banaz.
“We were all very aware that we were dealing with real people, so probably more than anything else I’ve worked on, the responsibility was enormous. I felt it every day and I’ve felt it every day since. I really have,” Keeley told the Mail’s Weekend magazine at the time.
The re-creation tells the story of Detective Inspector Caroline Goode’s passionate quest to discover the fate of Banaz (pictured above), an Iraqi Kurdish woman from South London, after she goes missing.
Honour, starring Keeley Hawes, Mark Stanley and Rhianne Barreto, follows the heartbreaking true story of what happened to Banaz.
When the story begins, Banaz is already dead, but the police do not yet know this. On January 25, 2006, her new boyfriend, Rahmat, reported her missing.
“You want to do the right thing for everyone involved and give Banaz the utmost respect.”
The show’s writer, Gwyneth Hughes, conducted in-depth interviews with as many real-life people as possible, including Banaz’s boyfriend Rahmat Sulemani, her sister Bekhal and Caroline and her former crew.
When the story begins, Banaz is already dead, but the police do not yet know this. On January 25, 2006, her new boyfriend, Rahmat, reported her missing, but the police did not take it seriously.
Her parents were calm and said Banaz often spent the night away from home, but Rahmat persisted until the police intervened.
In fact, Banaz’s parents had left the family home the day before, leaving Banaz sleeping in the living room.
On the orders of her father Mahmod Mahmod and her uncle Ari Mahmod, two cousins and another man went to the house and raped and tortured her before strangling her and stuffing her body into a suitcase, which they buried in a garden in Birmingham. It was found three months later.
The honour is not only a tribute to Banaz, but also to her sister Bekhal, who remains in witness protection after risking her life to testify. Rahmat was also in witness protection, but tragically committed suicide in 2016, never having fully recovered.
“If just one person feels they can turn to a charity, or sees that what they’re going through isn’t normal because of this drama, then all the effort will have been worth it,” Keeley said.
Honour is now available on Netflix
