He’s been shot at by the Taliban, interviewed convicted terrorists in prison and investigated the men who star in online sex shows.

Yet Huddersfield-born broadcaster Mobeen Azhar, 37, may find that his latest project Muslims Like Us is the one to create the most waves.

The two-part documentary, which ended on Tuesday night (December 13), put ten British Muslims with contrasting world views in a house in York and filmed their debates and disagreements. The BBC described it as a “unique and bold social experiment”. Others drew parallels with Channel 4’s Big Brother.

Among the participants were Saba, a 76-year-old Bob Dylan fan, openly gay Fehran, glamorous schoolteacher Mehreena, stand-up comedian Nabil and Abdul Haqq, formerly the boxer Anthony Small, a Muslim convert who adheres to an ultra-conservative form of Islam.

Muslims Like Us has divided opinion. Some commentators called it “a squalid, cheap game” (Daily Mail) whilst others said it was “a wake-up call for Islamophobes everywhere” (Daily Telegraph).

Huddersfield-born documentary filmmaker Mobeen Azhar filming in Washington with his crew

Baroness Warsi, the Dewsbury-born peer and former co-chair of the Conservative Party, tweeted: “Was convinced #MuslimsLikeUs was going to be a car crash but I’m loving the diversity of Muslim opinions. Well done @BBCTwo #notallthesame”

Azhar, from Birkby, the son of a bus driver, works as a freelance TV and radio producer/director for a range of production companies including the BBC, where he was previously on staff for 10 years.

The BAFTA-nominated filmmaker, a former pupil of Fartown High School, previously made a radio documentary for the BBC World Service on Prince and his legendary vault full of unreleased music.

It became a best-selling book, Prince: Stories from the Purple Underground. He is just back from a trip to Myanmar and in the New Year will travel to Indonesia and India to complete a five-part series for Singapore TV.

Of Muslims Like Us he said: “I wanted to illustrate the idea that the Muslim community is not monolithic. It’s a range of communities within one single community.”

Huddersfield-born documentary filmmaker Mobeen Azhar.

The reaction, he added, has been overwhelmingly positive with the exception of the right-wing press.

“Whereas people may not like a programme like this, it’s important. We deal with some of the really big issues of our time and that is valuable. A lot of the issues are human issues.

“None of it was scripted. It’s not a rigged show. Everything is entirely real and authentic. I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I didn’t have a handle on what we thought would unfold.”