Mehreen Baig
{{Short description|British television presenter (born 1989)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2021}}
File:Mehreen Baig at Cardiff Mela 2023 02.jpg
Mehreen Baig (born 28 November 1989){{cite news |last1=Burgess |first1=Kaya |title=Muslim housemates ridicule Isis supporter in BBC show |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/media/article/muslim-housemates-ridicule-isis-supporter-in-bbc-show-q95l7cfj7 |access-date=20 March 2021 |work=The Times |date=10 December 2016}} is a British television presenter. She has presented several documentaries on topics relating to Britain's Asian and Muslim communities.
Biography
Baig was born on 28 November 1989, in Hackney, East London to Pakistani parents. Baig attended Queen Elizabeth's School for Girls in Barnet.{{Cite web|url=https://www.contrabandevents.com/project/booking-agent-mehreen-baig/|title=Booking Agent for Mehreen Baig|website=Contraband Events|accessdate=23 September 2024}} She went on to graduate from the UCL Institute of Education.{{Cite web|url=https://amandaeliasch.uk/the-insiders-chelsea/|title=The Insiders Chelsea|website=Amanda Eliasch|date=10 September 2020|accessdate=23 September 2024}} Baig has been a secondary school teacher in North London.{{cite news |last1=Rose |first1=Eleanor |title=Teacher and TV presenter Mehreen Baig tells how she saved pupil from horrific 'postcode' knife attack in London street |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/teacher-and-tv-presenter-mehreen-baig-tells-how-she-saved-pupil-from-horrific-postcode-knife-attack-in-london-street-a4083766.html |access-date=20 March 2021 |work=Evening Standard |date=6 March 2019}}
In 2016, Baig was in the BBC Two documentary Muslims Like Us, in which Muslims of differing backgrounds and beliefs were made to live together.{{cite news |last1=Versi |first1=Miqdaad |title=Was Muslims Like Us a helpful portrayal of Islam in the UK? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/14/panel-muslims-like-us-islam |access-date=20 March 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=14 December 2016}} She was the second to enter the house after the former boxer and Islamist Anthony Small (Abdul Haqq), who gave her a leaflet condemning gender mixing.{{cite news |last1=Waheed |first1=Alia |title=Islamist, gay man, teacher: TV housemates bid to show the diversity of British Muslims |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/dec/04/muslims-like-us-bbc-gives-big-brother-a-twist-out-go-evictions |access-date=20 March 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=4 December 2016}}
In February 2018, Baig fronted Islam, Women and Me, a BBC One documentary exploring the role of women in the religion.{{cite news |title=Can you be an independent woman and a good Muslim? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-42948599 |access-date=20 March 2021 |publisher=BBC News |date=6 February 2018}} In August, she presented Lost Boys? What’s Going Wrong For Asian Men, which explored issues relating to British Pakistani men. Tim Dowling of The Guardian gave it four stars out of five for being "informed, thorough and provocative".{{cite news |last1=Dowling |first1=Tim |title=Lost Boys? What's Going Wrong For Asian Men review – informed, thorough and full of answers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/aug/12/lost-boys-whats-going-wrong-for-asian-men-review-informed-thorough-and-full-of-answers |access-date=20 March 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=12 August 2018}} Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan of Al Jazeera gave a negative review, saying that the documentary blamed the men's situation on Pakistani culture more than on discrimination.{{cite news |title=The story of British Pakistani men, told by a native informant |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/8/16/the-story-of-british-pakistani-men-told-by-a-native-informant |access-date=20 March 2021 |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=16 August 2018}}
Baig has also presented documentaries on physical fitness,{{cite news |last1=Gilbert |first1=Gerard |title=What's on TV tonight: Mehreen Baig tells The Truth About Getting Fit At Home |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/whats-on-tv-tonight-truth-about-getting-fit-at-home-bbc1-827800 |access-date=20 March 2021 |work=i |date=13 January 2021}} and segments on the BBC's Sunday Morning Live{{cite news |title=BBC takes Church to the people at Easter |url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/12739/bbc-takes-church-to-the-people-at-easter |access-date=20 March 2021 |work=The Tablet |date=9 April 2020}} and The One Show.{{cite news |title=Millfield School Welcomes BBC's The One Show |url=https://www.independentschoolparent.com/education-news/millfield-the-one-show/ |access-date=20 March 2021 |work=Independent School Parent}} In 2019, she took part in Pilgrimage, in which people of differing religious views made a pilgrimage to Rome.{{cite news |title='I went on a pilgrimage to the Vatican – and now I'm an atheist' |url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/features/2019/04/04/42695/i_went_on_a_pilgrimage_to_the_vatican_%e2%80%93_and_now_im_an_atheist |access-date=20 March 2021 |publisher=Chortle |date=4 April 2019}} In 2020 Baig presented the BBC Studios and Open University co-production Our Coast with Adrian Chiles.{{Cite web |title=BBC Two - Our Coast |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000f696 |access-date=2023-02-06 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}
Personal life
Mehreen has lived in North Finchley since the turn of the millennium.Amira Hashish, North Finchley, Evening Standard, London, 8 December 2021, page 22.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001mm64 Mehreen Baig] (BBC Asian Network)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baig, Mehreen}}
Category:Alumni of the UCL Institute of Education
Category:English people of Pakistani descent
Category:English women television presenters
Category:People from the London Borough of Hackney