By Ammar Mirza CBE
In the West End of Newcastle, the weekend had a rhythm.
A walk to Lala’s video store. Shelves lined with colour and promise. A careful choice. Then home, curtains drawn, lights dimmed, the outside world paused.
And just like that, our living room became Mumbai.
We would sit together for three or four hours immersed in Bollywood epics like Naseeb, Sholay and Disco Dancer. The music was dramatic. The heroes fearless. The emotions unapologetic. I can still sing the lyrics today, perhaps not always in tune, but always with conviction.
What I did not fully appreciate then was that my parents were doing something quietly strategic. They were using film to anchor language. To preserve culture. To ensure that while we were Geordies through and through, we were also rooted in something deeper. Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu were not enforced. It was absorbed. Through melody. Through dialogue. Through story.
Screen became identity.
Years later, travelling through Asia, I visited a village where one television served around two hundred people. When it switched on, the entire community gathered. Children sat on the floor. Elders leaned forward. And we watched Knight Rider as if it were a shared global moment.
One screen. Hundreds of people. Collective imagination.
That image has stayed with me. Because it reminded me that television at its best is not isolating. It is unifying.
Back home, mum and I would laugh at Laurel and Hardy and marvel at the physical genius of Harold Lloyd. Saturday nights meant chuckling at Russ Abbot. It was simple entertainment, yet deeply connective. We were not just watching. We were sharing.
Professionally, the thread continued.
When I joined United Artists, the two-week induction was less about systems and more about story. We studied the founders. We reflected on the belief that film could influence society. At the centre of that legacy stood Charlie Chaplin, proving that you could challenge power, provoke thought and inspire hope without saying a word.
Content is never neutral. It shapes perception. It frames aspiration.
I later became an anchor for an in-house programme called YITV, trained by Sky to present. I learned that behind every seamless broadcast sits intention, discipline and responsibility. The screen may look effortless, but its impact is deliberate.
For the past decade, my collaboration with Craig Conway has centred on ensuring that our region does not simply consume stories but creates them. The Runway Rooms were born from that belief. A space where writers, actors and producers in the North East can develop their craft without leaving home. Talent is universal. Opportunity is not. Creative infrastructure levels that field.
Last year, when the wonderful Lisa Opie, MD BBC Studios, MD Ubisoft Reflections and Leamington and fellow visiting professor at Newcastle University, asked me to join the board of Together TV, I hesitated. Time is finite. Commitments are many. But saying yes has been one of the most affirming decisions I have made.
Together TV is a purpose driven broadcaster and charity that champions stories of social action, inclusion and lived experience. It represents the television sector while using screen as a catalyst for positive change. The trustees bring insight, humility and determination, united by one belief. That the right story, told well, can shift communities for the better.
Curtains may no longer close in quite the same way. But when the screen lights up, worlds still open.
And if we are wise, we will not just consume what appears on those screens. We will shape it. Support it. Invest in it. Because stories do not just reflect society. They build it.
The screen changed my life. It can change many more.
Ammar Mirza CBE is Chair & Founder of Asian Business Connexions, Executive Chair of the AmmarM Group, Honorary Colonel of 101 Regiment RA and holds various positions across the public and private sectors with a deep interest in Inclusion, Innovation and Internationalisation.