The two-parter, which is on our screens courtesy of screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes, charts the events leading up to the so-called \u2018honour killing\u2019 of Banaz Mahmod, <\/span>a young Iraqi Kurdish woman from a Sunni Muslim family,<\/span> in 2006.<\/span><\/p>\n The Honour cast<\/a> is led by Keeley Hawes as Detective Chief Inspector Caroline Goode, the police detective who headed up the investigation into Banaz\u2019s murder and served as a consultant on the series.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what you need to know about the real-life events that inspired Honour.<\/p>\n Banaz Mahmod (played briefly in Honour by Buket Komur) was a 20-year-old <\/span>Iraqi Kurdish woman from South London\u00a0<\/span>who was brutally murdered in 2006 in a so-called \u2018honour killing\u2019 on the orders of her father and uncle, after she left her arranged and unhappy marriage to be with another man of her own choosing.<\/span><\/p>\n In October 2005, Banaz went to the police to tell them she believed she was being followed by Kurdish men. But without Banaz realising, she had been spotted kissing Rahmat outside a London tube station which would lead to multiple attempts to kill her. It was the second attempt that led to her death.<\/p>\n Banaz\u2019s boyfriend, Rahmat Sulemani (played by Moe Bar-El), reported her disappearance on 25th January 2006. Police began an investigation, and discovered that Banaz had previously gone to the police multiple times, even providing officers with the names of the men who she believed were all ready to kill her. However, her allegations weren\u2019t taken seriously at the time.<\/p>\n Rahmat, who testified for the prosecution in the trials related to Banaz\u2019s murder, died by suicide in 2016, a decade after her death.<\/p>\n DCI Caroline Goode, the former Scotland Yard detective portrayed by Keeley Hawes<\/a> in Honour, led the investigation into Banaz\u2019s disappearance and murder. She received the Queen\u2019s Police Medal for her efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking to\u00a0RadioTimes.com<\/strong> and other press at the time of the ITV series release in 2020, Hawes said: \u201cWith something like this [Honour], we were all so mindful that we were dealing with real people \u2013 Banaz, Caroline, their families, everybody involved, the team \u2013 and so there is that element of course, and with this<\/span>\u00a0even more so, much more than probably anything I\u2019ve ever worked on.<\/p>\n \u201cThe responsibility is huge, it\u2019s huge. I felt it everyday, I felt it everyday since. I really have, it\u2019s \u2013 I haven\u2019t taken it lightly, and you know, you want to do the right thing by everyone involved because it is about those two women, and you want to give Banaz the utmost respect you know, and also by Caroline.\u201d<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cThese are real people and it\u2019s always going to be actually unimaginable what Banaz and her family have been through, and Caroline dedicated her life to this case.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n DCI Caroline Goode helmed the investigation after the case was taken over by the Metropolitan Police Homicide and Serious Crime Command.<\/p>\n Mohamad Marid Hama, who had previously threatened to kill Banaz and her boyfriend, was charged with murder in February 2006. He was covertly recorded in prison, bragging about the killing \u2013 those recordings, coupled with the phone records of Banaz\u2019s family, were instrumental in the eventual recovery of Banaz\u2019s remains in April of that year.<\/p>\n Banaz\u2019s father, uncle, and two of her cousins were all later convicted of her murder. Banaz\u2019s cousins Mohammed Saleh Ali and Omar Hussain had fled to Iraq following the murder, and were eventually extradited to the UK.<\/p>\n Asked about how closely Honour mirrors the real-life events it depicts, series star Michael Jibson (DS Stuart Reeves) previously told RadioTimes.com<\/strong>:\u00a0\u201cIn terms of the dramatic license that\u2019s taken, like with anything, you have a whole pool of producers and experts looking into this, making sure first of all everything in the story is taken care of and honoured properly, and also tells the story that doesn\u2019t in any way become negative towards the situation\u2026 Occasionally we\u2019d ask questions but we all trusted our directors and producers.\u201d<\/p>\n On the filming locations used, he said: \u201cA lot of this story took place in South London and up in Birmingham in real life, whereas we filmed the majority of it in North London, just because that was where the production office was. There\u2019s a great location in Watford that\u2019s basically this disused office building \u2013 if you see any cop drama on TV at the moment, they film it there, because it\u2019s just the perfect location to turn into police offices with sprawling corridors.\u201d<\/p>\n Bekhal Mahmod is Banaz\u2019s older sister, who had run away from the family home prior to the events of the ITV drama Honour. She testified for the prosecution in the trial relating to her sister\u2019s murder, and was placed into witness protection.<\/strong><\/p>\n Facing her uncle and father in court at the time made Bekhal the first female in British legal history to give evidence against family members in an honour killing trial.<\/p>\n Gwyneth Hughes, who spoke to Bekhal Mahmod for Honour, said: \u201cI\u2019m unable to meet [Bekhal], she\u2019s in witness protection\u2026 She can call me. Ten minutes into this [press Q&A], she called me. I always know it\u2019s her, because it says No Caller ID.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cShe watched last night and I\u2019m very, very pleased to say that she thought it was great and she \u2018cried a lot\u2019, she said, and I said \u2018Are you OK?\u2019, she said \u2018Yeah\u2019, and I\u2019m gonna talk to her as soon as this [press] session is over. She\u2019s the most fantastic young woman, honestly, you\u2019d be so proud to have any of these young women as your daughter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Bekhal has since released a book, No Safe Place: Murdered by Our Father<\/a>, a memoir detailing her abusive childhood and the events surrounding her sister\u2019s death. She remains in witness protection.<\/span><\/p> Honour true story: Who was Banaz Mahmod?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Honour\"](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2019\/07\/Honour-9daa563.png?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Honour\\"\/")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>Who is DCI Caroline Goode?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Honour\"](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2020\/09\/honour_ep2_18-198a9ec.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Honour\\"\/")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>What\u00a0happened in the police investigation into Banaz Mahmod\u2019s death?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Who is Bekhal Mahmod?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Honour\"](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2020\/09\/honour_episode1_06-2bd412a.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Honour\\"\/")
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