Syed Masood - Reception

Reception

Critically, both Syed's gay storyline and Marc Elliott's acting were well received, with Elliott winning Best Newcomer at The British Soap Awards in 2010. From its inception, however, Syed's gay storyline was criticised by Asghar Bokhari of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, who said "The Muslim community deserves a character that represents them to the wider public because Islamophobia is so great right now. There's a lack of understanding of Muslims already and I think EastEnders really lost an opportunity to present a normal friendly Muslim character to the British public." One British Muslim fan of EastEnders reportedly told the Al Arabiya news channel that the storyline "is not a true reflection of the majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom." Another British Muslim said "I think it's bad, it is going to give a bad impression about Islam. The type of people that watch EastEnders are going to be very naïve about such a portrayal of Muslims," but added that Muslims probably would not boycott the show as "generally practicing Muslims don't really watch EastEnders."

Diederick Santer responded to the criticisms of Muslim viewers by saying "It's really important that we give the Masoods big stories. Sometimes there's a danger of being too careful with black or Asian characters that we might go into territories that might offend. But it seems to me if we steer away from any controversy, they don't stand a chance of being a great EastEnders family — they'll just be in their kitchen unit making curries for years and years and that's not going to be very interesting." Yusuf Wehebi from LGBT Muslim advocacy group Imaan said: "It is high time that the invisible minority became a visible minority. It is entirely possible to be Muslim and gay and there many of us in Britain today. It is great that the BBC have had the courage to raise such an important social issue in our society today." The kiss between Syed and Christian was watched by 7.9 million viewers. Anila Baig of The Sun wrote that the kiss was a "damp squib" and "unconvincing". Elliott told Soaplife magazine that he has received no negative feedback from the show's fans for the storyline.

The 1 January 2010 episode in which Syed marries Amira in a Pakistani wedding received overnight ratings of 11.64 million viewers, an average audience share of 39.3%. The ultimate five minutes of the episode, in which Christian and Syed share an emotional goodbye, received a peak of 12.34 million viewers. The wedding was criticised by a writer for Asian Image, who said "With so much resources at hand they couldn't even get a Muslim wedding right. It was colourful and noisy but the priest couldn't speak the lingo properly and the wedding vows were all wrong. What was the priest doing sat between the bride and groom? At least attempt to make it as realistic as possible. It was Indian and then Pakistani – what on earth was going on! For a prime-time show which was watched by millions at least try to get as close to a real Pakistani Muslim wedding as possible. The whole thing reminded me of one of 1960s botched jobs put together by some middle-aged white man who 'thought it happened this way so it must!'" A Channel Five retrospective on soap weddings in 2010, however, deemed the "dramatic Bollywood-style wedding" to be "spectacular".

In July 2010, viewers complained after Syed was seen dropping his Qu'ran in frustration. The BBC responded by saying "It was not intended to be a disrespectful act, rather a totally spontaneous one, symbolic of Syed's utter confusion and frustration at what feels like an impossible situation. It wasn't our intention to cause any offence." Additionally, Ofcom received 23 complaints from viewers who said the gay Muslim storyline was offensive to their faith. In the same month, the Syed-Christian storyline was commented on in Stonewall research, which found that positive and realistic gay characters appear in just 0.6% of broadcast television. Stonewall noted the romance storyline was a predominantly violent and unhappy one. Among readers of Inside Soap, Syed and Christian came second in a poll of characters favoured to marry on-screen in 2011.

In January 2011, Elliott was nominated for Serial Drama Performance at the 2011 National Television Awards for his portrayal of Syed but did not make it to the shortlist. Inside Soap readers voted Syed their favourite member of the Masood family. Kate White from Inside Soap ran a feature on what Christmas presents she would give to soap characters. White said she would buy Syed a backbone in the hope he would stand up for himself, as his "lack of will power" drove Christian away. Following the storyline where Syed causes his family to lose their restaurant, Heat called him "clinically stupid".