title: Barrister Babu

text: Soon, Bondita becomes more focused on being a good wife and spending less time in her studies, which Aniruddh strongly disapproves. At same time he meets a revolutionary named Manorama, who asks Aniruddh his hand for a fake marriage of convenience to assist in her patriotic mission. Aniruddh, first declines, but later accepts her proposal, thinking this would also help him refocus Bondita in her studies. Aniruddh's plan proves to be success. And Manorama leaves behind a letter for Bondita, causing her to change her perception about Manorama, who informs her husband that Manorama is safe.


title: Barrister Babu

text: Shortly afterwards, Aniruddh and Bondita nullify their marriage to support the Child Marriage Restraint Act. The villagers get angry at Bondita's acts and they set a handsome price for killing her. Realising Bondita's life is in danger in Tulsipur, Aniruddh sends her to a hostel in Siliguri to remain safe and educate. However, with Sampoorna and Devoleena's help, one villager is able to reach her in Siliguri and kidnap her. As Aniruddh rescues her before she gets killed, Bondita's paternal grandaunt, Kalindi Das aka Thaku Maa, enters the drama and takes Bondita to Krishna Nagar, a village where she has a great influence. She starts creating havoc in the lives of Aniruddh and Bondita. Later it is revealed that she was once set to marry Trilochan, but then one day before marriage she took care of a sick Trilochan, ignoring that this was considered against the rituals, following which Trilochan refuses to marry her and resulting in her remaining unmarried for the rest of her life, so she hates the Roy Choudharys. She arranges Bondita's marriage to Chandrachur Banerjee, but a disguised Aniruddh rescues her in time. Bondita decides to become a barrister, and Aniruddh sends her to London to fulfil her dream. Kalindi places Bondita's paternal cousin, Tupur in her place to marry Chandrachur, to save her reputations. Chandrachur, who is infatuated to Bondita, unwillingly marries Tupur after being insisted by his parents who became attracted to Kalindi's promised dowries.


title: Barrister Babu

text: Bondita is now grown up and returns to India after becoming barrister. She first goes to meet Aniruddh in Tulsipur, where by now people have forgotten about her and hence the killing warrant issued on her has also been practically dismissed. Much to her dismay, she learns about the factionalism between Tulsipur and Krishna Nagar, as Kalindi and the Roy Choudharys have now become sworn enemies. Aniruddh refuses to see Bondita, as she is related to Krishna Nagar, but misses her. After failing to meet Aniruddh, she comes back to Krishna Nagar, where Tapur tells Bondita that after she left, when Kalindi had finally agreed to start a new friendly relation with Roy Choudharys, Aniruddh betrayed them by setting up a bomb behind gifts. Bondita refuses to believe it and goes to Tulsipur disguised as Vaijayanti to find the truth. She is shocked to find a mentally disabled Binoy. Sampoorna reveals to her that people of Krishna Nagar gave them poisoned food and later attacked them, which resulted in Binoy becoming mentally unstable. Still confused, Bondita manages to eventually change Aniruddh's rude behavior. In a turn of events, she is exposed and held responsible for another attack on Roy Choudharys, which was actually planned by Chandrachur. Trilochan decides that Bondita will become a Sanyasi and go to Kashi. As Aniruddh keeps quiet and doesn't support her, she breaks all relations with him. Aniruddh, who feels guilty, realises that he has fallen in love with Bondita and confesses his feelings to her. Bondita forgives him and they manage to convince their families to end their feud. Their marriage is fixed, and they get married.


title: Barrister Babu

text: On their Kaal Raatri, Chandrachur, who had been obsessed to Bondita all along, decides to molest her. But then, he finds Bondita's paternal cousin, Tapur, trying to reveal his intentions, so molests her to shut her mouth. Aniruddh catches him red-handed and accidentally pushes Chandrachur off a cliff in a twist of events. Aniruddh accepts the crime of killing Chandrachur to save Tapur's dignity. Bondita fights for Aniruddh's case. After much investigation, she finds out the truth and encourages Tapur to testify in court, but she is humiliated by public prosecutor Subodh Chatterjee, causing her to flee without testifying. Bondita later finds Tupur's activities suspicious and finds that Chandrachur is still alive. She ties him up, and attempts to take him to the court, but he manages to escape before she reaches there. He later insists Bondita to come with him to Dacca, but unknowing to him, she stages a fake Dacca and thereby, makes him confess to all his crimes, including that he was the one who hid bombs behind Aniruddh's gifts and poisoned their food, to avenge his not being able to marry Bondita. Chandrachur gets arrested for 10 years following his confessions, Bondita wins the case, proving Aniruddh to be innocent, and becomes an inspiration to all the women. Aniruddh and Bondita finally consummate their marriage.


title: Barrister Babu

text: Shortly thereafter, Bondita is asked to fight a case for a pregnant widowed women against her in-laws'. Bondita takes the case, and presents a speech, encouraging widow remarriage. Meanwhile Aniruddh's youngest brother, Batuk, who was sent to Italy to avoid the feud between Tulsipur and Krishna Nagar, returns after his graduation as an advocate. He has grown to be Aniruddh's lookalike and hates Bondita as he holds her responsible for his separation from his family. The attendees at Bondita's speech starts revolting, and among them Bondita notices her client being dragged by her in-laws'. She chases after them to rescue her. In a turn of events, Bondita is dragged and thrown in the river by them, in the middle of a storm. Aniruddh reaches there in time and manages to save Bondita, but he himself goes missing and is presumed dead. Batuk, who was also present there at the time and saw the entire incident happening, tries to save Aniruddh but in vain. This fuels his anger on Bondita and he tries to kill her but stops when she is revealed to be pregnant. Batuk disguises himself as Aniruddh to snatch Bondita's child and expel her from their house, after her delivery. Trilochan, who is unaware of Batuk's intentions, allows him to pretend to be Aniruddh, as he doesn't want Bondita's health to deteriorate from shock.


title: Barrister Babu

text: Day by day, Bondita becomes more suspicious of the fake Aniruddh, while the real one is shown to be alive, but paralyzed and unable to remember his address, being taken care of by a man who found him.


title: Barrister Babu

text: Bondita continues to fight the pregnant widow's case and wins. She eventually realises that the person living with her is actually Batuk, and Aniruddh, her husband, is presumed dead by everyone. However, she believes Aniruddh is still alive, and decides to go finding him, but is compelled to stop as she goes into labor. Bondita gives birth to twins: one boy and one girl. Meanwhile, Aniruddh recovers and finally remembers his address and decides to return to Tulsipur. Batuk abducts the twins from the hospital and decides to take them to Italy. Bondita is upset by her children's disappearance and rushes back home, only to find the door locked by Batuk, who is inside preparing to depart for Italy with the twins. He also had other family members locked up in a room inside the house, as Bondita begs him to return her the twins from outside. Batuk throws lighted matchstick from above the balcony, attempting to burn Bondita alive, but Aniruddh reaches there in the nick of time and saves her. She reveals everything that had happened in the past eight months when he was not with her. A furious Aniruddh breaks the door and enters the house. After an emotional reunion with his family members, Aniruddh slaps Batuk and expels him from their house. Aniruddh and Bondita take their twins in front of Durga's idol and declare that their children will also overcome the evil practices of society and become barristers like them.


title: Barrister Babu

text: The production and airing of the show were halted indefinitely since 19 March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The filming was expected to resume on 1 April 2020 but could not and the series was last broadcast on 31 March 2020 when the remaining episodes were aired. The episodes resumed on 6 July 2020.


title: Barrister Babu

text: The original soundtrack was composed by Shreya Phukan and Mukund Suryavansh, namely, "Rishta Tera Mera" (The Relation between You and Me). The themes of respective characters were composed by Ashish Rego.


title: Barrister Babu

text: The first promotional teaser was released on 13 January 2020 with Pravisht Mishra and Aurra Bhatnagar Badoni as the leads of the show. On 22 June 2021, Colors TV unveiled a teaser to introduce the new actress, Anchal Sahu as grown-up Bondita, and the eight-year-leap after Anirudh and Bondita's separation. On 8 October 2021, it was announced and confirmed that Pravisht Mishra will portray dual roles of "Anirudh Roy Choudhary" and "Batuk Roy Choudhary" respectively.


title: Barrister Babu

text: The second season of the series, titled "Durga Aur Charu" on Colors TV. It stars Aurra Bhatnagar and Vaishnavi Prajapati.


title: John Davis (producer)

text: John Andrew Davis (born July 20, 1954) is an American film producer and founder of Davis Entertainment.


title: John Davis (producer)

text: Davis was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. He is the son of Barbara Davis ("née" Levine), a philanthropist, and former 20th Century Fox owner Marvin Davis (1925–2004). His interest in cinema began as a youth when his father purchased the neighborhood film theater, where he sold popcorn and subsequently viewed up to 300 films a year. Davis graduated from Bowdoin College, attended Amherst College and received an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. Davis is of Jewish descent.


title: John Davis (producer)

text: Davis, Chairman of Los Angeles-based Davis Entertainment, has been a producer on more than 100 feature films and movies for television that have earned more than $5 billion worldwide.


title: John Davis (producer)

text: Davis Entertainment produced the reimagining of the "Predator" series, "The Predator", by filmmaker Shane Black, and a sequel to "Shaft", directed by Tim Story, and including the return of both Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree. They are also worked on "Jungle Cruise" at Disney starring Dwayne Johnson, and the Paramount drama "Ness", with Paul Greengrass attached to direct.


title: John Davis (producer)

text: Some of Davis's many feature film productions include "Game Night", a New Line comedy starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams; the animated "Ferdinand", directed by Carlos Saldanha; five time Oscar-nominated director David O. Russell's biographical comedy-drama "Joy" (2015), starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, and Bradley Cooper, for 20th Century Fox; a big screen version of the 1960s TV series "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, for Warner Bros.; "Victor Frankenstein", a re-imagining of the horror classic "Frankenstein", starring Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy for Fox; the $100 million plus-grossing, micro-budgeted "Chronicle"; the sci-fi thriller "I, Robot", starring Will Smith; the Jim Carrey starrer "Mr. Popper's Penguins"; "Norbit", the comedy starring Eddie Murphy for DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures; the blockbuster "The Firm", starring Tom Cruise; the two "Dr. Dolittle" films, starring Eddie Murphy; the "Garfield" franchise series for Fox; "Waterworld", starring Kevin Costner; the Eddie Murphy comedy "Daddy Day Care"; "Predator", starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; the Jack Lemmon/Walter Matthau trilogy "Out to Sea", "Grumpy Old Men", and "Grumpier Old Men"; "Behind Enemy Lines", starring Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman; "Predator 2", John Woo's "Paycheck", starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman, for Paramount Pictures; and "Alien vs. Predator", an action thriller combining the two iconic cinematic aliens, among many others.


title: John Davis (producer)

text: New television projects include "Alex, Inc.", an ABC comedy starring Zach Braff and Michael Imperioli set to debut this upcoming television season.


title: John Davis (producer)

text: For past television, Davis Entertainment developed and executive produced the NBC hour long drama "The Blacklist", a Sony Television production, as well as NBC's action drama "Timeless" and ABC's hit comedy "Dr. Ken" starring Ken Jeong.


title: John Davis (producer)

text: Davis was honored as The Hollywood Reporter’s Producer of the Year in 2015 and ShoWest’s Producer of the Year in 2004. He also won two People’s Choice Awards, for "The Firm" and "Grumpy Old Men", and his films have received several Academy Award nominations.


title: John Davis (producer)

text: Apart from his entertainment career, Davis’ successful business ventures include Wetzel's Pretzels and casual pizza franchise Blaze Pizza, one of the fastest growing restaurant companies in America. His partners include basketball star LeBron James, and Boston Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner. His newest food venture is Dave’s Hot Chicken, which opened in Hollywood in May 2017, now has 14 stores and will have 45 by the end of 2021 and will open 75 new stores in 2022.


title: John Davis (producer)

text: Davis is married to Jordan Davis. They have three children: Jack, Catherine and Jensen, as mentioned in the "" DVD commentary. Davis's three children said that the CG version of Garfield looked "evil" when they first saw him.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Islamic views on slavery represent a complex and multifaceted body of Islamic thought, with various Islamic groups or thinkers espousing views on the matter which have been radically different throughout history. Slavery was a mainstay of life in pre-Islamic Arabia and surrounding lands. The Quran and the "hadith" (sayings of Muhammad) address slavery extensively, assuming its existence as part of society but viewing it as an exceptional condition and restricting its scope. Early Islamic dogma forbade enslavement of free members of Islamic society, including non-Muslims ("dhimmis"), and set out to regulate and improve the conditions of human bondage. Islamic law regarded as legal slaves only those non-Muslims who were imprisoned or bought beyond the borders of Islamic rule, or the sons and daughters of slaves already in captivity. In later classical Islamic law, the topic of slavery is covered at great length. Slaves, be they Muslim or those of any other religion, were equal to their fellow practitioners in religious issues.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Slavery in Islamic law is not based on race or ethnicity. However, while there was no legal distinction between white European and black African slaves, in some Muslim societies they were employed in different roles: for example, in the Ottoman Empire white slaves served as soldiers and government officials, while black slaves served as eunuchs in the palace and the harems of elite families. Slaves played various social and economic roles, from domestic worker to highest-ranking positions in the government. They created some great empires in history including the Ghaznavid Empire, Khwarazmian Empire, Delhi Sultanate, Mamluk pashas of Iraq and Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Levant. Moreover, slaves were widely employed in irrigation, mining, pastoralism, and the army. Some rulers even relied on military and administrative slaves to such a degree that they were considered above from the general public and sometimes they seized power. In some cases, the treatment of slaves was so harsh that it led to uprisings, such as the Zanj Rebellion. However, this was an exception rather than the norm, as the vast majority of labor in the medieval Islamic world consisted of paid labour by free persons. For a variety of reasons, internal growth of the slave population was not enough to fulfill the demand in Muslim society. This resulted in massive importation, which involved enormous suffering and loss of life from the capture and transportation of slaves from non-Muslim lands. Bernard Lewis maintains that though slaves often suffered on the way before reaching their destination, they received good treatment and some degree of acceptance as members of their owners' households.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The Muslim slave trade was most active in west Asia, eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Muslim traders exported as many as 17 million slaves to the coast of the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, and North Africa. Abolitionist movements began to grow during the 19th century, prompted by both Muslim reformers and diplomatic pressure from Britain. The first Muslim country to prohibit slavery was Tunisia, in 1846. During the 19th and early 20th centuries all large Muslim countries, whether independent or under colonial rule, banned the slave trade and/or slavery. The Dutch East Indies abolished slavery in 1860, while British India abolished slavery in 1862. The Ottoman Empire banned the African slave trade in 1857 and the Circassian slave trade in 1908, while Egypt abolished slavery in 1895, Afghanistan in 1921 and Persia in 1929. In some Muslim countries in the Arabian peninsula and Africa, slavery was abolished in the second half of the 20th century: 1962 in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, Oman in 1970, Mauritania in 1981. However, slavery has been documented in recent years, despite its illegality, in Muslim-majority countries in Africa including Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Mali, and Sudan.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Many early converts to Islam were the poor and former slaves. One notable example is Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Slavery was widely practiced in pre-Islamic Arabia, as well as in the rest of the ancient and early medieval world. The minority were white slaves of foreign extraction, likely brought in by Arab caravaners (or the product of Bedouin captures) stretching back to biblical times. Native Arab slaves had also existed, a prime example being Zayd ibn Harithah, later to become Muhammad's adopted son. Arab slaves, however, usually obtained as captives, were generally ransomed off amongst nomad tribes. The slave population increased by the custom of child abandonment (see also infanticide), and by the kidnapping, or, occasionally, the sale of small children. There is no conclusive evidence of the existence of enslavement for debt or the sale of children by their families; the late and rare accounts of such occurrences show them to be abnormal, Brunschvig states (According to Brockopp, debt slavery was persistent.) Free persons could sell their offspring, or even themselves, into slavery. Enslavement was also possible as a consequence of committing certain offenses against the law, as in the Roman Empire.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Two classes of slave existed: a purchased slave, and a slave born in the master's home. Over the latter the master had complete rights of ownership, though these slaves were unlikely to be sold or disposed of by the master. Female slaves were at times forced into prostitution for the benefit of their masters, in accordance with Near Eastern customs.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The historical accounts of the early years of Islam report that "slaves of non-Muslim masters ... suffered brutal punishments. Sumayyah bint Khayyat is famous as the first martyr of Islam, having been killed with a spear by Abū Jahl when she refused to give up her faith. Abu Bakr freed Bilal when his master, Umayya ibn Khalaf, placed a heavy rock on his chest in an attempt to force his conversion."


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: There were many common features between the institution of slavery in the Quran and that of pre-Islamic culture. However, the Quranic institution had some unique new features. According to Brockopp, the idea of using alms for the manumission of slaves who had converted to Islam appears to be unique to the Quran. Islam also prohibits the use of female slaves for prostitution which was common in pre-Islamic history.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Brockopp states that the Qur'an was a progressive legislation on slavery in its time because it encouraged proper treatment. Others state that Islam's record with slavery has been mixed, progressive in Arabian lands, but it increased slavery and worsened abuse as Muslim armies attacked people in Africa, Europe and Asia. Murray notes that Quran sanctified the institution of slavery and abuses therein, but to its credit did not freeze the status of a slave and allowed a means to a slave's manumission in some cases when the slave converted to Islam.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The Quran contains a number of verses aimed at regulating slavery and mitigating its negative impact. It calls for the manumission (freeing) of slaves. It prescribes kindness towards slaves. Slaves are considered morally equal to free persons, however, they have a lower legal standing. All Quranic rules on slaves are emancipatory in that they improve the rights of slaves compared to what was already practiced in the 7th century. Many Muslims have interpreted Quran as gradually phasing out slavery.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The Quran calls for the freeing of slaves, either the owner manumitting the slave, or a third party purchasing and freeing the slave. The freeing of slaves is encouraged as an act of benevolence, and expiation of sins. devises a manumission contract in which slaves buy their freedom in installments. Two other verses encourage believers to help slaves pay for such contracts. According to Maurice Middleberg, "Sura 90 in the Quran states that the righteous path involves 'the freeing of slaves.'" One of the uses of "zakat", a pillar of Islam, is to pay for the freeing of slaves.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The Quran prescribes kind treatment of slaves. Verse calls for good treatment to slaves. The Quran recognizes the humanity of slaves, by calling them "believers", recognizing their desire to be free, and recognizing female slaves' aversion to prostitution. Several verses list slaves as members of the household, sometimes alongside wives, children and other relatives.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The Quran recognizes slaves as morally and spiritually equal to free people. God promises an eternal life in the Hereafter. This equality is indicated in , which addresses free people and slaves as “the one of you is as the other” ("ba'dukum min ba'din"). refers to master and slave with the same word. However, slaves are not accorded the same legal standing as the free. Slaves are considered as minors for whom the owner is responsible. The punishment for crimes committed by slaves is half the punishment as to be meted out on free persons. The legal distinction between slaves and the free is regarded as the divinely established order of things, which is seen as part of God's grace.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The Quran recognizes slavery as a source of injustice, as it places the freeing of slaves on the same level as feeding the poor. Nevertheless, the Quran doesn't abolish slavery. One reason given is that slavery was a major part of the 7th century socioeconomic system, and it abolishing it would not have been practical. Most interpretations of the Quran agree that the Quran envisions an ideal society as one in which slavery no longer exists.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Slaves are mentioned in at least twenty-nine verses of the Quran, most of these are Medinan and refer to the legal status of slaves. The legal material on slavery in the Quran is largely restricted to manumission and sexual relations. The Quran permits owners to take slaves as concubines, though it promotes abstinence as the better choice. It strictly prohibits slave prostitution. According to Sikainga, the Quranic references to slavery as mainly contain "broad and general propositions of an ethical nature rather than specific legal formulations." The word 'abd' (slave) is rarely used, being more commonly replaced by some periphrasis such as "ma malakat aymanukum" ("that which your right hands own"). However the meaning and translation of this term has been disputed. Ghulam Ahmed Pervez argued that the term is used in the past-tense in the Quran, thus signalling only those individuals who were already enslaved at the dawn of Islam. This slight change in tense is significant, as it allowed Parwez to argue that slavery was never compatible with the commandments of the Quran and is in fact outlawed by Quranic Law.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: There are many common features between the institution of slavery in the Quran and that of neighboring cultures. However, the Quranic institution had some unique new features. Bernard Lewis states that the Quranic legislation brought two major changes to ancient slavery which were to have far-reaching effects: presumption of freedom, and the ban on the enslavement of free persons except in strictly defined circumstances. According to Brockopp, the idea of using alms for the manumission of slaves appears to be unique to the Quran, assuming the traditional interpretation of verses and . Similarly, the practice of freeing slaves in atonement for certain sins appears to be introduced by the Quran (but compare Exodus 21:26-7). The forced prostitution of female slaves, a long practiced custom in the Near Eastern, is condemned in the Quran. Murray Gordon notes that this ban is "of no small significance." Brockopp writes: "Other cultures limit a master's right to harm a slave but few exhort masters to treat their slaves kindly, and the placement of slaves in the same category as other weak members of society who deserve protection is unknown outside the Quran. The unique contribution of the Quran, then, is to be found in its emphasis on the place of slaves in society and society's responsibility toward the slave, perhaps the most progressive legislation on slavery in its time."


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The most common term in the Qur'an to refer to slaves is the expression "ma malakat aymanukum" or "milk al-yamin" in short, meaning “those whom your right hands possess”. This term is found in 15 Quranic passages, making it the most common term for slaves. The Qur'an refers to slaves very differently than classical Arabic: whereas the most common Arabic term for slave is "‘abd", the Qur'an instead uses that term in sense of "servant of God", and "raqiq" (another Arabic term for slave) is not found in the Qur'an. Thus, this term is a Qur'anic innovation. The term can be seen as an honorific, as to be held by "the right hands" means to be held in honor in Arabic and Islamic culture, a fact that can be seen in Quranic verses that refer to those who will enter Paradise as "companions of the right hand." The term also implies that slaves are "possessions". In four places, the Qur'an addresses slaves in the same terms as the free; for example, refers to both the master and the slave using the same word ("rajul").


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Ghulam Ahmed Pervez and Amir Ali have argued that the expression "ma malakat aymanukum" should be properly read in the past tense, thus only referring to people already enslaved at the time the Qur'an was revealed.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The corpus of hadith attributed to Muhammad follows the general lines of Quranic teaching on slavery and contains a large store of reports enjoining kindness toward slaves.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Most modern Muslim authors have interpreted this as an indication that Muhammad envisioned a gradual abolition of slavery, while Murray Gordon characterizes Muhammad's approach to slavery as reformist rather than revolutionary. He did not set out to abolish slavery, but rather to improve the conditions of slaves by urging his followers to treat their slaves humanely and free them as a way of expiating one's sins. Gordon argues that Muhammad instead assured the legitimacy of slavery in Islam by lending it his moral authority. Likely justifications for his attitude toward slavery included the precedent of Jewish and Christian teachings of his time as well as pragmatic considerations.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The most notable of Muhammad's slaves were: Safiyya bint Huyayy, whom he freed and married; Maria al-Qibtiyya, given to Muhammad by a Sassanid official, who gave birth to his son Ibrahim and was freed.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Sirin, Maria's sister, whom he freed and married to the poet Hassan ibn Thabit and Zayd ibn Harithah, whom Muhammad freed and adopted as a son.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Traditional Islamic jurisprudence presumed everyone was free under the dictum of "The basic principle is liberty" (), and slavery was an exceptional condition. Any person whose status was unknown (e.g. a foundling) was presumed to be free. A free person could not sell himself or his children into slavery. Nor could a free person be enslaved due to debt or as punishment for a crime. Non-Muslims living under Muslim rule, known as "dhimmi", could not be enslaved. Lawful enslavement was restricted to two instances: capture in war (on the condition that the prisoner is not a Muslim), or birth in slavery. Islamic law did not recognize the classes of slave from pre-Islamic Arabia including those sold or given into slavery by themselves and others, and those indebted into slavery. Though a free Muslim could not be enslaved, conversion to Islam by a non-Muslim slave did not require that he or she then should be liberated. Slave status was not affected by conversion to Islam. Purchasing slaves and receiving slaves as tribute was permitted. Many scholars subjected slave purchases to the condition that slave should have been "rightfully enslaved" in the first place.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: In the instance of illness it would be required for the slave to be looked after. Manumission is considered a meritorious act. Based on the Quranic verse (24:33), Islamic law permits a slave to ransom himself upon consent of his master through a contract known as "mukataba". Azizah Y. al-Hibri, a professor of Law specializing in Islamic jurisprudence, states that both the Quran and Hadith are repeatedly exhorting Muslims to treat their slaves well and that Muhammad showed this both in action and in words. Levy concurs, adding that "cruelty to them was forbidden." Al-Hibri quotes the famous last speech of Muhammad and other hadiths emphasizing that all believers, whether free or enslaved, are siblings. Lewis explains, "the humanitarian tendency of the Quran and the early caliphs in the Islamic empire, was to some extent counteracted by other influences," notably the practice of various conquered people and countries Muslims encountered, especially in provinces previously under Roman law. In spite of this, Lewis also states, "Islamic practice still represented a vast improvement on that inherited from antiquity, from Rome, and from Byzantium." Murray Gordon writes: "It was not surprising that Muhammad, who accepted the existing socio-political order, looked upon slavery as part of the natural order of things. His approach to what was already an age-old institution was reformist and not revolutionary. The Prophet had not in mind to bring about the abolition of slavery. Rather, his purpose was to improve the conditions of slaves by correcting abuses and appealing to the conscience of his followers to treat them humanely. The adoption of slaves as members of the family was common, according to Levy. If a slave was born and brought up in the master's household he was never sold, except in exceptional circumstances.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Surah 23, Al-Muminun, of the Quran in verse 6 and Surah 17, Al-Maarij, in verse 30 both, in identical wording, draw a distinction between spouses and "those whom one's right hands possess", saying " أَزْوَاجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُمْ" (literally, "their spouses or what their right hands possess"), while clarifying that sexual intercourse with either is permissible. Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi explains that "two categories of women have been excluded from the general command of guarding the private parts: (a) wives, (b) women who are legally in one's possession". Islamic law, using the term" Ma malakat aymanukum" ("what your right hands possess") considered sexual relations with female slaves as lawful.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Slave women were required mainly as concubines and domestic workers. A Muslim slaveholder was entitled by law to the sexual enjoyment of his slave women. While free women might own male slaves, they had no such right. The property of a slave was owned by his or her master unless a contract of freedom of the slave had been entered into, which allowed the slave to earn money to purchase his or her freedom and similarly to pay bride wealth. The marriage of slaves required the consent of the owner. Under the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools of jurisprudence male slaves could marry two wives, but the Maliki permitted them to marry four wives like the free men. According to the Islamic law, a male slave could marry a free woman but this was discouraged in practice. Islam permits sexual relations between a male master and his female slave outside marriage. This is referred to in the Quran as "ma malakat aymanukum" or "what your right hands possess". There are some restrictions on the master; he may not co-habit with a female slave belonging to his wife, neither can he have relations with a female slave if she is co-owned, or already married.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: In ancient Arabian custom, the child of a freeman by his slave was also a slave unless he was recognized and liberated by his father. In theory, the recognition by a master of his offspring by a slave woman was optional in Islamic society, and in the early period was often withheld. By the High Middle Ages it became normal and was unremarkable in a society where the sovereigns themselves were almost invariably the children of slave concubines. The mother receives the title of ""umm walad"" (), which is an improvement in her status as she can no longer be sold. Among Sunnis, she is automatically freed upon her master's death, however for Shi'a, she is only freed if her child is still alive; her value is then deducted from this child's share of the inheritance. Lovejoy writes that as an "umm walad", they attained "an intermediate position between slave and free" pending their freedom, although they would sometimes be nominally freed as soon as they gave birth.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: There is no limit on the number of concubines a master may possess. However, the general marital laws are to be observed, such as not having sexual relations with the sister of a female slave. In Islam "men are enjoined to marry free women in the first instance, but if they cannot afford the bridewealth for free women, they are told to marry slave women rather than engage in wrongful acts." One rationale given for recognition of concubinage in Islam is that "it satisfied the sexual desire of the female slaves and thereby prevented the spread of immorality in the Muslim community." A slave master could have sex with his female slave only while she was not married. This attempt to require sexual exclusivity for female slaves was rare in antiquity, when female slaves generally had no claim to an exclusive sexual relationship. According to Sikainga, "in reality, however, female slaves in many Muslim societies were prey for members of their owners' household, their neighbors, and their guests."


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: In Shiite jurisprudence, it is unlawful for a master of a female slave to grant a third party the use of her for sexual relations. The Shiite scholar Shaykh al-Tusi stated: ولا يجوز إعارتها للاستمتاع بها لأن البضع لا يستباح بالإعارة


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: "It is not permissible to loan (the slave girl) for enjoyment purpose, because sexual intercourse cannot be legitimate through loaning" and the Shiite scholars al-Muhaqiq al-Kurki, Allamah Al-Hilli and Ali Asghar Merwarid made the following ruling: ولا تجوز استعارة الجواري للاستمتاع


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Under the legal doctrine of "kafa'a" (lit."efficiency"), the purpose of which was to ensure that a man should be at least the social equal of the woman he marries, a freedman is not as good as the son of a freedman, and he in turn not as good as the grandson of a freedman. This principle is pursued up to three generations, after which all Muslims are deemed equally free. Lewis asserts that since kafa'a "does not forbid unequal marriages", it is in no sense a "Muslim equivalent of Nuremberg Laws of Nazi Germany or the apartheid laws of South Africa. His purpose, he states, is not to try to set up a moral competition - to compare castration and apartheid as offenses against humanity."


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Within Islamic jurisprudence, slaves were excluded from religious office and from any office involving jurisdiction over others. Freed slaves are able to occupy any office within the Islamic government, and instances of this in history include the Mamluk who ruled Egypt for almost 260 years and the eunuchs who have held military and administrative positions of note. With the permission of their owners they are able to marry. Annemarie Schimmel, a contemporary scholar on Islamic civilization, asserts that because the status of slaves under Islam could only be obtained through either being a prisoner of war (this was soon restricted only to infidels captured in a holy war) or born from slave parents, slavery would be theoretically abolished with the expansion of Islam. Fazlur Rahman agrees, stating that the Quranic acceptance of the institution of slavery on the legal plane was the only practical option available at the time of Muhammad since "slavery was ingrained in the structure of society, and its overnight wholesale liquidation would have created problems which it would have been absolutely impossible to solve, and only a dreamer could have issued such a visionary statement." Islam's reforms stipulating the conditions of enslavement seriously limited the supply of new slaves. Murray Gordon does note: "Muhammad took pains in urging the faithful to free their slaves as a way of expiating their sins. Some Muslim scholars have taken this mean that his true motive was to bring about a gradual elimination of slavery. An alternative argument is that by lending the moral authority of Islam to slavery, Muhammad assured its legitimacy. Thus, in lightening the fetter, he riveted it ever more firmly in place." In the early days of Islam, a plentiful supply of new slaves were brought due to rapid conquest and expansion. But as the frontiers were gradually stabilized, this supply dwindled to a mere trickle. The prisoners of later wars between Muslims and Christians were commonly ransomed or exchanged.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: According to Lewis, this reduction resulted in Arabs who wanted slaves having to look elsewhere to avoid the restrictions in the Quran, meaning an increase of importing of slaves from non-Muslim lands, primarily from Africa. These slaves suffered a high death toll. Patrick Manning states that Islamic legislations against the abuse of the slaves convincingly limited the extent of enslavement in the Arabian Peninsula and to a lesser degree for the whole area of the Umayyad Caliphate where slavery had existed since the most ancient times. However, he also notes that with the passage of time and the extension of Islam, Islam, by recognizing and codifying slavery, seems to have done more to protect and expand slavery than the reverse.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: In theory, free-born Muslims could not be enslaved, and the only way that a non-Muslim could be enslaved was being captured in the course of holy war. (In early Islam, neither a Muslim nor a Christian or Jew could be enslaved. Slavery was also perceived as a means of converting non-Muslims to Islam: A task of the masters was religious instruction. Conversion and assimilation into the society of the master didn't automatically lead to emancipation, though there was normally some guarantee of better treatment and was deemed a prerequisite for emancipation. The majority of Sunni authorities approved the manumission of all the "People of the Book". According to some jurists -especially among the Shi'a- only Muslim slaves should be liberated. In practice, traditional propagators of Islam in Africa often revealed a cautious attitude towards proselytizing because of its effect in reducing the potential reservoir of slaves.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: "Morally as well as physically the slave is regarded in law as an inferior being," Levy writes. Under Islamic law, a slave possesses a composite quality of being both a person and a possession. The slave is entitled to receive sustenance from the master, which includes shelter, food, clothing, and medical attention. It is a requirement for this sustenance to be of the same standard generally found in the locality and it is also recommended for the slave to have the same standard of food and clothing as the master. If the master refuses to provide the required sustenance, the slave may complain to a judge, who may then penalize the master through sale of her or his goods as necessary for the slave's keep. If the master does not have sufficient wealth to facilitate this, she or he must either sell, hire out, or manumit the slave as ordered. Slaves also have the right to a period of rest during the hottest parts of the day during the summer.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The spiritual status of a Muslim slave was identical to a Muslim free person, with some exemptions made for the slave. For example, it is not mandatory for Muslim slaves to attend Friday prayers or go for Hajj, even though both are mandatory for free Muslims. Slaves were generally allowed to become an "imam" and lead prayer, and many scholars even allowed them to act as an imam for Friday and Eid prayers, though some disagreed.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Evidence from slaves is rarely viable in a court of law. As slaves are regarded as inferior in Islamic law, death at the hands of a free man does not require that the latter be killed in retaliation. The killer must pay the slave's master compensation equivalent to the slave's value, as opposed to blood-money. At the same time, slaves themselves possess a lessened responsibility for their actions, and receive half the penalty required upon a free man. For example: where a free man would be subject to a hundred lashes due to pre-marital relations, a slave would be subject to only fifty. Slaves are allowed to marry only with the owner's consent. Jurists differ over how many wives a slave may possess, with the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools allowing them two, and the Maliki school allowing four. Slaves are not permitted to possess or inherit property, or conduct independent business, and may conduct financial dealings only as a representative of the master. Offices of authority are generally not permitted for slaves, though a slave may act as the leader ("Imam") in the congregational prayers, and he may also act as a subordinate officer in the governmental department of revenue. Masters may sell, bequeath, give away, pledge, hire out or compel them to earn money.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: By the view of some madh'hab (but not others), a master may compel his slave to marry and determine the identity of the marriage partner.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The mahr that is given for marriage to a female slave is taken by her owner, whereas all other women possess it absolutely for themselves.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: The Quran and Hadith, the primary Islamic texts, make it a praiseworthy act for masters to set their slaves free. There are numerous ways in Islamic law under which a slave may become free:


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Gordon opines that while Islamic jurisprudence considered manumission as one way of atonement of sin, but other means of atonement also existed: for example, giving charity to the poor was considered superior to freeing a slave. And while Islam made freeing a slave a meritorious act, it was usually not a requirement, making it possible for a devout Muslim to still own a slave. Richard Francis Burton stated that sometimes slaves refused freedom due to lack of employable skills, as freedom from the master meant the slave might go hungry.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: According to Jafar as-Sadiq, all Muslim slaves become automatically free after a maximum of 7 years in servitude. This rule applies regardless of the will of the owner.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Some scholars hold that the abolition of slavery was one of the aims of Islam, a view that Islamic feminists scholar Kecia Ali finds well intentioned but ahistorical and simplistic. She suggest that while there was definitely an "emancipatory ethic" (encouragement for freeing slaves) in Islamic jurisprudence and that "it is possible to view slavery as inconsistent with basic Qur'anic precepts of justice and human equality before God", slavery was also "marginal to the Qur'anic worldview" and "there has not been a strong internally developed critique of past or present slaveholding practices". The subsequent shift in attitudes within Islam towards slavery have also been compared to similar shifts within Christianity towards Biblically sanctioned slavery, which was widespread in the late antique world in which both the Bible and Quran arose.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: In the Ottoman Empire, restrictions on the slave trade began to be introduced during the eighteenth century, in the context of Ottoman-Russian warfare. Bilateral agreements between the Ottoman and Russian empires enabled both sides to retrieve captives taken during war in return for ransom payments. Ransoming of enslaved war captives had been common before this, but had depended on the agreement of a captive's owner; by establishing this as a legal right, the agreements restricted the rights of slaveowners and contributed to the development of the international law concept of "prisoner of war." The abolitionist movement starting in the late 18th century in Western Europe led to gradual changes concerning the institution of slavery in Muslim lands both in doctrine and in practice. One of the first religious decrees comes from the two highest dignitaries of the Hanafi and Maliki rites in the Ottoman Empire. These religious authorities declared that slavery is lawful in principle but it is regrettable in its consequences. They expressed two religious considerations in their support for abolition of slavery: "the initial enslaving of the people concerned comes under suspicion of illegality by reason of the present-day expansion of Islam in their countries; masters no longer comply with the rules of good treatment which regulate their rights and shelter them from wrong-doing."


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: According to Brunschvig, although the total abolition of slavery might seem a reprehensible innovation and contrary to the Quran and the practice of early Muslims, the realities of the modern world caused a "discernible evolution in the thought of many educated Muslims before the end of the 19th century." These Muslims argued that Islam on the whole has "bestowed an exceptionally favorable lot on the victims of slavery" and that the institution of slavery is linked to the particular economic and social stage in which Islam originated. According to the influential thesis of Ameer Ali, Islam only tolerated slavery through temporary necessity and that its complete abolition was not possible at the time of Muhammad. Tunisia was the first Muslim country to abolish slavery, in 1846. Tunisian reformers argued for the abolition of slavery on the basis of Islamic law. They argued that while Islamic law permitted slavery, it set many conditions, and these conditions were impossible to enforce in the 19th century and widely flouted. They pointed to evidence that many slaves sold in Tunisian markets had been enslaved illegally, as they were either Muslim or the subject of a friendly state at the time of capture (Islamic law allowed the enslavement only of non-Muslims in the course of war). They also argued that the circumstances for legal enslavement in the 19th century were very rare, because Tunisia and other Muslim states were not permanently at war with non-Muslim powers, as the first Muslim state had been. Therefore, one could assume that the vast majority of the 19th-century slave trade was illegal, and the only way to prevent illegal enslavement was to prohibit the slave trade entirely. Furthermore, since the child of a slave and a free man was considered free, the institution of slavery was not sustainable without a slave trade. By the early 20th century, the idea that Islam only tolerated slavery due to necessity was to varying extent taken up by the Ulema.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: According to Brockopp, in the Ottoman Empire and elsewhere the manumission contract ("kitaba") was used by the state to give slaves the means to buy their freedom and thereby end slavery as an institution. Some authorities issued condemnations of slavery, stating that it violated Quranic ideals of equality and freedom. Subsequently, even religious conservatives came to accept that slavery was contrary to Islamic principles of justice and equality.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: By the 1950s–1960s, a majority of Muslims had accepted the abolition of slavery as religiously legitimate. By the end of the 20th century, all Muslim countries had made slavery illegal. In 1926, the Muslim World Conference meeting in Mecca condemned slavery. Proceedings from an Organization of Islamic Conference meeting in 1980 upheld human freedom and rejected enslavement of prisoners. Most Muslim scholars consider slavery to be inconsistent with Quranic principles of justice. Bernard Freamon writes that there is consensus ("ijma") among Muslim jurists that slavery has now become forbidden. However, certain contemporary clerics still consider slavery to be lawful, such Saleh Al-Fawzan of Saudi Arabia.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) wrote in "Fi Zilal al-Quran" (a "tafsir") that slavery was adopted by Islam at a time it was practiced world-wide for a period of time "until the world devised a new code of practise during war other than enslavement." Qutb's brother, Muhammad Qutb, contrasted sexual relations between Muslim slave-owners and their female slaves with what he saw as the widespread practice of pre-marital sex in Europe.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Abul A'la Maududi (1903-1979) wrote: Islam has clearly and categorically forbidden the primitive practice of capturing a free man, to make him a slave or to sell him into slavery. On this point the clear and unequivocal words of Muhammad are as follows:"There are three categories of people against whom I shall myself be a plaintiff on the Day of Judgement. Of these three, one is he who enslaves a free man, then sells him and eats this money" (al-Bukhari and Ibn Majjah). The words of this Tradition of the Prophet are also general, they have not been qualified or made applicable to a particular nation, race, country or followers of a particular religion. ... After this the only form of slavery which was left in Islamic society was the prisoners of war, who were captured on the battlefield. These prisoners of war were retained by the Muslim Government until their government agreed to receive them back in exchange for Muslim soldiers captured by them ...


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: William Clarence-Smith criticized the above two as: "dogged refusal of Mawlana Mawdudi to give up on slavery" and the notable "evasions and silences of Muhammad Qutb".


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, a shariah judge and founder of Hizb ut-Tahrir movement, gives the following explanation:


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: When Islam came, for the situations where people were taken into slavery (e.g. debt), Islam imposed Shari’ah solutions to those situations other than slavery. ... It (Islam) made the existing slave and owner form a business contract, based upon the freedom, not upon slavery ...  As for the situation of war, ...  it clarified the rule of the captive in that either they are favoured by releasing without any exchange, or they are ransomed for money or exchanged for Muslims or non-Muslim citizens of the Caliphate. The website of the organization stresses that because sharia historically was responding to a contract, not the institution of slavery, a future caliphate could not re-introduce slavery.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: In 2014, ayatollah Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi met with Pope Francis and other religious leaders to draft an inter-faith declaration to "eradicate modern slavery across the world by 2020 and for all time." The declaration was signed by other Shi'ite leaders and the Sunni Grand Imam of Al Azhar. In 1993, ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi declared that "Islam has devised solutions and strategies for ending slavery, but that does not mean that slavery is condemned in Islam". He argued that ordinances of slavery could apply to prisoners of war. Iranian ayatollah Mohsen Kadivar has used an Islamic legal technique called "naskh aqli" (abrogation by reason) to conclude that slavery is no longer permissible in Islam.


title: Islamic views on slavery

text: In response to the Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram's Quranic justification for kidnapping and enslaving people, and ISIL's religious justification for enslaving Yazidi women as spoils of war as claimed in their digital magazine "Dabiq", 126 Islamic scholars from around the Muslim world, in late September 2014,  signed an open letter to the Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, rejecting his group's interpretations of the Quran and hadith to justify its actions. The letter accuses the group of instigating fitna – sedition – by instituting slavery under its rule in contravention of the anti-slavery consensus of the Islamic scholarly community.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: The first season of the American streaming television series "Jessica Jones", which is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, follows a former superhero who opens her own detective agency after her superhero career comes to an end at the hands of Kilgrave. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films and other television series of the franchise. The season was produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios and Tall Girls Productions, with Melissa Rosenberg serving as showrunner.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Krysten Ritter stars as Jones, while David Tennant plays Kilgrave. The two are joined by principal cast members Mike Colter, Rachael Taylor, Wil Traval, Erin Moriarty, Eka Darville, and Carrie-Anne Moss. "Jessica Jones" entered development in late 2013, with Rosenberg reworking a series she had previously developed for ABC. Ritter was cast as Jones in December 2014, and production took place in New York City from February to August 2015. The season addresses issues of rape and assault, and was always intended to be far more "adult" than other Marvel projects, particularly in terms of sex. The show's cinematography took inspiration from noir, while visual effects house Shade VFX focused on creating "invisible" effects that would support its realistic approach.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: The first two episodes of the season premiered in New York City on November 17, 2015, with the full season of 13 episodes released on Netflix on November 20 to an estimated high viewership and critical acclaim. Critics praised the performances of Ritter and Tennant, as well as the season's noir tone, approach to sexuality, and coverage of darker topics such as rape, assault and posttraumatic stress disorder. The season was awarded a Peabody Award in the category of "Entertainment and Children's programs", and a Hugo Award for short form dramas. A second season of "Jessica Jones" was ordered on January 17, 2016.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: In October 2013, Marvel and Disney announced that Marvel Television and ABC Studios would provide Netflix with live action series centered around Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, leading up to a miniseries based on the Defenders. Melissa Rosenberg was brought on to showrun the Jessica Jones series, to be reconfigured as a "page one do-over" from an original project she had developed in December 2010 for ABC. In December 2014, the official title was revealed to be "Marvel's A.K.A. Jessica Jones", but that was shortened to "Marvel's Jessica Jones" in June 2015. The season consists of 13 hour-long episodes.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: The writers for the season worked in Los Angeles, with one member of the writing team on set in New York for filming. Actress Carrie-Anne Moss talked about how the scripts developed through the production of the season, explaining that the dialogue usually did not change much while filming, but scenes were altered to accommodate the filming locations when necessary. Rosenberg stated that, since Jones is a private investigator, there would be some procedural elements to the show, "but that's not our focus. There are cases. In particular, there is a large case that carries over the season." Elaborating on this, Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb said that the "fun about being a private detective is that the line between what's legal and what's not legal gets very blurred...her drive is not always necessarily to solve the case, as much as it is to go, 'Okay, can I pay the rent? How am I going to get through this day?'" He also added that inspiration for the season came from "the noir films from the '40s" and "film[s] like "Chinatown"."


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Describing the tone of the season, Loeb said, "When we first started talking about "Daredevil", we promised that we were telling a story that was first a crime drama and then a superhero show. This is more of a psychological thriller. This speaks to when you think about what happened to Jessica and what sort of destroyed her life and how she tried to put it together, and then to have to confront the person who deconstructed her world, that's a very powerful, emotional place to start from." On approaching rape and trauma in the season, Rosenberg wanted to avoid actually showing rape, which she called "lazy storytelling" and often a way to "spice up" male characters, and preferred to just make the trauma a part of the characters' everyday lives rather than an "issue" for the season to tackle. When asked about the adult nature of the season, including the use of sex, Rosenberg explained that Marvel would only not allow showing nudity and the use of the word 'fuck' in the season. Regarding all of the social issues the season covered, such as "issues of choice, interracial relationships, domestic violence, [and] issues of consent" while also exploring "feminism and being a woman in this world", Rosenberg said, "It was never our intention going in [to hit a social issue], and I think the minute you intend to do that, you're stepping up on a soap box. If you're digging into the dark side of the human psyche and all the different experiences we go through, and as women we go through, you're going to find those things. If you treat them honestly and with respect, you're also going to hit social issues."


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: The main cast for the season includes Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage, Rachael Taylor as Patricia "Trish" Walker, Wil Traval as Will Simpson, Erin Moriarty as Hope Shlottman, Eka Darville as Malcolm Ducasse, Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth, and David Tennant as Kilgrave.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Appearing in recurring roles for the season are Susie Abromeit as Pam, Colby Minifie and Kieran Mulcare as Robyn and Ruben, Nichole Yannetty as Nicole, Clarke Peters as Oscar Clemons, Michael Siberry and Lisa Emery as Albert and Louise Thompson, and Robin Weigert as Wendy Ross-Hogarth. Danielle Ferland, Gillian Glasco, Ryan Farrell, and Paul Pryce also recur as victims of Kilgrave who join a support group established by Jones, while Rosario Dawson and Royce Johnson reprise their roles of Claire Temple and Brett Mahoney, respectively, from "Daredevil".


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Stephanie Maslansky returned as the costume designer for "Jessica Jones" from "Daredevil", and was assisted on the first episode by Jenn Rogien, who crafted Jessica Jones' leather jacket, faded jeans, and boots costume. On Jones's costume, Maslansky said she "considers her clothing to be an armor and a shield and something that helps her maintain a distance from other people and privacy. It keeps her from having to deal with the rest of humanity in a certain sort of way." At least 10 versions of Jones's jacket were made, which started as an Acne Studios leather motorcycle jacket that had any "bells and whistles and any additional superfluous design details" removed. 20 pairs of jeans were used, with both sets of clothing being aged and distressed.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Because Jones's costume does not evolve much throughout the season, Maslansky used flashbacks to show how her costume had evolved to the present day: for 'pre-Kilgrave' Jessica Jones, Maslansky gave the character "more pulled together" clothes, albeit "still kind of edgy" clothes that did not change who she was as a character, but were just "different". For instance, in a flashback to Jones working in a corporate environment, she does not wear a suit, instead "wear[s] her jeans and find[s] a really cool jacket, maybe a vintage thing, maybe something that she borrowed from Trish". For a flashback where Jones wears a large sandwich costume, a "variety" of costumes were ordered online, with the chosen suit then distressed to "look dirty and old"; "a mere shadow of its former sandwich self," becoming "more of a hoagie than a sandwich." In another flashback, Jones imagines escaping Kilgrave's control. The bright yellow dress the character wears in the dream sequence was chosen for its juxtaposition to the character's real situation, with Maslansky calling it "so beautiful and so free and so light".


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: For Kilgrave, Maslansky used many suits created by designer Paul Smith, rather than custom-making them as she originally planned, as Smith "was about purple" in the previous fashion season. On the suits, Maslansky added that the designers "wanted to find a place where we could utilize clothing in shades of purple, but not go so over the top that it would look silly and that he would stop feeling ominous or menacing." Expanding on this, Maslansky called purple a traditionally "fairly friendly color, and he's anything but friendly. So I had to find ways to make him be ominous and frightening and terrifying. I found that I needed the right proportion of shades of purple to other shades that were similar: navy, black, maroon." Maslansky felt Luke Cage was also someone "who wears his clothing like an armor," with his wardrobe consisting of T-shirts, jeans, leather jackets or an army jacket. For a character like Trish Walker, who does not have the same kind of "statement costume" as Jones, Maslansky tried to create a certain character style. Maslansky said that Walker's uniform is fashion, so "even when she was hanging around the house, she was wearing a pair of rag & bone jeans with a Chloé top, and this was her version of a T-shirt and jeans." Maslansky added that Robin was "a blast to dress" because of her "quirky" personality, yet she was still able to "put herself together aesthetically." For Malcolm, as his story progressively became brighter throughout the season, so did his wardrobe, becoming "a little brighter and a little more hopeful."


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: In February 2014, Marvel announced that "Jessica Jones" would be filmed in New York City. In April, Marvel Comics' editor-in-chief Joe Quesada stated that the show would be filming in areas of Brooklyn and Long Island City that still look like the old Hell's Kitchen, in addition to sound stage work. The season went into production in February 2015 in The Bronx at Lehman College with the working title "Violet", and aimed to film each episode over nine days, on average. Filming concluded in mid-late August. Other filming locations in New York City used included the East Village's Horseshoe Bar for Luke's Bar; the 33rd Street PATH station and a PATH train; the 101st Street area for the exterior of Jessica's apartment (with the interior apartment settings created on a sound stage); Douglaston, Queens for Jessica's childhood home; the Angel Orensanz Center for Jessica and Luke's fight in "AKA Take a Bloody Number"; Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower and Pier 88 for locations in "AKA Smile"; the Meatpacking District; Nolita; near the 39th Street entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel; Tribeca; Bryant Park; Union Square; Gramercy; Greenpoint, Brooklyn near the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant; Long Island City, including the Allied Extruder Factory for the weed growing facility, with exteriors shots taken from near Calvary Cemetery; the Queensboro Bridge on the Queens side; the Manhattan Bridge; the Brooklyn Navy Yard; Bethesda Terrace and Fountain in Central Park; and Industry City.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Concerning inspirations on the season, Loeb revealed that ""Chinatown"... is one of the things that influenced Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos when they created the character. So those kind of beautiful, long, wide expansive shots, where people sort of come into frame and go back out of frame and someone's in the foreground and then someone is way in the background and they're having a conversation, that's the stuff that makes it interesting." Director of Photography Manuel Billeter and episodic director S. J. Clarkson took inspiration from the comics in terms of their color palette, while looking to the works of Wong Kar-wai as reference to create "unconventional" compositions, with Billeter explaining, "There were a lot of foreground elements [and] headroom as well, and we never wanted to show an open frame. We wanted to create a sense of claustrophobia." Billeter shot the season with a Red Epic Dragon camera in 4K resolution, with 5K used for some visual effects shots, and with Panavision PVintage lenses; he focused mostly on static frames and "good composition", but did occasionally employ a camera dolly or steadicam. For lighting, Billeter noted that many New York street lamps had been changed from sodium-vapor lamps to LEDs, so he tried to recreate the "warm, dirty color of sodium vapor" for night exterior scenes.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Production designer Loren Weeks described Marvel's Hell's Kitchen as having "a little more [East] Village quality." To achieve the explosion at Luke's Bar, Weeks said, "We could not take out the windows [at Horseshoe Bar], which are [made up of] multiple small colored glass and metal frames. We didn't know frankly when we picked that location that we would have that explosion... What we did was build a fireproof box in the entrance and we had a cannon in there which blew out debris and smoke and some fire. And then we did a lighting effect on the inside and then the rest of the explosion was handled by visual effects." For the scenes on the PATH train and station, location manager Jason Farrar noted that production had exclusive use of the tracks and platform during the day when ridership was low to get their shots.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Shade VFX created over 600 effects shots for the season, with "invisible" effects "the showpiece, helping to push forward the darker elements the series." Therefore, effects supervisor Karl Coyner and producer Julie Long worked closely with the crew on set to "execute stunts, set extensions, explosions, wetwork and fire sequences" while filming, rather than have Shade create those effects digitally. An effect that Shade was required to create was tinting Kilgrave's skin purple "in a few key scenes" where he is using his powers, a nod to the comic iteration's purple-skinned appearance.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: At the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International, Sean Callery revealed he was composing music for "Jessica Jones", eventually stating that the music required for each episode ranged from 9 to 20 minutes, totaling approximately 415 minutes of music for the season. A soundtrack album for the season was released by Marvel Music digitally on June 3, 2016.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: On existing in the MCU, specifically in the same world as the other Netflix series, Rosenberg said, ""Jessica Jones" is a very, very different show than "Daredevil". We exist in a cinematic universe, [and] the mythology of the universe is connected, but they look very different, tonally they're very different… That was my one concern coming in: Am I going to have to fit into "Daredevil" or what's come before? And the answer is no." On references or "easter eggs" in the season, Rosenberg explained that "A little is always there and in the writer's room we have some fanboys that know all this stuff and they're all geeking out with different stuff...a lot of references are to the ["Alias" comic]." She also said that nods to the larger MCU are in the season, with each episode having a "little something in it."


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Jeryn Hogarth is closely associated with Iron Fist in the comics, and also worked with Luke Cage as part of those characters' "Heroes for Hire" team. Like "Daredevil", the season makes references to the events of "The Avengers" and the Avengers (specifically Hulk and Captain America, though not by name). Jessica also mentions Angela del Toro as another private investigator, who in the comics is the hero White Tiger and has connections with K'un-Lun and Iron Fist. Paul Tassi, writing for "Forbes", was disappointed with how the season fit into the larger MCU, feeling the season seemed "removed from the world of "The Avengers"" and did not acknowledge "Daredevil" enough given that "it's supposed to be sharing at least this little of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with it." Eric Francisco of Inverse countered that "Jessica Jones"s lack of overt connections to the MCU was "the show's chief advantage. Besides demonstrating how physically wide open the MCU's scope really is, "Jessica Jones" also proves the MCU's thematic durability."


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: In May 2015, Marvel announced plans to reprint "Alias", the comic that the series is based on, with new covers from David Mack, the original cover artist on the comic who is also providing artwork for the series' opening credits. The reprints, which were all released digitally in June 2015, and up to issue 15 in two trade paperbacks in September, were intended to both celebrate the history of Jessica Jones, and introduce new audiences to the character ahead of the release of the season. In late September through early October, Marvel and Netflix released short teasers for the season, which chronicled a day of Jones' life. Also in early October, Marvel digitally released a 12-page one-shot comic by the original "Alias" creative team—Bendis, Gaydos, and Mack—set in the universe of the television series. The one-shot was created as an exclusive for New York Comic Con, where a print version was distributed. The comic sees Jessica Jones coming into contact with "Daredevil" character Turk Barrett, and includes a short sequence featuring Daredevil, to celebrate "the connective tissue that will build between the series." Also during New York Comic Con, Marvel set up a street marketing campaign, and screened "AKA Ladies Night" on October 10, while at the Marvel Booth fans could take their picture with the Alias Investigations desk, with Kilgrave's eyes appearing in the background of the final animation. Marvel additionally partnered with Uber during the event to provide select riders with complimentary trips to or from the convention in custom designed SUVs.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: A full trailer was released at the end of October, with Meagan Damore of Comic Book Resources feeling that it helped establish the same tone as "Daredevil" and introduced "Marvel's creepiest villain yet" with Kilgrave. She also compared Jessica to some of the other female characters of the MCU—Black Widow, Melinda May, and Peggy Carter—feeling that Jessica stood out from the others because she does not have "a sense of togetherness" and was the most relatable because of her struggle with trauma, and that the season would have the amount of creative space required to explore the character that the other female characters were lacking. A second trailer was released on November 10, 2015. Sarene Leeds of "The Wall Street Journal" felt that this trailer highlighted empowerment, compared to the first that "was about illustrating the fear behind Jones's past". The season held its premiere in New York City on November 17.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: The first season of "Jessica Jones" was released on November 20, 2015, on the streaming service Netflix, in all territories where it is available, in Ultra HD 4K. In January 2015, a month after Marvel announced a 2015 release for the season, Sarandos had said that it was "too hard to say now" if the season would actually release in 2015, with Netflix's plan to release a Marvel series approximately a year apart from each other after "Daredevil"s April 2015 release. However, Netflix soon confirmed that the season would indeed release in 2015, announcing the November 20 release date in September. The season was enhanced to be available in high dynamic range (HDR) after its initial release by post-production vendor Deluxe.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: The season, along with the additional "Jessica Jones" seasons and the other Marvel Netflix series, was removed from Netflix on March 1, 2022, due to Netflix's license for the series ending and Disney regaining the rights. The season became available on Disney+ in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand on March 16, ahead of its debut in Disney+'s other markets by the end of 2022.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: The season was released on DVD in Region 1 and Blu-ray in Region A on August 22, 2017, in Region 2 and Region B on December 5, 2016, and in Region 4 on December 7, 2016.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: As Netflix does not reveal subscriber viewership numbers for any of their original series, Symphony Technology Group compiled data for the season based on a sample size of 15,000 people using software on their phones that measures television viewing by detecting a program's sound. According to Symphony, from September to December 2015, episodes of "Jessica Jones" averaged 4.8million viewers during a 35-day viewing cycle. The data was presented by Alan Wurtzel, NBCUniversal president of research and media development, in a presentation aimed to provide "perspective" when stating "digital platforms are hurting the traditional TV business". Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos responded to the data by saying that "the whole methodology and the measurement and the data itself doesn't reflect any sense of reality of anything that we keep track of." A further study from Symphony, for the same time period, found "Jessica Jones" to be one of the four most watched series in the 18 to 24 demographic, ahead of any broadcast network series. The marketing analytics firm Jumpshot determined the season was the fifth-most viewed Netflix season in the first 30 days after it premiered, garnering 26% of the viewers that the second season of "Daredevil" received, which was the most viewed season according to Jumpshot. Jumpshot, which "analyzes click-stream data from an online panel of more than 100million consumers", looked at the viewing behavior and activity of the company's U.S. members, factoring in the relative number of U.S. Netflix viewers who watched at least one episode of the season.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 94% approval rating with an average rating of 8.20/10 based on 80 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Jessica Jones" builds a multifaceted drama around its engaging antihero, delivering what might be Marvel's strongest TV franchise to date." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 81 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating what the website considers to be "universal acclaim".


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: The early screening of the first episode at New York Comic Con was met by a very positive reaction from the crowd. George Marston of "Newsarama" gave the first episode a 10 out of 10, saying the season "strikes a balance between self-aware noir and Marvel's first flirtations with psychological horror...not just another hit for Marvel and Netflix, but a landmark moment for female superheroes on TV." Eric Goldman of IGN felt that ""Jessica Jones" starts out with a strong premiere episode that...easily goes further than anything in the MCU in terms of sexuality." He called Ritter "a commendably tough, sardonic" Jessica Jones and praised the supporting cast for the strong impressions they made, later scoring the episode an 8.5 out of 10. Evan Valentine of Collider gave the episode 5 stars out of 5, feeling that Tennant would "ascend to the same level as Tom Hiddleston's Loki and Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk as one of the cornerstones of villainy in the MCU". Katharine Trendacosta of io9 also had positive thoughts on "AKA Ladies Night", highlighting the episode's use of light and color, especially with purple, and the way it portrays New York as how it "actually looks—not overly bright and shiny and clean, but not suffering a never-ending power-outage either". Abraham Riesman noted the episode's presentation of sexuality, which "was shockingly and refreshingly honest", compared to Marvel's other films and television series. He concluded by applauding the season's bringing up of the topics of rape and PTSD.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Reviewing the first seven episodes of the season, Maureen Ryan of "Variety" gave positive thoughts on "Jessica Jones", stating, "The show, which features an exceptional performance from Krysten Ritter and sure-handed guidance from executive producer Melissa Rosenberg, is not just a contender for the title Best Marvel-related TV property; in a supremely crowded TV scene, it is one of the year's most distinctive new dramas." Jack Shepard of "The Independent", also on the first seven episodes, felt the season "not only matches ["Daredevil"] but exceeds expectations." Shepard gave exceptional praise to Tennant's Kilgrave, feeling he was one of the best villains produced by Marvel, and possibly "the best on-screen comic book villain since Heath Ledger's Joker." "Forbes" Merrill Barr stated that after seeing the first seven episodes, "the answer is a resounding yes" if lightning could strike twice for Marvel Television, claiming, "In no uncertain terms, "Jessica Jones" is the best thing Marvel Television has ever produced. It contains all the hopeful anticipation of ["Agents of" ] "S.H.I.E.L.D.", all the feminist-overtones of "Agent Carter" and all the grittiness of "Daredevil"."


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: "Deadline Hollywood" Dominic Patten also had praise for the season, particularly Rosenberg's influence on it, the coverage of topics such as "PTSD, abuse, assault, shame, and death" and the cast, highlighting Tennant's Kilgrave as the actor's best role as well as the MCU's best villain. Mary McNamara from the "Los Angeles Times" felt "Jessica Jones" "rewrote the definition of superhuman" and was "a marvel", lauding the season's "breathtaking" examination of recovery from a sexually, emotionally and physically abusive relationship. Daniel Fienberg for "The Hollywood Reporter" was also positive, saying the season "looks and feels a bit like a cable anti-hero series—but it's really more of a post-hero story, making it fascinating and unique in a marketplace that doesn't lack for costumed do-gooders of all types." His one criticism was that "the show shares Jessica's monomaniacal fixation on [Kilgrave] and the result is a sort of narrative claustrophobia...Everything in these opening episodes ties back to Kilgrave and Kilgrave is such a twisted figure that it's hard for any light to get in." Melissa Maerz of "Entertainment Weekly" was slightly more critical of the season, awarding it a "B". Though Maerz felt Ritter was a good choice for Jessica and enjoyed the cinematography, she felt the season "could've made for a gritty character drama if it weren't for the noir clichés (saxophone music, shadows through glass) and a procedural structure that's very "CSI: Marvel". The show's biggest weakness is the same as Jessica's: It starts out with extraordinary potential, but somewhere along the way, it loses what make it special."


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Goldman, later reviewing the whole season, gave it a 9.3 out of 10. He commended all the actors, the relationship between Jessica and Trish, and the episode "Sin Bin", though was critical of the character Robyn. Additionally, Goldman also felt the season spent "too many scenes devoted to Jeri's marital strife" and that it hit its peak "a bit before the actual end of the season" similar to "Daredevil", with most of the thrilling moments earlier in the season.


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Libby Hill of the "Los Angeles Times" commented on how "Jessica Jones" exposed modern day sexism and misogyny through Kilgrave's use of the phrase "Smile", calling the season "the most innocuous and incisive cultural critique" from Marvel to date. Hill likened an early scene that shows Kilgrave asking Jones to smile, and her obliging, to "similar well-meaning scenarios [that] play out in the real world time and again each day" many in the form of gendered street harassment, that resonates with many women. Hill also added that "Kilgrave serves as an exaggerated representation of perceived consent," due to the response he gives later in the season to Jessica about never knowing if someone is doing what they want or what he tells them to do. She concludes that ""Jessica Jones" is revolutionary because in acknowledging casual misogyny and exaggerating its most destructive tendencies, it exposes the pervasive toxicity therein. It does all of this without making a show of its politics, instead resting easy on the knowledge that all too many women will relate to the subtleties of its premise." Amy C. Chambers, writing for The Science and Entertainment Laboratory, noted how the season moved away from sexism even more so than the comics, by changing Kilgrave's abilities from phermone based, with a particular effect on women, to viral, with equal effect no matter gender, indicating that "powerlessness is not gendered."


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: Kwame Opam at "The Verge" chose to examine rape and the nature of consent in the season. Comparing "Jessica Jones" to other television series that have depicted rape ("Game of Thrones", "Orange Is the New Black", and "Outlander"), Opam felt that "since rape is one of the show's core themes, we never need to see it... rape is a foundational part of the text, and its presence is constant. Even if it's invisible, it's always there." He also felt the season took the time to examine how rape happens and what it means, especially in terms of power and consent, concluding, ""Jessica Jones" moves the conversation about rape forward by treating it as a complex subject worth investigating, rather than as spice for a story...Maybe we don't need to see it anymore to grasp how violent it is. Maybe our energies are better spent thinking deeply about why it happens at all." "The Guardian"s Lili Loofbourow also discussed the season's depiction of rape and consent, noting the complications that come with Kilgrave telling his victims how to feel rather than just how to act, and saying, "however exceptional Kilgrave's power seems, the moral quagmire it produces is all too common. It's the condition of the rape victim who had an orgasm during her assault. It's the condition of the soldier trained to kill when he suspects his targets are innocent. It's the condition of the battered woman who goes back to her abuser and stays "of her own free will". It's the condition of...any person, really, who agrees, whatever the context, to consent to forgo consent in the future." Loofbourow also discussed the character of Simpson, comparing his power-inducing red pill to the anti-feminist "red pillers", and noting that his taking of the pills "renders him not just dangerously delusional, but so utterly at odds with nature and reality of any kind that he will forget to breathe unless he counteracts the pill's effects."


title: Jessica Jones (season 1)

text: "Jessica Jones" was included on multiple Best/Top TV Shows of 2015 lists, ranking on "People"s (1st, along with "Daredevil"), Indiewire and "The Star-Ledger"s (2nd), NPR's (3rd), ScreenCrush's (4th), Digital Spy's (5th), "Complex"s (6th), Vulture's (7th), "Slate Magazine"s (9th), and "TV Guide"s (11th). It was also included on un-ranked lists from Maureen Ryan of "Variety", Mary McNamara of the "Los Angeles Times", "The Week", and "Wired". In December 2015, IGN named "Jessica Jones" the Netflix's best original series released to date, and it was named one of the Best New Shows of 2015 by Ryan, as well as the tenth best new show of 2015 by "Entertainment Weekly"s Jeff Jensen. "The Atlantic" named "AKA WWJD?" one of the best television episodes of 2015. Additionally, "Jessica Jones" was the second most trending television series search on Google for 2015.


title: NXT United Kingdom Championship

text: The NXT United Kingdom Championship was a men's professional wrestling championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It was primarily defended as the top championship of the NXT UK brand division, a sister brand of WWE's developmental territory NXT based in the United Kingdom. It was also occasionally defended at NXT events and had also been defended on independent wrestling shows in the United Kingdom before the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: NXT United Kingdom Championship

text: Established on 15 December 2016 as the WWE United Kingdom Championship, the title was first awarded to Tyler Bate, who won the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament on 15 January 2017. The brand's show of the same name had its first tapings in August 2018, which began airing in October. From its inception up until the debut of "NXT UK", the title was primarily defended on the NXT brand and shows produced by UK-based independent wrestling promotions. In January 2020, the title was renamed to reflect its status as the top title of NXT UK. On 4 September 2022 at Worlds Collide, the title was unified into the NXT Championship, officially retiring the title in the process, with Bate, the title's only two-time holder, recognized as the final champion.


title: NXT United Kingdom Championship

text: In a press conference at The O2 Arena on 15 December 2016, Triple H, the chief operating officer and head of NXT for the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, revealed that there would be a 16-man single-elimination tournament to crown the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion for the promotion's new United Kingdom division. The tournament was held over a two-day period, 14 and 15 January 2017, and was streamed exclusively on the WWE Network. Tyler Bate won the inaugural tournament to become the first WWE United Kingdom Champion.


title: NXT United Kingdom Championship

text: Following the inaugural tournament in 2017, the title began being featured on WWE's developmental brand NXT when Bate debuted during the 28 January 2017, tapings of "NXT" in San Antonio, Texas, which aired 1 February. During the 1 February tapings at the brand's former home base of Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, the title's very first defense took place, where Bate defeated Trent Seven (aired 15 February).<ref name="2/1 NXT TV Review"></ref> The title was defended for the first time outside of WWE when Bate retained the title against Mark Andrews on a show for the London-based promotion, Progress Wrestling; the show took place in Orlando, Florida, on 31 March as part of WrestleMania Axxess. The first title change, as well as the first defense to air live, took place on 20 May 2017 at , where Pete Dunne defeated Bate to become champion. Although unsuccessful, Johnny Gargano was the first wrestler from outside of the United Kingdom division to challenge for the UK title on the 18 November tapings of "NXT" (aired on 22 November).


title: NXT United Kingdom Championship

text: When the championship was unveiled in December 2016, it was announced to be the top championship of a new WWE Network show, produced in the United Kingdom. However, it was not until mid-2018 when WWE formally established NXT UK as the brand for their United Kingdom division and sister brand of their American-based NXT. The brand's show, also titled "NXT UK", had its first tapings in August, which began airing on 17 October. On the premiere episode, Dunne retained the UK Championship against Noam Dar. During the 17 January 2020 tapings of "NXT UK", the title was renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship to reflect its status as the top title of NXT UK.


title: NXT United Kingdom Championship

text: In August 2022, WWE announced that the NXT UK brand would go on hiatus and would relaunch as NXT Europe in 2023. As such, NXT UK's championship's were unified into their respective NXT championship counterparts. Subsequently, the NXT United Kingdom Championship was retired on 4 September 2022 at Worlds Collide. At the event, Bron Breakker defeated Tyler Bate to unify the NXT United Kingdom Championship into Breakker's NXT Championship, with Bate, the title's only two-time holder, recognized as the final NXT UK Champion. Breakker went forward as the unified NXT Champion.


title: NXT United Kingdom Championship

text: The base design of the belt was similar to the WWE Championship belt (introduced in 2014), with notable differences. Instead of a large cut out of the WWE logo, the center plate was modeled after the United Kingdom's royal coat of arms, featuring a lion and a horse (instead of the traditional unicorn) on either side of the arms, with a shield at the center; atop the shield were the crown jewels. The banner atop the arms read "United Kingdom" while the banner below read "Champion". Gold divider bars separated the center plate from the belt's two side plates. In what became a prominent feature of WWE's championship belts, the side plates featured removable center sections that could be replaced with the reigning champion's logo; the default side plates featured the WWE logo on a red globe. The plates were on a black leather strap. When the championship was originally introduced as the WWE United Kingdom Championship, the shield at the center of the main plate featured the WWE logo, but that was changed to the NXT UK logo on 17 January 2020 when the title was renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship.


title: NXT United Kingdom Championship

text: Over the championship's nearly six year history, there were five reigns between four champions. Tyler Bate was the inaugural champion and is also recognized as the final champion. He also had the most reigns at two, he was the youngest champion at 19, and his second reign was the shortest reign at 59 days (3 days as recognized by WWE due to tape delay, despite Bate appearing as champion on "NXT 2.0" a couple of weeks before his title win on "NXT UK"). Walter had the longest reign, which lasted 870 days, and he was also the oldest champion when he won the title at 31.


title: Ethan Horvath

text: Ethan Shea Horvath (born June 9, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for EFL Championship club Luton Town, on loan from Nottingham Forest, and the United States national team.


title: Ethan Horvath

text: Horvath was born and raised in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. His father, Peter, played college soccer with the Midwestern State Mustangs and professionally with Major Indoor Soccer League club Denver Avalanche, and his mother, Deana, played high school soccer. Horvath himself grew up playing with U.S. Soccer Development Academy side Real Colorado and for Arapahoe High School. He also trained with Bristol City, Manchester City, and Stoke City in England. He is of Hungarian ancestry on his father's side.


title: Ethan Horvath

text: Horvath signed his first professional contract in 2013 with Tippeligaen club Molde in Norway, having been recruited by Molde manager and former Manchester United player Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Horvath first appeared in a Molde matchday squad on August 10, 2013. He made his professional debut on May 16, 2015, replacing Ørjan Nyland in the 55 minute of the match. On July 1, 2015, Nyland was sold to Bundesliga club Ingolstadt 04, leaving Horvath as Molde's starting goalkeeper at age 20. By the conclusion of the 2015 Tippeligaen, Horvath had helped Molde concede just 31 goals for the season, the second-best mark in the league only behind champions Rosenborg.


title: Ethan Horvath

text: Horvath backstopped Molde to a 5–1 aggregate victory over Pyunik in the second qualifying round of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, before a 4–4 aggregate loss on the away goals rule to Dinamo Zagreb in the third qualifying round. Later, in the playoff round of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, Horvath and Molde had a 3–3 aggregate win on away goals over Standard Liège. With Molde thus qualifying for Europa League Group A, Horvath joined Brad Friedel, Kasey Keller, Tim Howard, and Brad Guzan as the only American goalkeepers ever to play in the UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup group stage.


title: Ethan Horvath

text: On October 2, 2015, Horvath was named to the Europa League Team of the Week, a day after being named Man of the Match for a 1–1 draw against Ajax in which he notched 10 saves, most notably from a point-blank header from Viktor Fischer. Horvath led Molde to a first-place finish in Europa League Group A with successful two-legged fixtures against Ajax, Celtic, and Fenerbahçe, the latter of which featured two saves on Robin van Persie and three saves on Nani. Combining his play in the Tippeligaen and in the Europa League, he had not allowed multiple goals in a match for over two months. In February 2016, Horvath faced eventual Europa League champions Sevilla in the knockout phase and was unable to prevent a 1–3 aggregate defeat of Molde, although he kept a clean sheet in the second leg.


title: Ethan Horvath

text: On January 3, 2017, Horvath signed with Belgium's Club Brugge on a four-and-a-half-year contract. He debuted as Club Brugge's starting goalkeeper on May 5 in the Championship playoffs. After initially letting in a goal due to confusing a whistle from the stands as the referee's whistle, Horvath rebounded to make three saves, and even notched an assist to José Izquierdo off a punt, in a 3–1 victory over Charleroi. The following match, in a 1–1 draw against Anderlecht, Horvath made four saves, including on a penalty kick attempted by Youri Tielemans. Horvath continued to start in goal to close out the season, helping Club Brugge secure a place in the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.


title: Ethan Horvath

text: At the start of the 2017–18 season, Horvath resumed his position as the starting goalkeeper for Club Brugge, starting in the first twelve league matches including ten victories. He also started the Champions League qualifying matches against İstanbul Başakşehir and Europa League qualifying matches against AEK Athens, both of which were defeats on aggregate. However, he was eventually benched and then kept out of the squad for much of the season, not receiving another run of starts until May 2018 in the Belgian First Division A Championship Playoffs. He started three matches in the league playoffs as Club Brugge finished as champions and thus qualified for the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage.


title: Ethan Horvath

text: Horvath began on the bench for Club Brugge in the 2018–19 season behind Croatian international goalkeeper Karlo Letica, but Horvath soon regained the starting job. Horvath posted a trio of consecutive clean sheets against AS Monaco, Borussia Dortmund, and Atlético Madrid in the UEFA Champions League group stage.


title: Ethan Horvath

text: With Simon Mignolet joining Club Brugge ahead of the 2019–20 season, Horvath was once again relegated to the second-choice goalkeeper, being only used sparingly by the club.


title: Ethan Horvath

text: On July 13, 2021, Horvath joined EFL Championship side Nottingham Forest on a free transfer following the expiration of his contract at Club Brugge. On May 29, 2022, Horvath came on as a substitute in Forest's 1–0 play-off final victory over Huddersfield Town at Wembley Stadium in the 90th minute, due to an injury for starting goalkeeper Brice Samba.


title: Ethan Horvath

text: Horvath has represented United States youth teams at every level since U-14. He was named to the U.S. under-20 squad for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, although his club did not release him. He was the U.S. under-23 starting goalkeeper for the CONCACAF–CONMEBOL Olympic qualifying playoff against Colombia, conceding two goals in two matches as U.S. lost on aggregate.


title: Ethan Horvath

text: Horvath was named to the 23-man U.S. squad for the Copa América Centenario held in June 2016. Head coach Jürgen Klinsmann called Horvath one of his "biggest hopes for the future" at the goalkeeper position. On October 7, 2016, Horvath made his U.S. debut, playing the full match and keeping a clean sheet in a 2–0 victory over Cuba.