David Baddiel pleased with Infidel success

David Baddiel is amazed at the worldwide response to his film 'The Infidel'.

The British comedian wrote the offbeat comedy about a devoted Muslim who discovers he is actually an adopted Jew, played by comedy actor Omid Djalili, and although he acknowledges it got off to a slow start in the UK he's been blown away by its success worldwide.

Speaking at the Loaded LAFTAs - where the movie picked up Funniest Film - he told BANG Showbiz: "I'm very happy with the way the film has been received. It was put out by a distributor who didn't put a lot of money behind it, it only started out on 29 screens, but now it's sold all around the world and it's grossed a lot of money.

"Which is amazing and being on twitter, I get people every day from all over the world saying, Oh I just saw the 'Infidel' and generally - not always - but generally they say they really liked it.

"And considering that it's about a difficult subject, which is why people wouldn't touch it originally, why it had such a small release, I'm glad that it's managed to get over that and that people think it's funny."

David, 46, added he was pleased his picture, directed by Josh Appignanesi, was recognised over 'Four Lions', another comedy film set within the Muslim community released last year at the LAFTAs comedy awards, run by Loaded magazine.

He added: "Well, I didn't think it would beat 'Four Lions' which is a bigger movie, it had more money behind it, it's really funny, it's got Chris Morris for f**ks sake!

"It's won already more awards than we have, so I'm glad we're receiving this prize, as I'm glad it's us, but I do still like 'Four Lions', I think it's a good movie."