//...this programme should have been presented by someone with a thorough knowledge of islam and middle eastern politics...//
I've yet to see anybody employed in mainstream media who has any knowledge of Islam, far less a "thorough" one, GymLadTim. And a consequence of that ignorance is that none of them are capable of understanding Middle Eastern politics.
Islam comes with a prayer mat, but it is at its heart a totalitarian political ideology complete with a "perfect" in-built legal system. It is the powerful hold this ideology has over a high proportion of the populations in Muslim majority countries, and, perhaps, especially the Arab ones, which creates a massive inertial force which resists modernisation and change particularly in respect of democratic concepts of equality. Islam teaches that Islam must dominate, and that non-Muslims enjoy rights and are tolerated only to the extent that they accept their inferior status.
And that is why it is difficult to find a successful democracy where Islam is prevalent; and explains the paradox that non-Muslims have enjoyed more tolerance and religious freedom under autocrats. Think through Mubarak->Morsi->Sisi.