Charged with verve and ambition, Quratulain Khan, better known as Annie, has all the ingredients needed to take her to high places. Soft spoken and lady like she commands respect as a producer at HUM TV, and glamorous and confident, she is a woman to be noticed on the catwalk or on the mini-screen when comparing a show. Fashion Collection speaks to her about her past achievements and future plans.

Did you start your career with modeling or production or as a host of TV shows?

I started with modeling but prior to that I had been approached by Telebiz for their BBC programme ‘Face to Face’. I didn’t get the programme but I ended up doing lot of different news anchor jobs for them, such as for Business Round-up, Business-Links and Business Breakfast, as well as helping out with overall production and generally learning the ropes. So it was a simultaneous entry into two fields, more-or-less.

A BRITON who held television viewers spellbound as he enthusiastically sampled every aspect of life in Pakistan, from dire poverty to the gun law of wild tribal areas, was given his reward yesterday — the promise of Pakistani citizenship.

In one of the more challenging reality shows, George Fulton, a burly 26-year-old journalist from Cheshire, was given three months to adapt to life in Pakistan as cameras filmed his every step. The show, George Ka Pakistan (George’s Pakistan), ran every Tuesday evening for 13 weeks and became the most popular show in the overwhelmingly Muslim country.

When Geo TV, a thrusting new channel, ran a teaser campaign this year declaring that “George” was coming to Pakistan, the Islamabad government might have worried.

Why did the Americans not tell them their president was visiting? Was Air Force One circling overhead? Should President Musharraf pull a fresh al-Qaida arrest from his hat?

But there was no reason to worry. Instead of the anti-terror Texan, viewers found George Fulton, a burly and amiable Englishman who became a national celebrity as the star of George ka Pakistan (George’s Pakistan), the nation’s first reality TV show.