Egypt’s bumbling police get their man, at least on television

THE clock is ticking and the interrogation is tense. Hoping to unravel a plot, the warden of Aqrab (“Scorpion”) prison grills an Islamist seated alone in his cell. He scowls, delivers a warning—and then leaves, his questions unanswered. The scene might confuse anyone familiar with Aqrab, one of Egypt’s most notorious jails, where militants and political prisoners are packed into cramped dungeons and tortured. It looks altogether different on “Kalabsh” (“Handcuffs”), a popular series on Egyptian television. The inmates are clean and their interrogations polite, nary a cattle prod in sight.

In many Arab homes the television is the centrepiece of Ramadan. Families stuff themselves at iftar, a communal meal at sundown, then sprawl in front of the set to watch nightly serials known as mosalsalat. A recent survey found that viewership goes up 78% during the holiday. But these shows are more than entertainment. In a region where governments wield…