Four talk show queens chatting about marriage, divorce, homosexuality, incest, masturbation and terrorism.

Nothing unusual in that, you might think. Except that these ladies are broadcasting by satellite across the Arab world - and live in fear that their efforts to spark debate could result in gunmen arriving at their doors.

Presumably not the sort of thing their US counterparts Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg have to think about before going live on The View.

Satellite Queens is a gem of a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the challenges, pitfalls and rewards of telling it like it is in a bid to challenge, inform, enlighten and provoke debate.

The talkshow, called Kalam Nawaem ('Sweet Talk or 'Women's Talk'), boasts 200 million viewers and is the biggest of its kind on the 250-plus satellite channels on offer in the Middle East.

Presenters Farah, from Palestine, Rania, from Lebanon, Fawzia from Egypt, and single mother Muna from Saudi Arabia, are candid as they detail their hopes and fears surrounding their jobs.

"We are not dollybirds, we don't want to be. And that is new, I think, in Arab television." explains Fawzia.

The cameras capture them as they debate (and occasionally bicker) off-air over topics ranging from how a segment on September 11 should be handled to what new shoes they love in the wardrobe department.

They do their best to tread a fine line between enlightening their viewers and preaching to them, and between provoking debate and provoking outrage and offence. The viewing figures peak when they're at their most controversial, and the shows result in bags of fan mail and hate mail in equal measure.

The ladies take it all in their stride even when one letter tells three of the four of them that they're going to hell because they don't wear veils. They make sure they read the angry letters out on air, and tell the writers exactly what they think of them.

This documentary, like the talkshow itself, shakes up commonly-held Western perceptions about attitudes within Muslim societies. It shows how male and female viewers debate the topics at home in their living rooms with candour, passion and occasional outrage.

The film leaves a deep impression of the courage of the four "satellite queens" and their production team.

They are, they explain, determined to push for freedom, tolerance and greater understanding but at the right pace, in the right way.

"When we see change, we celebrate it. When we want to see change, we talk about it," they explain.

You can only commend them for that.