Blog
Welcome to our blog, where we present ideas and debate about any broadcasting that deals with morality, ethics and religion. We encourage comments and discussion but we ask that you abide by our terms and conditions.
Latest posts
What Revs think about Rev
The plight of an inner-city vicar is being discussed openly and, for once, sympathetically. One of their number — admittedly, a fictional one — was on the cover of the Radio Times and, perhaps less surprisingly, the Church Times. So you’d expect the Revd Adam Smallbone’s real-life colleagues to be pleased. Not universally. This week […]
A dual reason to celebrate
This year’s Sandford St Martin Award winners will scarcely have had time to hang up their certificates before another religious broadcasting competition comes along. This time it will be the European Television Festival of Religious Programmes, taking place from 11–15 June in the Dutch city of Hilversum, home to many of the country’s broadcasters. Even […]
What’s so funny about Rev?
Some say it’s thin on jokes, others that the humour is gentle though “life affirming” (is that a whisper of faint praise?). I disagree. Little makes me laugh out loud on television – once a month I’d reckon if I was carrying out a time and motion study and I watch TV for a living […]
Songs of Praise or Call the Midwife? Is religious broadcasting about doctrines or doing good?
A Jesuit friend of mine commented that Call the Midwife is the best portrayal of religion he’s seen in a very long time. Why? Because it is non-judgemental, grounded in compassion and deals with real issues. Many think Secret Millionaire does a good job too in showing the world a glimpse of dedicated yet ordinary […]
Death of religious broadcasting greatly exaggerated
Remember when bishops used to berate broadcasters for the reduction in religious programming? In the past month, there’s hardly been a shortage of people discussing their faith on the airwaves, or other programmes reflecting themes of religion and ethics. On Radio 4’s Today programme, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby endorsed Time Magazine’s choice of […]