Radio Programmes
1. God's Healing Love - The FAQ's
TX: 25/07/2015 Premier Christian Radio Dur: 12’00”
Production Company: Premier Christian Radio / Methodist Central Hall
The FAQ's were a strand away from the normal programme, which took a look at some of the issues around healing and what it does and doesn't represent.
2. God's Healing Love - The FAQ's (Show 4)
TX: 15/08/2015 Premier Christian Radio Dur: 12’00”
Production Company: Premier Christian Radio / Methodist Central Hall
Show #4 (Second entry from the FAQ Series for God's Healing Love)
3. Premier Drive - Simon May
TX: 14/09/2015 Premier Christian Radio Dur: 27’13”
Production Company: Premier Christian Radio
He's probably one of the best song writers around and has had his music played into peoples homes for more than 30 years. Simon May is the man behind the EastEnder's and Howards Way theme songs (to name but a few!), and joined Loretta to chat about some of his work in music, how he's using those talents to help others, and why he decided now was the time to write a book.
4. The Premier Drive FAQ Sessions - Why Do Some Prayers Work, And Others Don't?
TX: 12/11/2015 Premier Christian Radio Dur: 10’00”
Production Company: Premier Christian Radio
This was put together in conjunction with the 24-7 Prayer Movement's UK Director, Brian Heasley.
5. The Note
TX: 14/12/2015 Premier Christian Radio Dur: 06’13”
Production Company: Richard Littledale
The story was written and narrated by Richard Littledale, with music by Andrew Stamp and produced by Elliott James Frisby. The whole thing was taken from concept to launch in 89 days, with money from every sale going to Tommy's the Baby Charity
You can read the story about how The Note came together here. There is a collection of associated pictures here, and this post includes a 1-minute sample. The radio interview from December 14th (which was then followed by the full airplay of the story) is here.
6. Life Matters: Prayer
TX: 17/05/2015 RTE Radio 1 Dur: 27'00"
Production Company: Colette Kinsella Independent Radio Producer
No additional information supplied.
7. Christmas: In Search of Mary
TX: 21/12/2015 Things Unseen website (www.thingsunseen.co.uk) Dur:39’01”
Production Company: CTVC
Alison Hilliard grew up a Protestant in Ian Paisley’s Northern Ireland, where any devotion to Mary was scorned; Mark Dowd is a cradle Catholic and former friar; and Remona Aly is a Muslim who loves Christmas, but approaches Mary very much from an Islamic perspective.
In this Christmas edition of Things Unseen, these three very different people go on pilgrimage together in search of the mother of the Christ child. Their destination is Walsingham in North Norfolk, “England’s Nazareth” and its most important shrine to Mary.
All three are Things Unseen presenters and, by background, critical journalists.
Yet as they meet Mary through each other and the people they speak to in Walsingham, astonishing stories emerge: stories of visions and prayers answered, of motherly love and comfort – and of Mary as a strong woman and disciple who has none of the sugary, sentimental qualities so often attributed to her.
Among many positive audience responses, one listener called this programme "a perfect gem, which deserves far wider exposure and a much bigger audience, instead of being tucked away on the internet".
8. High Street Hijabis
TX: 14/07/2015 BBC Radio 1/1Xtra Stories Dur: 60’00”
Production Company: BBC Radio 1
Original BBC Programme Page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b061pmqh
Nicola Roberts of Girls Aloud fame and Muslim style and beauty vlogger Nabiilabee join together to explore why so many young Muslim women are turning to 'modest fashion' vloggers for inspiration on how to interpret their Western identities coupled with their Eastern religion and cultures.
The pair set out to uncover the truth about hijabis and the modest fashion movement. Along the way they will be set a £100 challenge to try and shop for each other on the UK high street. How will Nicola fare when choosing a modest fashion outfit and will Nabiilabee rise to the challenge of finding an outfit for Nicola?
Nicola and Nabiilabee will also be speaking to high street chains, high end labels and an Islamic scholar to explore the emergence of the modest fashion movement. They will be asking whether dressing stylishly conflicts with religion and trying to discover why British high streets and UK fashion houses have not yet tapped into this potential market.
9. Ramadan Express
TX: 10/07/2015 Things Unseen website (www.thingsunseen.co.uk) Dur: 28’27”
Production Company: CTVC
Mark Dowd is a radio and TV presenter and a former Dominican monk. Alison Hilliard has spent many years living in the Middle East and Africa and helping faith groups protect the environment.
Both are Things Unseen presenters. Both are rooted in their Christian faith. In this programme, their colleague Remona Aly challenges them to join her in the Ramadan fast for one long, hot summer’s day.
Which means starting with a meal and prayer at 2 o’clock in the morning. Going without food or water increasingly tests their physical stamina as the hours pass – but it also gives them personal insights into the meaning of such a rigorous fasting regime.
Mark and Alison challenge Remona (a veteran of twenty years’ fasting) in turn, asking whether such a tough regime is in danger of breeding spiritual pride, and questioning what the purpose of Ramadan really is.
The day ends at the London Muslim Centre with carrot cake and non-alcoholic beer, and a reflection on what the experience has done for each one of them.
We are submitting this programme because it is an unusually personal and experiential approach to opening up the meaning and practices of Ramadan to a non-Muslim audience.
10. Art in Heaven? By Ali Smith
Series: On Earth As It is in Heaven
Episode 1
TX: 30/03/2015 BBC Radio 3 Dur: 13’30” The Essay
Production Company: Cast Iron Radio
Art in Heaven? by Ali Smith
Author Ali Smith begins this series of essays on the Lord's Prayer. She focuses on the first lines, "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name".
Later essays in the series are by British Muslim Academic Mona Siddiqui, Rabbi Julia Neuberger, poet and undertaker Thomas Lynch and poet and author Andrew Motion. Each writer examines a line of the prayer with a modern day searchlight, bringing theological knowledge, personal memory, poetic insight and imagination to our understanding of this prayer, murmured by millions every day.
In all it's not even sixty words long and, as it appears in the Gospel according to Matthew, it's introduced by Jesus as a 'how to pray' guide: 'This then, is how you should pray". Today it's bound with the need to express our longing for a better world and something we all share, but what do these short lines mean and how do they help?
BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05nscjh
11. Daily Bread by Rabbi Julia Neuberger
Series: On Earth as It is in Heaven
Episode 3
TX: 01/04/2015 BBC Radio 3 Dur: 13.30 The Essay
Production Company: Cast Iron Radio
Rabbi Julia Neuberger considers the middle section of the Lord's Prayer. She reflects on the line "Give us this day our daily bread".
Other essays in the series are by author, Ali Smith, British Muslim Academic Mona Siddiqui, poet and undertaker Thomas Lynch and poet and author Andrew Motion. Each writer examines a line of the prayer with a modern day searchlight, bringing theological knowledge, personal memory, poetic insight and imagination to our understanding of this prayer, murmured by millions every day.
In all it's not even sixty words long and, as it appears in the Gospel according to Matthew, it's introduced by Jesus as a 'how to pray' guide: 'This then, is how you should pray". Today it's bound with the need to express our longing for a better world and something we all share, but what do these short lines mean and how do they help?
BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05nt04k
12. Contemporary Art and the Church presented by Fiona Shaw
TX: 24/05/2015 BBC Radio 3 Dur: 43’40” Sunday Feature
Production Company: Cast Iron Radio
With the Holy See's pavilion gleaming amidst other nations' exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, the world's greatest contemporary art festival, Fiona Shaw asks can contemporary art be reunified with the church?
Since the big bust up with contemporary art at the beginning of the 20th century, when the so-called "evil" force of Modernism that Pope Pius X believed "led to the annihilation of all religion", the Christian church has been a cautious commissioner of contemporary art. But a voice from within, that of Monsignor Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, is trying to end the stand-off.
Fiona Shaw travels to Rome to meet the Cardinal and hear more about his passion to reinstate "the marriage between art and faith".
Ravasi has said, "There is an insoluble problem in the coexistence of art and religion and faith, but there's no need for the Catholic Church to retreat and lose contact with the contemporary art world by remaining stuck in the "reliable" neo-Gothic, neo-Romantic, neo-Classical styles that are perfectly coherent with religion...It's time to grow our relationship with the creative artists and creative energy of the artist... "
In London, the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields has been actively working with contemporary artists for a decade, while Canon Mark Oakley at St Paul's Cathedral is equally committed and is delighted that St Paul's is the first setting for a permanent video work by the American artist Bill Viola.
We'll hear from artists including Cornelia Parker and Dorothy Cross, who discuss the early influence of the church and the allure of Christian stories and iconography in their own work, but they also reflect on the contradiction of contemporary art and the Church, which as we hear is that art sets out to ask questions, while the Church exists to console and answer them.
BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05w7r5k
Links to the wider story: http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/04/09/holy_see_introduces_pavilion_for_biennale_di_venezia_2 015/1135600 http://www.newstatesman.com/cultural-capital/2012/11/cardinal-culture http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/8th-june-2013/4/sacred-visions-for-our-time-laura-gascoigne-this-y
13. Heart and Soul - 'The Power of Forgiveness'
TX: 18/12/2015 BBC World Service Dur: 16’29”
Production Company: Radio Factual North for the BBC World Service
In an extraordinary moment that had a huge impact around the globe just two days after nine members of the congregation of the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston were shot dead, the family members of those murdered stood in a courtroom and offered the alleged killer Dylann Roof their forgiveness.
Jane Little travels to South Carolina to explore how the families were able to voice their forgiveness to Roof so quickly, and what it is within their Christian faith which meant that they were compelled to offer Roof their forgiveness.
She also explores how some African-Americans were critical of the idea of forgiving, suggesting that offering forgiveness was nothing more than ‘free pass’ for white Americans to maintain a complacent attitude to its deep structural racism
Producer and Presenter: Jane Little
Series Producer: Richard McIlroy
Editor: Nicola Swords
Commissioning Editor: Tony Phillips
14. Faith In The Forces
TX: 26/09/2015 BFBS Radio Dur: 23' 36"
BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) is proud to be the Forces station.
‘Faith in the Forces’ explores the role that religion plays in the Armed Forces, in 21st century Britain and asks, “Does Faith matter”?
We follow the work of Christian, Muslim and Buddhist chaplains from across all three services; looking at both the pastoral and the practical support they bring to service personnel at home, to those posted overseas and to those serving in Operational, sometimes hostile, locations.
Views on the perception that religion in the Forces is ‘Institutionalised’, are heard from Secularists, Humanists and others of no faith. Throughout the programme, soldiers, sailors and airmen and women, reflect on what Faith means to them, as well as how, or if, it affects the way they carry out their professional duties.
BFBS broadcasts to all three services; British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Target audience age 16-55.
BFBS broadcasts to Armed Forces audiences in Afghanistan, Kenya, Sierra Leone, The Middle East, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Nepal and Northern Ireland on FM, online and on DAB digital radio in the UK.
Producer/Presenter: Tim Humphries
Producer: Mario Chrisostomou
15. In Our Time: Josephus
TX: 21/05/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 42’00”
Production Company: Factual Radio, BBC
Please note that, for your convenience, we have submitted the podcast version of this live programme. The podcast is the unedited audio of the live programme, so has not been altered in any way. You can also hear the live programme indefinitely on the website http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05vfdzl
This is the link to the audio sent to [email protected] https://www.dropbox.com/s/5t4zspdjpr3ave9/InOurTime-20150521-Josephus.mp3?dl=0
16. Easter Expectations – Atheist
TX: 05/04/2015 Pulse 1 Dur: 01’12”
Production Company: Reach Beyond/WYSOCS
(One of a series of five audio shorts played on Pulse 1 Easter morning every hour between 8am and 12pm.) Part of a series of minute long audio spots, designed to provide short bursts of entertainment and thought to Pulse 1 listeners on Easter Sunday.
The series explores different opinions and worldviews on death and the afterlife, represented by five different male characters who are all slightly obsessed with ferrets. With only three months to live they ask themselves the question – is there an afterlife, and if so, what is it like?
Each spot stands on its own as a humorous yet thought-provoking package for commercial radio listeners, but are all connected by an Easter theme.
17. Easter Expectations – Twinkly Star
TX: 05/04/2015 Pulse 1 Dur: 01’16”
Production Company: Reach Beyond/WYSOCS
(One of a series of five audio shorts played on Pulse 1 Easter morning every hour between 8am and 12pm.)
Part of a series of minute long audio spots, designed to provide short bursts of entertainment and thought to Pulse 1 listeners on Easter Sunday.
The series explores different opinions and worldviews on death and the afterlife, represented by five different male characters who are all slightly obsessed with ferrets. With only three months to live they ask themselves the question – is there an afterlife, and if so, what is it like?
Each spot stands on its own as a humorous yet thought-provoking package for commercial radio listeners, but are all connected by an Easter theme.
18. Not Now
TX: 19/11/2015 BBC Radio 4 43’40”
Production Company: Radio Drama, BBC Radio Scotland
Real-time 45 minute drama set around a kitchen table in contemporary Belfast. A teenager and his 39 year old uncle go head-to-head in a funny and dark drama about sexual and religious tensions.
It's the day of Kyle's father's funeral. His father was a man of faith. Kyle and his Uncle Vic aren't. But for the first time in his life, Kyle's considering the benefits of prayer. In the end, however, it'll be his Uncle that finds some form of salvation after he's forced to look afresh at his prejudices and his past.
19. Harvest and Us
TX: 20/09/2015 The UKRD commercial radio network Dur: 05’15”
Production Company: Reach Beyond
An interview and music based feature for the UKRD network, discussing the Harvest Festival and the importance of Harvest time generally in the UK. With insights from ecological and agricultural experts, as well as a British farmer, the piece is a thought provoking package intended to entertain and raise awareness of Harvest and its links to the church and faith at this time of year.
20. Easter Makeover
TX: 04/09/2015 The UKRD commercial radio network Dur: 4’51”
Production Company: Reach Beyond
Short feature exploring popular interest in makeover TV, and the Easter message of deeper transformation. Music and interviews.
21. A Trophy Life
TX: 29/06/2015 The UKRD commercial radio network Dur: 5’11”
Production Company: Reach Beyond
Short feature about the Wimbledon tennis championships, asking if a different journey and trophy might be available to us all – the gift of grace and eternal life. Music and interviews.
23. smallVOICE podcast May 2015
TX: 08/05/2015 www.smallvoice.org.uk Dur: 59'46"
Production Company: GRF Christian Radio
The smallVOICE podcast is a monthly mix of chat, music and features.
In this podcast: - the team reviews the film drama, The Good Lie, based on true stories of Sudanese refugees moving to the United States (starring Reece Witherspoon )
- the Rev Dave Tomlinson shares his picture that is worth 'A Thousand Words' - two lovely pieces of music in the studio from Brian McGlynn, and Ciaran+Katy
- Holly pitches for the 'Shelf Life' of Anne Lamott's book, Tralling Mercies
- And in the 'Moral Mixdown' feature, the team discusses the funeral of the unknown baby at an Edinburgh crematorium. http://www.smallvoice.org.uk/smallvoice-podcast-may-2015/
24. Sex and the Synod: Decision Time
TX: 17/11/2015 BBC World Service Dur: 27’00”
Production Company: BBC Radio Current Affairs
This programme is the third and final episode of a three-part series, broadcast to a huge and diverse audience across the globe on the BBC World Service. In the series, reporter Helen Grady takes us behind the scenes of the battle at the heart of the Catholic Church over its teachings on sex and the family. Some of its most senior figures speak with unusual openness about a crucial moment in Pope Francis’ campaign to create a more merciful Church. In the first two episodes, Helen got to know both sides in this Catholic culture war, travelling to Austria and Kenya to meet ordinary believers and the Cardinals who would represent them at the Synod. In Austria, she found that even devout Catholics were ignoring Church rules and that their Cardinal takes a pragmatic approach, preaching a theology of “gradualism” – meeting people where they are. In Kenya, Helen learned that, while many church-goers break the rules when it comes to contraception and sex outside marriage, they do not want those rules to change and their Cardinal is ready to refuse Communion to gay Catholics and to those who've remarried or otherwise broken with Church teaching.
In this final episode, Helen travels to Rome to find out what happens when Pope Francis brings together church leaders with such radically different views. All the key meetings take place behind closed doors, but like any big gathering there are lobbies, briefings and leaks. So she sets about infiltrating the liberal and reformist camps to find a way through the spin and intrigue that are part and parcel of reporting on the Vatican. What emerges is not - as it is often represented - simply a struggle between liberals and conservatives, but also one between the dark arts of earthly church politics and the Holy Spirit that Catholics believe animates the Synod.
25. Chrismukkah and other cultural mashups
TX: 20/12/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 27’35”
Production Company: Loftus Media
“Recent tragic events have made us aware of the divisive effect of religion. This programme, all about pluralism and integration, provides the right kind of balance this holiday season. Chrismukkah is a word coined to describe the festival celebrated by some Jewish/Christian families. We also hear of a Muslim Easter egg hunt. Truly a glimmer of light in the darkness.” – David McGillivray, Radio Times.
As the number of inter-faith marriages in Britain increases, we uncover a growing phenomenon - the cultural mash-up. Sharmini Selvarajah meets the families who are getting creative as they combine different religious and cultural traditions to create their own unique festivals. Embracing multiple festivals has always come naturally to Sharmini. She grew up in a British-Asian family, celebrating Christmas, Diwali and Tamil New Year. Now that she's married to a Jewish American, Passover, Thanksgiving and July 4th also feature.
Every year she throws a Chrismukkah party for family and friends, where latkes sit next to mince pies on the table, and Christmas carols are sung alongside Hanukkah blessings. She's curious about how other mixed families combine their various beliefs and customs.
The Sommers celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. Their blue and white Christmas tree is topped by a homemade star of David. Their three sons say the best part of combining Jewish and Christian December traditions is "double the presents - double the fun!" But their Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Romain, warns that not all interfaith couples are prepared for the challenges of the festive season: "It's a time of year that can be for some families enormously enriching, but for others it's a major trauma. And it brings all issues of mixed faith marriage to the fore, issues they've been able to sweep under the carpet for the rest of the year." Sharmini spends Easter Monday hunting for chocolate eggs with Amy who's a Christian, her Muslim husband Takbir, and their extended family. But she also hears from those who don't feel so positively about mashing things up. Is there a risk of diluting celebrations by merging them, so that each is inadequately marked? Does it lead to confusion for children growing up in interfaith families? The strength of this programme lay in Sharmini’s connection to the topic – it was very personal to her. The questions she asked the interviewees came from her own experience of navigating interfaith family life. It resonated with other people in similar situations:
“What a brilliant piece of broadcasting! It raises important issues and in a delightful way.” – a listener
“As a fairly secular English Jew married to an American with a very observant family, it rang many a bell…” – a listener
And finally, a review from The Observer: “Chrismukkah comes but once a year – or not at all. It was coined in 2003 on a cult American TV show. It means a mixed faith celebration – a “cultural mash-up”. Presenter Sharmini Selvarajah is from a British-Asian family and grew up celebrating Diwali, Christmas and Tamil New Year. Her husband is a Jewish American, and this programme was a buoyant exploration of how she and her family combine Christmas and Hanukkah and of how other inter-faith families mix and match. It would seem that where religions are cheerfully blended, family is the force behind the compromises. And in these cases, although no one is admitting it (too uncomfortable an idea to broach?), keeping the family happy emerges as more important than – if not quite a substitute for – religion itself.
Sharmini’s mother-in-law was trying to keep her daughter-in-law happy (she was the guest, she needed to tiptoe) but could not hide her misgivings about having your Christmas cake and your sufganiyot. She wondered about identity. How would her grandchildren know to which religion they belonged? But for the grandchildren, celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah meant double the fun and double the sweets. A rabbi, Dr Jonathan Romain, professed tolerance but then let slip that he thought it a “bit dishonest” to try and blend festivals, a compromise of “different integrities”. He threw in a cautionary tale: he remembered how a Christmas tree purchased by a Christian wife was received by her Jewish husband as “a declaration of religious war”. What was most benignly persuasive was the finding that “tradition” turns out to mean whatever you experienced in childhood. It is these traditions (however customised, loose or irregular) that are later replicated: festive heirlooms.”
26. The Islamic State Social Media Machine Episode One
TX: 05/05/2015 BBC World Service and BBC News Website Dur: 28’00”
Production Company: BBC News Current Affairs
This is the first of a two-part series presented by BBC reporter Dominic Casciani and produced by Anna Meisel exploring how the fighting group that styles itself "Islamic State" has used social media and propaganda to hook would-be recruits in the West and challenge governments and other actors in the Middle East. The series was the first substantial documentary in mainstream British media of the IS social media phenomenon.
In the first episode of two, we report from Calgary on the story of a young Canadian convert to Islam who died in Syria after being convinced to go and fight, largely because of what he saw and learnt online. We tell the story of his mother who understood and supported his journey to Islam - but has struggled to come to terms with his death.
The episode critically examines how governments have struggled to find a response to online jihadist propaganda, how the internet giants are arguably ducking the issue and, critically, why Muslim communities and their supporters are starting to find their own way to fight back. This first episode was supported by an extended written feature on the BBC News website, telling the story of the young man who died in Syria.
In a review for The Observer, radio critic Miranda Sawyer praised the documentary for how it had explored this incredibly difficult topic and the “elusive, essential notions of home and away, of family and where you belong”.
Supporting Links: Observer Review http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/may/10/lemn-sissay-homecoming-documentary- islamic-state-social-media-machine-gruen-effect-radio-review
BBC News website feature http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32539638
Alternative file link to documentary https://www.dropbox.com/s/dap2c5fxe0sqdw9/Islamic_State_Social_Media_Machine_Ep1.mp3?dl=0
About the production team Dominic Casciani is a BBC Correspondent who has spent a decade covering terrorism, ideology and community. He prefers to take tea in a mosque to tea in Whitehall. Anna Meisel is a BBC Current Affairs producer who specialises in radio documentaries. The Editor of the Islamic State Social Media Machine series was Jeremy Skeet.
27. The Islamic State Social Media Machine Episode Two of Two
TX: 12/05/2015 BBC World Service and BBC News Website Dur: 28’00”
Production Company: BBC News Current Affairs
This is the second of a two-part series presented by BBC reporter Dominic Casciani and produced by Anna Meisel exploring how the fighting group that styles itself “Islamic State” has used social media and propaganda to hook would-be recruits and challenge governments, the religious establishment and other actors in the Middle East. The series was the first substantial radio documentary in mainstream British media to examine the IS social media phenomenon.
In this episode, we tell the story of how an entire nation, Jordan, has debated and struggled how to respond to the online provocations of IS. At the heart of the story is the death of one of its pilots, whose murder by IS was filmed and presented online as an ideological challenge to the established political, religious and social order.
In a broadcasting first for the Western media, we interview the Grand Mufti of Jordan who is candid about how the religious establishment has struggled to confront ISIS’s powerful online presence - but we also meet the “e-Muftis”, his new team of young scholars who say they are determined to challenge online jihadism.
Taken with the first episode (see related entry), the IS Social Media Machine series explores whether the global community can find social and religious responses to jihadism beyond relying on military and diplomatic means alone.
This episode of the series was supported by an extended written feature on the BBC News website, telling the story of the e-Muftis and a related feature for BBC Radio Four’s From Our Own Correspondent.
BBC News website feature http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32697424
Alternative file link to documentary https://www.dropbox.com/s/if4mvqydnuwotvq/Islamic_State_Social_Media_Machine_Ep2.mp3?dl=0
About the production team
Dominic Casciani is a BBC Correspondent who has spent a decade covering terrorism, ideology and community. He prefers to take tea in a mosque to tea in Whitehall.
Anna Meisel is a BBC Current Affairs producer who specialises in radio documentaries.
The Editor of the Islamic State Social Media Machine series was Jeremy Skeet.
28. Incarnations Buddha - Waking India Up
TX: 11/05/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 13'36"
Production Company: BBC Radio Current Affairs
This is the first in a series of 25 programmes broadcast in the summer of 2015, each profiling a remakable character from the history of the Indian subcontinent. A second series of 25 programmes will be broadcast in the spring of 2016. Many other religious and spiritual figures were profiled in the series, including Mahavira Jain, Basavanna and Mirabai. The concept of the series was to bring some of the huge and little-known history of India to life, emphasising its continuing relevance to the modern day. The programmes were written and presented by Professor Sunil Khilnani of the Kings India Institute with original music by Talvin Singh. This episode was produced by Mark Savage The editor was Hugh Levinson. Other episodes in the series were produced by a team in BBC Wales of producers Jeremy Grange and Martin Williams and editor Martin Smith.
29. The Lost Children of the Holocaust - Witness, BBC World Service
TX:09/05/2015 BBC World Service Dur: 55’00”
Production Company: BBC World Service
Following the end of the Second World War, the BBC began a series of special radio appeals on behalf of a group of children who had survived the Holocaust but were now stranded in post-war Europe. They'd lost their families in the genocide but they believed they might have relatives in Britain. A recording of one of these moving broadcasts still exists in the BBC archives. 70 years on, this Witness Special joins the BBC's Alex Last as he tries to find out what happened to the children named in the recording. 12 were named in the broadcast, and they had been in concentration camps including Auschwitz, Mühldorf, Kaufering, Theresienstadt, Belsen, and Dachau. Were any of the m able to find their relatives and were any of them still alive? The search involved months of work and took Alex to Germany, Israel and the United States as he traced the survivors. Five are still alive today and four were well enough to speak to Alex as he pieced together the stories of lost children of the Holocaust. It is an extraordinary story of courage and humanity born out of atrocity. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02qh7v5
Online magazine piece: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32589411
Credits:
Reporter/Producer Alex Last
Producer Rob Walker
Editor Kirsty Reid
The Lost Children of the Holocaust, Witness
Impact: Paul Donovan, The Sunday Times (3/5/15)
‘Appeals on radio have long been with us. Not politicians’ appeals to voters, still flooding the airwaves; nor charities’ appeals for money, though they have been going since 1923. The more powerful appeals are for people’s ears, in times of desperation. Small children sent emotional messages to their fathers overseas in It’s All Yours, a hands-across-the-water Second World War show that launched Petula Clark and may be recalled in this VE Day 70th-anniversary week. SOS bulletins asking named individuals to contact a relative who was “dangerously ill” went out on the Home Service, and then Radio 4, for decades. The BBC World Service reached out a comforting hand to Britons abroad with Calling the Falklands and Gulf Link.
By far the most searing appeals of this type were heard on the Home Service in 1946. Entitled Captive Children: An Appeal from Germany, they were read out by David Lloyd James, later Radio 4’s head of presentation, on behalf of 45 children who had survived the Nazi camps. They were marooned, their parents gone. Stranded in displacement centres, they sought relatives in Britain, because their parents had passed on names before they died.
Thus it was that listeners heard, for example, in Lloyd James’s clipped tones: “I call Karch, Zelma Karch, who may be living in London. I call her on behalf of her 16-year-old cousin, Helen Burman, born in Poland, who was separated from her family at the age of 12 and made to work in an ammunition factory. Her father, mother, sister and brother were sent to Treblinka extermination camp...”
Only one of these recordings still exists. It features 12 children, and Witness, the World Service history series, decided to see what had happened to them. The results can be heard in an extraordinary programme called The Lost Children of the Holocaust, at 7.06pm on Saturday.
Alex Last, its reporter and producer, helped by the International Tracing Service in Germany and the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem, traced 11 of the 12. Five were still alive. Four were well enough to be interviewed, three in Los Angeles, one in Tel Aviv. They are Gunter, now Gary, Wolff, 86; Jacob, now Jack, Bresler, 86; Fela Katz, now Zippora Friedman, 83 next week; and Sala Landowicz, now Sally Marco, 91.
They are interviewed in an exemplary manner and tell of things both terrible and hopeful. Acquiring too many shoes because they can still remember the frostbite from forced marches; a mother screaming as her daughter was wrenched from her arms by a Nazi guard; scraps of food; human skeletons; postwar chaos, travel and work; the all-conquering survival instinct; a brother who lived through the camps only to die in the Arab-Israeli war of 1948; the importance of family.
Other VE shows will be more triumphalist, such as Saturday’s Horse Guards concert on Radio 2 and wartime sitcoms on 4 Extra. Classic FM’s live Albert Hall concert next Sunday celebrates the allies’ victory in Europe — this programme shows why it was so vital.’
Tracing the Children of the Holocaust
Link to BBC Online Magazine piece written by Alex Last to accompany his documentary: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32589411
Published 9/5/15
30. The Nativity
TX: 25/12/2015 WCR Community Radio 105.5FM Dur: 36’00”
Production Company: WCR Community Radio
No additional information supplied.
31. Objections at the Wedding, Heart and Soul
TX: 19/06/2015 BBC World Service Dur: 28’00”
Production Company: Whistledown Productions
Broadcast just weeks before the US Supreme Court decision that federally recognised same-sex marriage, this bold documentary examined religious-based objections to gay marriage in the state of Kentucky. Gary Younge met with pastors, parishioners and activists on both sides of the aisle to talk about the issue and engage in non-judgmental, constructive dialogue.
Programme Description:
Many traditional religious Americans feel under attack. As the US Supreme Court decides on the future of same-sex marriage, journalist Gary Younge takes a step back to understand the anger, the concerns and the personal faith-based objections to the issue.
Gary takes a trip to Louisville, Kentucky where same-sex marriage is banned. Just across the Ohio River, in the state of Indiana, same-sex marriage is legal. In this uniquely-placed city, Gary meets pastors and parishioners across the spectrum to talk about the issue. He finds a Baptist Church that defied the state and began performing same-sex marriage ceremonies with a fair amount of backlash. He also speaks to Christian leaders opposed to same-sex marriage that feel like they have been demonised. In Louisville, Gary discovers how divisive same-sex marriage has become and how the issue has deeply impacted American faith.
32. Divided in Death, Heart and Soul
TX: 31/10/2015 BBC World Service Dur: 26’30”
Production Company: Whistledown Productions
With half of American Jews marrying someone outside their religion, interfaith weddings have become commonplace. Joining people together across religious barriers in life has become easier. However, many interfaith couples are discovering they face the prospect of being divided in death.
According to tradition, Jews and non-Jews are not allowed to be buried together. But the growth in interfaith marriage has created a new demand for burial sites that can accommodate non-Jewish spouses. In Massachusetts, there are now half a dozen Jewish cemeteries that officially accept interfaith families.
These sites are separated from the rest of the cemetery by a six foot boundary, usually made up of a hedge or a path. Some progressive rabbis question this tradition, but others think a hedge can’t get around the edict that Jews should only be buried alongside other Jews. Here, broader theological debates collide with many couples’ feelings about the meaning of their relationships in death. For Heart and Soul, Sharmini Selvarajah travels to Massachusetts to meet rabbis on both sides of the issue, to visit interfaith burial plots and to speak with interfaith couples about the sometimes painful decisions they’ve made for their funeral arrangements. As part of an interfaith couple herself, will what Sharmini hears help her to decide the best way forward for her own.
33. The Choice of Judas
TX: 03/04/2015 Premier Christian Radio Dur: 26’20”
Production Company: Premier Christian Radio
Did Judas choose to betray Jesus, or was he fulfilling God's will?
Was his betrayal central to God's plan being fulfilled? Should we thanking Judas, as his actions led to the death and resurrection of Jesus?
In a new documentary, Lisa Mainwaring looks at whether Judas really was the baddie of the Bible.
34. Act of Worship: Remembrance: Fran
TX: 11/08/2015 BBC Radio Merseyside Dur: 30’03”
Production Company: BBC Radio Merseyside
No additional information supplied.
35. Act of Worship: Fiona Castle
TX: 19/04/2015 BBC Radio Merseyside Dur:
Production Company: BBC Radio Merseyside
No additional information supplied.
36. Aliyah
TX: 16/06/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 43’24”
Production Company: BBC Radio Drama
Aliyah by Becky Prestwich
When her son becomes increasingly obsessed with Judaism and disappears, Rosa, a die-hard atheist is forced to make a journey to Jerusalem. Her elderly father, David travels with her. They eventually make their way to the Meah She'arim district, the largest Haredim community in Israel, an Orthodox enclave, founded in the 19th Century. There is a clash of cultures which brings things to a head in Rosa's own family relationships with her father and her son. An affecting drama about three generations of a family and faith.
Produced and Directed by Pauline Harris
37. A World Elsewhere
TX: 30/06/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 43’30”
Production Company: BBC Radio Drama
A WORLD ELSEWHERE by Clara Glynn
Rida is a Glasgow teenager. Like a lot of teenagers she argues with her mum, stresses about exams and spends too long on her computer. But as a young Muslim the pressures that she faces in her life, and the escape that she dreams of online, may contain dangers she has yet to imagine.
This innovative radio drama all takes place in Rida's online world – the place where she feels she can most be herself. We listen to the YouTube clips she finds, her instant messaging with friends and the bloggers she reads.
A WORLD ELSEWHERE is a sensitive portrayal of one girl's path to radicalisation.
Producer/director: David Ian Neville
38. Shoah In Jerusalem
TX: 13/12/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 27'47"
Production Company: Open Audio
This half-hour documentary, presented by Guardian columnist and broadcaster Jonathan Freedland, tells an extraordinary story never told before, in any medium - the story of a single day in Jerusalem, when Israel came face to face with the event that has haunted it from its founding in 1948. It recounts, in the words of those who were there, the Israeli premiere of Claude Lanzmann's nine and a half hour masterpiece: Shoah.
The audience that day was as remarkable as the film. There were survivors and their children, including several who in the course of Shoah told of their traumatic experiences for the very first time. But also present was the country’s president, its prime minister, its chief rabbi and the head of the army. It was all but a state occasion. It was as if, for a few intense hours, hushed and in the dark, Israel itself wrestled with the range of emotions the Holocaust stirs in the world’s only Jewish country: shame, pride, guilt, pain. The story of that day in Jerusalem is also the story of Israel’s, and the Jewish world's, complicated relationship with the Holocaust.
The programme hears from those who were there, recalling the burning intensity of that long screening. One survivor fainted; another suffered a stroke. We hear from the then prime minister, Shimon Peres, who found it too much to bear. From "Kajik", one of the last survivors of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. And, in the programme's denouement, we hear from the man behind that remarkable film and remarkable day: the elusive genius, Claude Lanzmann himself.
Review by Gillian Reynolds in The Telegraph - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/what-to-listen-to/gillian-reynolds-shoah-is-so-shocking-it-was- watched-in-silence/
39. Remembrance Sunday with Cathy Macdonald
TX: 08/11/2015 BBC Radio Scotland Dur: 1hr 55mins
Production Company: BBC Scotland
Programme billing:
This week Cathy Macdonald presents a special programme, as we take time to think of those lost to war this Remembrance Sunday.
Journalist and writer, Maxwell MacLeod, is the son of the late luminary, George MacLeod, founder of The Iona Community. Maxwell shares some of his father's experiences as a 22 year old officer in WW1. He'll also be talking about the inspiration behind the launch of a prize for "aggressive optimism."
In 1940 when Benito Mussolini declared war on Britain and France, all Italians living in the UK were declared enemy aliens – Mo McCullough hears some of their stories.
Anna Magnusson explores different kinds of remembrance through personal stories and significant places and, with
Bishop David Chillingworth, shares thoughts on the human cost of war.
Grace Brown was a very private woman, even with her own family. It was only after her death, when the family discovered her diary, that they learned what she had endured as a prisoner of war in the Far East in WW2. Reporter Bob Dickson visits Grace's family to hear more about her experience.
40. All Things Considered: Menna Elfyn
TX: 25/01/2015 BBC Radio Wales Dur: 27’19”
Production Company: Religious Programmes Team, BBC Radio Wales
Roy Jenkins is in conversation with the Welsh language poet Menna Elfyn who was made the inaugural president of the Welsh centre of PEN in 2014, the international writers’ organisation which promotes access to literature and defends freedom of expression. Roy asks her about her life and her work, from her non-conformist background which continues to influence her, to the many national and international causes to which she has leant her voice. The programme also includes Menna’s own readings of her poetry, in English translation.
41. All Things Considered - Gen Verde
TX: 04/02/2015 BBC Radio Wales Dur: 27'44"
Production Company: Religious Programmes Team, BBC Radio Wales For one young woman, an encounter with performing arts group Gen Verde was literally a lifesaving event.
Gen Verde is a group of 21 women from 13 countries based in Italy. They’re all committed to Focolare, a movement for peace and unity rooted in the Roman Catholic Church, but with members from all Christian traditions, and some from other world faiths - and none. They live and work together, dedicating their lives to working for a world in which “All May Be One”.
During an eleven-week tour of Britain in the autumn of 2015, they spent a week in Wales working with young people from two schools which culminated in a public concert for 300 people. We followed them during the week to explore their spirituality and how it’s lived out and to observe their approach to working with young people in dealing with fears of difference and diversity in all walks of life.
42. Young British and Imam-in-Training
TX: 24/05/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 28'08"
Production Company: A&M Documentaries
Almost half of Britain's Muslim population is under 25 and born in Britain. Yet many of the country's imams are foreign-born and elderly, leading to claims that they can be out of touch with their communities.
After the 7/7 bombings in 2005, the UK government launched 'Prevent', an anti-radicalisation strategy to tackle extremism in the UK. An emphasis on 'homegrown' imams - born and trained in the UK - was seen as key in engaging young Muslims and curbing extremism.
A decade on, Samira Ahmed explores the changing role of the imam in Britain. Under an increasing media spotlight, their job includes not just the traditional roles of teaching and leading prayers, but counselling and pastoral care, helping third and fourth generations understand their identity as British Muslims. It can be a 24/7 role and the pay can be terrible. At the same time they are finding themselves pulled between the demands of the government, media, their communities and more traditional, conservative mosque committees and trustees.
Samira visits the seminaries and colleges where many of Britain's imams are trained, and meets graduates who have left behind mosques, instead providing spiritual guidance online or in their own homes. She asks whether the next generation of Britain's imams are equipped to provide the spiritual guidance and community engagement necessary to help young Muslims come to terms with their identity in increasingly challenging times.
43. At the Darkest Point (Something Understood)
TX: 20/12/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 27’45”
Production Company: Whistledown Productions
At the Darkest Point
Something Understood
At the moment of mid-winter, John McCarthy explores how we cope with dark times, how we express our feelings and how we find a way through. Dark and difficult times are part of our human experience. On the news we encounter human suffering - on a scale so massive and distant from our immediate lives, whether man made or as a result of natural disasters, it is often impossible to take in or begin to understand.
Most of us have more local and intimate dark times to cope with. Sickness, loss of loved ones, financial worries - these are all examples of darkness that can come in the middle of the day.
And there is also the dark that is pure loneliness.
Since first reading it as a schoolboy, John has found solace in George Herbert's poem, The Flower, which emphasises renewal and return after the dark tempests of the night.
There's a new commission from the poet Jen Hadfield who sends us a postcard from the winter darkness of Shetland, readings of poems by Rilke and Byron, and the composer and sound artist Janek Schaefer tells the story of how he came to create a piece of music - White Lights of Divine Darkness (for Sir John Tavener).
The readers are Joshua Elliot, Serena Jennings and Jen Hadfield.
Produced by Natalie Steed
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
44. In Search of Moderate Muslims
TX: 17/03/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 27’34”
Production Company: Whistledown Productions
Sarfraz Manzoor asks if moderate Muslims exist and, if not, where did they go?
Sarfraz describes himself as a moderate Muslim. He says he can't get too offended by a cartoon and belongs firmly among the liberal and progressive. But he wonders if he is now something of an oddity.
Is the idea of tolerance and integration a hopeful myth and the reality something more troubling? We're often told the vast majority of Muslims in Britain are moderate - but what exactly does that mean?
Producer: Natalie Steed
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
45. The Leicester Nativity
TX: 25/12/2015 BBC Radio Leicester Dur: 30’00”
Production Company: BBC Radio Leicester
For Christmas 2015, BBC Radio Leicester commissioned five performance poets – and a ukulele band! – to reimagine the nativity story in modern day Leicester. Each performer took on the story from the point of view of one of the main characters in the nativity story - the star, Joseph, the Angel Gabriel, a shepherd, the innkeeper and the three wise men. Some were funny, some a comment on current social concerns and modern life. All had a spiritual edge with a nod to the traditional story and how it sits in modern life.
The result is six unique audio pieces for radio and six videos which have been published on the BBC Leicester Facebook page. The complete broadcast was on Christmas Day, during a half hour special on BBC Radio Leicester. The most popular videos reached over 40,000 people.
46. HSBC, Muslims and Me
TX: 28/07/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 38’00”
Production Company: BBC Radio Current Affairs
In the summer of 2014 HSBC dispatched a batch of identical letters to several prominent Muslims telling them that their accounts would be closed. The bank said that it no longer had the "risk appetite" to handle their money. But it failed to explain why or to offer a right of appeal. The story was widely reported by the papers at the time but it wasn't until Peter Oborne got together with the investigative producer, Anna Meisel that the truth was revealed behind these closures.
Pursuing this story led journalist Peter Oborne to resign his job as Chief Political commentator of the Daily Telegraph: the paper had refused to publish an article he had written which was critical of HSBC's decision. HSBC was one of the most important advertisers at the Daily Telegraph at the time.
Peter Oborne and Anna Meisel embarked on an intriguing journey to discover the cause of the bank's decision. Were the Muslims targeted by mistake or were they targeted because they are Muslims? And, given the fact that many of those cut off by the bank had links to the Muslim Brotherhood, could the HSBC's actions have anything to do with David Cameron's announcement of a government review of this Islamist network?
The programme revealed an existence of secretive database run by Thompson Reuters giant and used by the majority of big banks to vet their clients. It exposed the flaws of the database and the impact it is having on people who are on it.
The story was picked up by the papers and as a result of the programme a legal claim against Thompson Reuters is due to be issued in the next few days. (This hasn‘t been made public yet therefore should be treated as confidential for the time being)
47. Faith in the World Week - Growing up in Multi-faith Britain
TX: 19/10/2015 BBC Radio 2 Dur: 56’00”
Production Company: BBC Religion & Ethics Radio
This special programme was commissioned for BBC Radio 2's Faith in the World Week and broadcast in the network’s documentary slot to a general Radio 2 audience who are not particularly religious or knowledgeable of non-Christian faiths. With this year’s theme of growing up in multi-faith Britain in mind, Nelufar Hedayat looked at the challenges facing young people in today's multi-media, multi-faith world.
The programme was keen to bring to air the voices and views of young people from multi-faith backgrounds which are rarely heard on Radio 2. Nelufar is a familiar presenter to young people through her work on Newsround and because of this and the fact she is a Muslim herself, she was able to encourage teenagers to talk candidly about their experiences and give the listeners a rare insight into their views on growing up in this country as a Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist. The documentary included the first joint interview of a mother and younger son who told the tragic story of how her eldest son became radicalised and went to Syria only to be killed by an air strike.
Faith in the World Week had also commissioned a ComRes Poll which asked whether growing up was easier or harder today and the documentary drew on some of the findings which showed that although many people were aware of non-Christian faiths life wasn’t necessarily easier for teenagers today than in the past.
As Radio 2 is essentially a music network, the format required a certain proportion of music within the programme. Tracks from artist such as Mavis Staples, Elbow, Desmond Dekker and Louis Armstrong were woven through the speech to enhance or compliment what was being said.
The documentary was also featured on a special Radio 2 Faith in the World website alongside clips from all the local radio stations from multi-faith individuals and families about their experiences of growing up in Britain.
Presenter: Nelufar Hedayat
Producer: Vince Hunt
Executive Producer: Amanda Hancox
48. The Sunday Hour - HRH The Prince of Wales Building Bridges
TX:08/02/2015 BBC Radio 2 Dur: 56’00”
Production Company: BBC Religion & Ethics Radio
In this special edition of The Sunday Hour on BBC Radio 2, HRH The Prince of Wales gave an exclusive interview to presenter Diane Louise Jordan about his quest to build bridges between religions and his concern for Christians living in the Middle East, as well as his anxiety about young people living in the UK who have become radicalised. The programme was also given exclusive access to Prince Charles as he visited the Armenian, Roman Catholic Chaldean and Syrian Orthodox Churches in the UK to record actuality. Within the programme the listeners heard tragic stories rarely heard on Radio 2 of people fleeing the Middle East for their lives. The Head of the Syrian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Dawod, in a rare interview spoke movingly of his concern and helplessness for Christians in Syria. The programme was broadcast several months before waves of migrants began crossing over to Turkey and into Europe.
The interview was also filmed and a shorter version broadcast on Songs of Praise on BBC One.
There was huge media interest with Prince Charles quoted in all the newspapers and on the news channels. There was also a lot of audience appreciation for bringing people’s attention to the plight of Christians in the Middle East which until then hadn’t been talked about in the media for some time.
Producers: Bernard Achampong, Amanda Hancox
Executive Producer: Christine Morgan
49. The Dark Side of Buddhism
TX: 31/05/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 28’00”
Production Company: BBC Religion & Ethics Radio
A well respected senior monk groans in pain in a hospital bed. He's been attacked after speaking out against extremist Buddhist groups turning on their Muslim and Christian neighbours. A rally by orange-robed monks in a Muslim area turns into a riot. When order is restored two Muslims and a Tamil security guard lie dead. Christians are threatened and intimidated.
In this documentary Charles Haviland, the BBC's South Asia editor and former correspondent in Sri Lanka, looked at why a militant, violent strain of Buddhism has emerged in recent years. This programme was difficult to make as it was a politically sensitive time to be in Sri Lanka following elections and a change in Government. The programme included rare interviews with the hard line, militant Buddhist organisation the Bodu Bala Sena. Charles Haviland also travelled to a sensitive part of the country where a mosque had been ordered for destruction and soldiers were preparing for trouble.
The documentary was broadcast to the general Radio 4 audience who would have had little or no knowledge of Buddhism or of Sri Lanka. Charles Haviland wrote an accompanying online article which attracted over 170,000 hits.
Producer: Vince Hunt
Executive Producer: Amanda Hancox
50. Beyond Belief – Hadith
TX: 29/03/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 28’00”
Production Company: BBC Religion & Ethics Radio
For 26 weeks a year Beyond Belief broadcasts a series of discussions on religious topics and how they impact on our world today. The contributors often come from a range of faiths in the UK. In this programme presenter Ernie Rea discusses the Hadith, the stories and traditions about the Prophet Muhammad which was compiled after his death and provide moral examples of how to behave. The challenge for this programme was how to make a discussion on such a topic informative and interesting to a non-religious audience which is tuning in to Radio 4 in order to hear the daily news programme PM which starts at 5pm.
Ernie Rea discussed the Hadith with Jonathan Brown, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilisation at Georgetown University; Sahib Bleher, Imam and author on the Qur'an; and Tom Holland, a Classicist and author of several bestselling books including In The Shadow of the Sword, on the origins of Islam.
Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Executive Producer: Amanda Hancox
51. The Sunday Hour Christmas Special TX:25/12/2015 BBC Radio 2 Dur: 01’53’00”
Production Company: BBC Religion & Ethics Radio
'Twas the morning of Christmas and on Radio 2,
Diane Louise Jordan told a story to you....
In a special 2 hour programme for Christmas morning, Diane Louise Jordan brought audiences a feast of Christmas stories and poems. She was joined by authors Julia Donaldson and Frank Cottrell Boyce to hear about their favourite yuletide tales, their inspiration in bringing much-loved Christmas characters to life and how they go about creating a Christmas classic. Strictly Come Dancing stars, Kristina Rihanoff and Anton Du Beke and ice dancers Torvill and Dean shared their own memories of Christmas and actor Julie Hesmondhalgh reads classic festive stories and poems. This was laced with favourite carols and Christmas songs and concluded with a special retelling of the Nativity story from Radio 2 presenters for which a special animation was made that can be viewed on the Radio 2 Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03chxxd
Producer: Katharine Longworth
Executive Producer: Amanda Hancox
52. Sunday Worship - By Adoption and Grace
TX: 18/10/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 38’00”
Production Company: BBC Religion & Ethics Radio
“By Adoption and Grace” (Sunday Worship October 18th 2015) marked the beginning of National Adoption Week with a series of interviews, readings and music reflecting the joys and challenges of life for adoptive families. Media stories about adoption often concentrate on the process of matching children and parents, and end with the happy photographs of the new family’s day in court. But children bring their pasts with them; their experiences of neglect and abuse may have lifelong consequences for them and their families. The grief of birth parents for the children they have lost does not go away. Adoptive parents may also mourn because the realities of family life are nothing like the one they dreamed of.
Krish Kandiah is a foster and adoptive father, and founder of the charity, Home for Good, In this programme he hears from all sides of the Adoption triangle; Angela Frazer Wicks speaks of the circumstances which led to her two sons being adopted, and adoptees Sam and Ashley reflect on the impact that their early experiences have had on their lives as young adults. Adoptive mothers Rachel Gardiner and Alison Southall speak of being overwhelmed by joy and pain as they bring up their children.
The collect for Christmas Day speaks of the Christian’s entry into God’s family “by Adoption and by Grace.” The Rev Tamsin Merchant, whose two sons arrived in her family last year, reflects on how understanding the realities of adoption can lead to a deeper appreciation of God’s love.
Producer: Rosie Dawson
Executive Producer: Philip Billson
53. Good Friday Meditation
TX: 03/04/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 27’00”
Production Company: BBC Religion & Ethics Radio
To lay down your life for others; we’re told there is no greater love than this, and that’s the subject of the Good Friday Meditation. 350 years ago, when the Plague tore through the community of Eyam in Derbyshire, the villagers’ first instinct was to flee - but their agreement with local clergy's brave decision that all should stay - keeping the plague within the village - probably saved thousands of lives throughout the North of England… Just last year, self-imposed isolation was also the choice of British doctor, Dr Nathalie MacDermott, unsure whether she was incubating the deadly Ebola virus already contracted by two close medical colleagues in Liberia. Emerging from her own lonely, self- imposed quarantine at least safe in the knowledge that she did not have the virus – this time – she returned to Liberia for a third tour of duty, struggling to bring care and comfort to communities that have lost thousands to this modern-day plague. Guided by the present Rector of Eyam, the Rev’d Mike Gilbert, by a descendant of plague survivors, and by local junior school pupils, Nathalie hears heart-rending stories of this historic sacrifice at locations around the village, which have startling parallels with the sacrifices and struggles of those in the Passion narrative and shares her own Christian perspective of why she, too, is still prepared to risk her life for strangers.
With music and with readings illustrating the Bible’s timeless story of Good Friday - read by the only contributor to this programme with any previous radio experience: the actor Robert Lindsay, who grew up near Eyam Village.
Audience comments were entirely positive, and included from the duty log: ‘No Greater Love was really inspiring and it was so wonderful the way the whole thing was produced. About Africa and also about the village in Derbyshire and the beautiful inspiring music that was played. Thank you so much for a really refreshing Good Friday broadcast.” and “...I would like to congratulate you and your team on a well thought-out programme..."
Producer: Rowan Morton Gledhill
Executive Producer: Philip Billson
54. Sunday Worship - On the Road to Emmaus
TX:12/04/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 38’00”
Production Company: BBC Religion & Ethics Radio
The Rector of St James's Church Canon Lucy Winkett in London’s bustling Piccadilly leads a service for the Sunday after Easter reflecting on the road to Emmaus. Songs new and familiar from the latest Gospel Oratorio, ‘Resurrection’ tell the story of the days following that first Easter, when not all the disciples had heard the news that Jesus had risen from the dead – and some would take more convincing than others.
Miko Giedroyc’s Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir, along with Tracey Campbell and Friends, take a journey through Gospel music to a point along the road where Jesus’ followers meet a stranger with the somehow familiar habit of sharing bread and wine with them…
Audience comments included: ‘Just looked up who’s producing the amazing Sunday Worship I’m listening to. Never heard of Soul Sanctuary, and the whining gospel sound doesn’t appeal to me generally, but when it’s this well done, and when the arrangements are as resourceful, professional and literate as this, and when the whole thing is combined with the lovely mellifluous RP of Lucy Winkett, I’m all ears.’ Plus an email from Prof David Ford (Regius Professor of Divinity and Director of the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme): ‘ …it was all superb… congratulations to everyone involved.’
Producer: Rowan Morton Gledhill
Executive Producer: Philip Billson
55. Sunday - Pope Francis in the USA
TX: 27/09/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 44’00”
Production Company: Production Company: BBC Religion & Ethics Radio
Last September BBC Radio 4’s weekly religious news and current affairs programme headed to Philadelphia as Pope Francis concluded his historic trip to the United States.
‘Sunday’ broadcasts each week to 1.4 million listeners. The audience are regular Today listeners and many are not religious. There is an expectation from the audience and Radio 4 that ‘Sunday’ will cover the religious news in a similar format to other news and current affairs programmes on the network.
This was a timely programme to make as Catholicism in parts of the US is in decline but conversely, it is growing in other areas driven by immigration.
During this trip Pope Francis made historic speeches to Congress, the United Nations and 2 million pilgrims in Philadelphia. He also made significant statements on immigration, poverty, climate change and capital punishment. Sunday was there to report, reflect and analyse.
In an exclusive interview, the US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to Edward about his own Catholic faith and how it impacted on his career in politics and if it's easier now to hold views that go against Church teaching.
Our reporter Matt Wells was in Harlem ahead of the Pope’s visit to a school and Edward went behind bars to meet some of the prisoners who had been selected to meet the Pope.
There were lighter moments too. Edward sampled what was billed as Pope Francis’s favourite flavour of ice-cream and he met up with two international pop stars who were booked to sing to the Holy Father in Philadelphia.
Producer: David Cook & Dan Tierney
Executive Producer: Amanda Hancox
56. Something Understood: Yoga - For Body, Mind and Spirit
TX: 11/01/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 27'36"
Production Company: Unique
This was broadcast at the beginning of the twentieth year of Sir Mark Tully's tenure as the principal presenter of Something Understood, the much loved Radio 4 series on spiritual and religious themes that he helped to create. Inspired by the late guru B.K.S. Iyengar, Mark Tully, investigates the benefits of yoga.
The guru B.K.S. Iyengar, credited by many for being instrumental in introducing the contemporary practice of yoga to Britain, died in 2014. Mark Tully knew him personally and in a programme inspired by the teacher's life and work, he discusses the possible benefits of yoga and investigates its spiritual roots. He talks to British yoga teacher Gerry Chambers, who trained with Iyengar, about different approaches to yoga in the East and in the West. He also plays archive of Iyengar himself and introduces readings by the poet Rose Flint and the novelist Hanif Kureishi. There’s music too from yoga enthusiasts as varied as Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar, the Russian pianist GéNIA and Beethoven.
The readers are Lucy Briers and Arsher Ali.
Producer: Frank Stirling at Unique
57. Something Understood: The Boldness of Wisdom
TX: 04/05/2014 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 27’24”
Production Company: Unique
On Easter Sunday Mark Tully considers the sacrifices we have to make to become wise. He discusses the imagery and meaning of the Christian Cross with Franciscan Priest, Richard Rohr, and the outward signs of success and self esteem we might need to shed in order to lose ourselves to a greater wisdom.
Mark looks to other traditions which also speak of the barriers in our way - the props that support our egos but prevent us from becoming our true selves – with readings from the 14th century Hindu mystic, Lalleshwari, and accounts of the life of the Buddha whose realization that he had got it all wrong enabled his path to enlightenment.
The programme features poetry from TS Eliot and music from John Tavener, Nat King Cole, Chuck Daar and Alan Hovhaness, whose setting of a verse from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes includes the words: “A man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine and the boldness of his face shall be changed.”
So how can we hope to achieve wisdom, and from where can we find the strength to be bold in our pursuit of it, to unlearn what we know, and to abandon our certainties?
Presenter: Mark Tully. Producer: Adam Fowler.
The Readers are Peter Guinness, Frank Stirling and Maureen Beattie.
58. Being Human
TX: 20/09/2015 BBC Radio 3 Dur: 01’30’00”
Production Company: BBC Radio Drama, London
Spain, 1550. Two Jesuit Priests are brought before the King of Spain to debate the future of the inhabitants of the New World. Are they human and to be respected, or subhuman and ripe for slavery? And how does their personal view of God affect each of them? Cape Town, 2015. Alicia, a Cape Coloured lawyer, wrestles with the dilemmas of a slave past and a free future. Where once the Old world looked out, now a new order is looking back. And as always, there is a price to pay.
This unique collaboration for Drama on 3 saw two playwrights in two different parts of the world take two actual historical events, 400 years apart, as a catalyst to look at issues of human rights and faith. In sixteenth century Spain, the two priests were once friends, but are now rivals in this debate and their personal history and beliefs cannot be ignored. In South Africa, the real story of the wreck of a Portuguese slave ship found in 2015 off the coast of Cape Town - the only slave ship ever to be recovered anywhere in the world - causes Alicia, a Cape Coloured lawyer, to re-examine her own sense of identity and of what it means to be human. The uniqueness of the project is further complemented by actors playing a lead role in each. by Mike Walker and Andrew Whaley
Juan Gines de Sepulveda/William ..... Steve Toussaint
Bartolome de Las Casas/Max ..... Maynard Eziashi
"Indian girl" ..... Pippa Bennett Warner
Alicia ..... Adjoa Andoh
Produced and directed by Marion Nancarrow
59. The Gallery: The Christmas Storytellers
TX: 17/12/2015 Premier Christian Radio Dur: 61’39”
Production Company: Premier Christian Radio
Is the Christmas story still relevant? How do today’s artists and storytellers breathe new life into one of the world’s oldest tales? ‘The New Christmas Storytellers’ explores the enduring themes of the nativity from reflections on the parallels of Jesus fleeing persecution with today’s refugee crisis, to the magic of Christmas for children, to the liberation theology of former slaves, to the reflections of an elderly woman facing the festive season alone. From the heart-warming and hopeful to the poignant, artists including Michael Morpurgo and the Grammy-winning Swingles reflect on tradition, the challenges of contemporary interpretations, and the timelessness of the Christmas story.
60. Canterbury Pilgrimage
TX: 13/12/2015 BBC Radio Kent Sunday Breakfast Dur: 28’11”
Production Company: BBC Radio Kent
Bob Dale produced a series of 5 reports which were broadcast on BBC Radio Kent's Sunday Breakfast with Phil Harrison from mid December through to mid January.
The series previewed The Archbishop of Canterbury's Primates Gathering and addressed the key issues the Church of England was facing. Taking inspiration from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Bob followed the pilgrims route to the home of the Anglican Church and spoke to an expert about a different subject along the way. Sunday Breakfast presenter Phil Harrison then continued the debate each week with his faith based panel.
The first three episodes broadcast on 13th, 20th and 27th December 2015 are included and tackle greed in The City, poverty and evangelism. Two further episodes in the lead up to The Primates Gathering were broadcast on 3rd and 10th January 2016 featuring debate on women bishops and homosexuality.
The series was also taken up by BBC English Regions and broadcast on BBC Local Radio stations across the country.
61. Thought for the Day – Mona Siddiqui
TX: 08/01/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur:14’09”
Production Company: BBC Religion & Ethics Radio
Thought for the Day broadcasts 6 days a week at 7.50 am during 'Today' on Radio 4. As a reflection on topical issues and the people making the news, its distinctive contribution is that it does so from the perspective of a faith tradition.
As a broadcast in what is arguably the nation's most important news programme, Thought for the Day is the highest profile religious slot in British radio. With an audience of over 7 million listeners TFTD tries to capture the mood of the country and speak to it in a way that reached those of all faiths and none.
In 2015 terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists shocked the world with carnage that stretched from a holiday beach in Tunisia to a Paris Concert Hall and which again challenged the public's perception of Islam. It created a void into which the voice of thoughtful Muslims was sorely needed.
Prof Mona Siddiqui has been a popular contributor to the slot for many years but in 2015 she wrote consistently strong Thoughts on Islamism and much else. Her scripts were personal, analytical, always conveyed depth and were often the best comment in a plethora of media coverage on the complex issues around Muslim communities in Britain and abroad. She wrote from the heart for the general audience and with extraordinary courage and boldness when speaking to her own community; with honesty and clarity. She ducked none of the issues and offered thoughtful, illuminating ideas which were genuinely new and distinctive. This entry contains just five of those scripts.
Presenter: Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic Studies at New College, University of Edinburgh
Editor: Christine Morgan
62. Orangemen on the Equator
TX: 31/08/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 28’00”
Production Company: BBC Northern Ireland
Founded 220 years ago, the Orange Order is a Protestant organisation which, its members say, stands for civil liberties, fraternity and faith. However in the divided society of Northern Ireland it is rarely out of the news. Many Irish Nationalists and Republicans view it as an anti-Catholic, triumphalist organisation and disputes over some contentious Orange parades have generated headlines around the world.
What is less well known is that in a tropical land three thousand miles away, there are Orange lodges made up of African men and women. Members of the Orange Order in Ghana share the same emblems and follow the same rituals as their brethren in Northern Ireland. While there may not be sectarian conflict in their homeland, the Orangemen on the Equator feel they too are misrepresented and misunderstood.
Journalist Chris Page travels to West Africa to find out how the Orange Order took root there. Comparing the African brand of Orangeism to that found in his native Northern Ireland, he peers into the soul of an organisation which has been characterised by its ability to survive. While members in Ulster say they have been demonised by Irish Nationalists opposed to their Unionism, their brethren in Ghana describe their challenges in the face of prejudice from churches and wider society.
From post-colonial Ghana to post-conflict Northern Ireland, Chris asks what the true essence of this often controversial fraternity really is - and what these two contrasting branches of the Orange Order can learn from each other as they consider their futures.
Produced by Conor Garrett.
64. Wellby: The Turbulent Priest
TX: 26/10/2015 BBC Radio 4 Dur: 28’00”
Production Company: BBC Political Programmes
Mark D'Arcy examines the life and times of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. What drives him? And how far is he a political prelate?
Producer: Peter Mulligan.