Shortlisted TV Programmes
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Shortlisted TV programmes 1. Ministry of Hope TX: 12/10/2017 Dur: 52’00” Broadcaster: RTÉ Production Company: RTÉ Religious Department Ministry of Hope is an uplifting and compelling three part series, sharing moments of joy, exhilaration and crisis with the men and women whose job it is to bring faith, hope and love to strangers in three very different Irish institutions. This powerful and inspiring observational series follows three Irish chaplains over a whole year, as they reach out to people at their moments of greatest vulnerability, to counsel, inspire and care for them. Margaret Sleator was one of the first lay chaplains in Dublin’s Mater Misericordiae University Hospital when she started 15 years ago. Catherine Black is the new chaplain in Shelton Abbey Open Prison in Arklow, Co. Wicklow. And Philip McKinley is the Church of Ireland member of a new multi- denominational chaplaincy team, serving 17,000 students from all over the world at Dublin City University. Their jobs are to give guidance, support and inspiration: to patients facing illness and death; to prisoners seeking redemption; and to students struggling with campus life. Their vocations are all steeped in deep faith. But, in an increasingly secular Ireland, why do we still rely on religious chaplains to shepherd us through life’s challenges? In the third and final episode of Ministry of Hope, having set up the DCU Gospel Choir as a way of bringing students together, Philip McKinley prepares them for the performance of a life time – in front of former President Mary McAleese at Dublin’s Helix venue. In Shelton Abbey Open Prison, Catherine Black helps an inmate who’s about to become a father. And in the Mater Hospital, Margaret Sleator supports a mother of two young children, diagnosed with cancer and clinging hard to her Christian faith. 2. Ross Kemp: Libya’s Migrant Hell TX: 02/02/2017 Dur: 54’46” Broadcaster: Sky 1 HD Production Company: Freshwater Films BAFTA winning filmmaker Ross Kemp investigates the world’s most dangerous migrant journey, hearing stories of men and women risking everything to get to Europe. The film also explores how Libya’s collapse into anarchy in the years following Gaddafi’s removal has contributed to the European migrant crisis. Freshwater Films gained unprecedented access to places where migrants fleeing war, poverty and famine were being held as slaves along their route. The team also spoke to female migrants in a brothel where women had been trafficked by smugglers. They were allowed to film tribal leaders debating the migrant situation in a town still fiercely loyal to the old Gadaffi regime. They also persuaded a smuggler to let them travel and film on the pickup trucks that take up to Tripoli and the Mediterranean coast. None of this had been previously seen on television. In Tripoli the team interviewed men and women in squalid and dangerous detention. A convicted people smuggler also revealed the economics of what has now become one of Libya’s biggest sources of income At sea with the Libyan Coastguard, they witnessed the rescue of 750 migrants in five separate boats. 3. Dangerous Borders: A Journey Across India & Pakistan TX: 14/08/2017 Dur: 60’00” (Series 3 x 60 mins. Submission – Ep 3) Broadcaster: BBC Two Production Company: October Films On the final leg of their journey, journalists Adnan Sarwar and Babita Sharma travel along the most contested section of the border – and the most dangerous. Adnan begins by meeting a 22 year old woman, Rabia, challenging tradition by training as a fighter pilot in Pakistan’s Air Force. It plays a key role in defending the country’s borders and Rabia is proud to have been chosen to perhaps one day fight on the frontline. He then travels along the Karakoram highway, an 800 mile stretch of motorway that links China and Pakistan and forms part of the CPEC, the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, an ambitious project between the two countries that brings huge amounts of Chinese investment into Pakistan. Adnan’s route then sees him high into the mountains where recent terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists on tourists and Shia Muslims mean that the Pakistani authorities are on high alert in the area. On the other side of the border, Babita’s journey takes her into the state of Jammu and Kashmir, a region which is still being fought over by India and Pakistan who both claimed it at Partition. She gets as close to the border as she can and hears stories of Indians who have been affected by cross- border attacks. Travelling through the lower Himalayas to Katra, Babita follows in her mother’s footsteps, and 8 million other pilgrims a year, on a trek up the Trikuta Mountains to one of the holiest Hindu sites in the world, Sri Mata Vaishno Devi. Babita’s journey concludes at Kargil, the site of a 1999 conflict between India & Pakistan where even to this day, there has been no agreement between India and Pakistan about the border here. 4. Would You Take in a Stranger? TX: 11/07/2017 Dur: 60’00” Broadcaster: Channel 4 Production Company: Drummer TV Arguing with parents is commonplace for most teenagers but it’s also the number one reason they run away from home. If they can’t find a place to stay they’re at high risk of long-term homelessness so the first 24 hours are crucial. With all the recent cuts to services sleeping rough is becoming a reality for more and more people. Over 83,000 young people were identified as homeless last year. Around a quarter of these manage to find some kind of accommodation. But for those who don’t Nightstop, an emergency accommodation service, has enlisted the help of over 700 families who act as a host for a night until a longer-term solution can be found. These people put risks aside voluntarily take in the young and homeless for that one crucial night. This programme follows three young people in very different circumstances who have come to Nightstop in need of emergency accommodation: Kieran, 17, has argued with his stepdad. With GCSEs to contend with and no experience of sleeping away from home, the Nightstop workers know he wouldn’t survive even one night on the street. Dandi has been using Nightstop on and off for three years due to a tricky relationship with her mum. She is so smiley and well-presented that it’s hard to believe she’s homeless. Paul is 25 and nearing the end of the time with Nightstop, so a long-term solution is needed. For the young people, Nightstop encounters can be anything from life-saving to life affirming. One thing is for sure, small acts of kindness are part of a much bigger picture that turns lives around and helps put people back on track – as well as keeping them out of danger, even if it’s only one night at a time. 5. The Boy with the Top Knot TX: 13/11/2017 Dur: 87’00” Broadcaster: BBC Two Production Company: Kudos in association with Parti Productions Based on the critically acclaimed memoir The Boy with the Topknot by journalist Sathnam Sanghera. Born to traditional Punjabi parents and growing up in Wolverhampton, Sathnam moves to London after graduating from Cambridge. Now a successful columnist for The Times he is planning to reveal to his family that he will defy expectations of an arranged marriage but is side-lined when he discovers a painful family secret which turns his world upside down and forces him to revaluate his priorities and choices. Sathnam realises he must bring his two separate worlds together or risk losing everything. This is a touching, humorous and emotional rites-of-passage story, about a second generation Indian growing up in Britain and how he tries to juggle family, love life and career. It explores the sensitive subject of mental illness with courage and honesty, and by being authentic and specific to Sathnam and his wonderful family, it tells a universal truth about the human heart. 6. Reformation: Europe’s Holy War TX: 03/10/2017 Dur: 60’00” Broadcaster: BBC Two Production Company: BBC Studios: The Documentary Unit In this one-hour documentary for BBC Two, historian David Starkey reveals how the Protestant Reformation unleashed fundamentalist beliefs, terror and holy war across Europe in a way that is all too familiar to us today. "There was the same literalism," he says, "the same passionate intensity, the same apocalyptic violence as now." Timed to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the doors of All Saint’s Church in Wittenberg, the programme charts the spread of Luther’s ideas across Europe and into Britain. David Starkey explains how and why Luther’s simple act of defiance would gain such momentum, and will explore the consequences of his actions – both on the Christian faith, and on society at large. Filmed in Rome, Germany and the UK, the programme concentrates on the early years of the Reformation, looking - in particular - at the impact and legacy of the Reformation on England. It prompted Henry VIII to split with the Catholic Church in Rome and declare himself Supreme Head of the Church of England. Martin Luther's attack on Rome would transform the western world and Henry VIII's actions would set Britain apart from both Roman Catholic and Lutheran countries. Starkey argues that Henry's break with Rome was a "Tudor Brexit" that laid the foundations of our conflicted attitudes to Europe today.