By Catherine Pepinster
BBC coverage of faith is to increase its focus on reflecting the diversity of Britain, its heads of religion and ethics have promised.
Television and radio programmes in the years to come are to explore more fully the diversity of religions, ethnicity and other aspects of life, they said during a showcase session on their output at New Broadcasting House in London on Friday. They will continue to work with the broadcaster’s creative diversity teams to enhance their coverage, they said.
According to Daisy Scalchi, head of religion and ethics on BBC TV: “We are having a conversation with the diversity team to look at where that representation can be stronger and be broadened.”
And Tim Pemberton, head of religion and ethics on BBC radio, said: “We deal with the stuff of life and death and everything in between. If you can understand what people believe you go a long way to understanding how they act.”
Jessica Shibley, head of creative diversity, said religion and ethics was a key part of the BBC’s diversity remit. “The 2021 Census shows that more than half of people have a faith. It is still at the heart of many people’s identity.
“Religious broadcasting has changed in the past 10 years. We want young audiences to develop confidence in their identity,” she said.
That interest in diversity is reflected in a new series on prayer and reflection planned for autumn 2025. The BBC has just invited production companies based in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland to pitch to make programmes for a new series depicting as-live religious services from six of the UK’s main faiths. (“As-live” performances on the BBC are broadcast as though live but after a short delay to allow for editorial and technical checks.)
Three or four half-hour services will be filmed in the three nations to appeal to both viewers of faith or none and they will then be broadcast on BBC One and Northern Ireland.
Among programmes on religion that will be broadcast in the coming weeks are Christian worship to mark Christmas, including a Salvation Army concert recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as live church services.
Then in January, BBC One and BBC Northern Ireland will show a one-off documentary, First Communion, which will explore the impact on Roman Catholic children and their families of making their first holy communion — the mass where children first receive the eucharist. It follows four families in Northern Ireland to discover what it means to contemporary Catholics.
“It is underpinned by a very strong connection to faith. It looks at why it matters to them,” Ms Scalchi said.
Other programmes that have long been the mainstay of religious programming on the BBC will continue in the coming year, including Songs of Praise on BBC One. The Rev Kate Bottley, who is one of its presenters and chaired the showcase panel, said: “Songs of Praise keys into something very deep in people. We can quietly move people and nourish their souls.”
Among the highlights of radio’s religion and ethics output will be a special programme from Auschwitz to mark the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation, with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, and several programmes on the theme of the Nicene Creed, the doctrinal statement of Christian belief that was first adopted at the Council of Nicaea in 325. It is likely to be the focus of next year’s Lent talks, Sunday Worship at Easter, and some programmes devoted to the creed itself.
