By Lianne Kolirin
Daisy Scalchi, head of religion and ethics at BBC Television, is reimagining religious programming, moving it away from a narrow definition of religion towards a broader understanding of spirituality, which is universally relevant.
She will explain her ideas at the fifth Religion Media Festival at the JW3 Centre in north London on Monday 12 June.
Ms Scalchi plans to address how the 2021 Census has influenced her new strategy, which aims to attract the growing number of people who identify as “no religion”. In an interview with Broadcast magazine, she says the 12-point jump in those who now list their religion as none — 37 per cent in 2021 compared with 25 per cent a decade earlier — cannot be ignored.
She believes the census data showed a more nuanced, complex and diverse approach to faith and belief and gave an insight into the changing nature of the UK’s religious landscape: declaring yourself as “none” is quite different from being an atheist who rejects religion.
Ms Scalchi described how the universality of themes like love and connectedness can resonate with a wide range of people. Illustrating her point, she cites the examples of numerous BBC programmes that access difficult conversations through the lens of faith.
One such example is Humza: Forgiving the Unforgivable, a documentary in which comedian Humza Arshad explores his complex feelings about a violent attack on his teenage cousin, which speaks to people of different faiths and none on the meaning of forgiveness.
Another is Stacey Dooley’s documentary, Two Daughters, in which she meets the former Anglican priest Mina Smallman whose two daughters were brutally murdered in a random attack in 2020.
A third is the five-part documentary series, Love, Faith and Me, which focuses on the emotions behind major life events, seen through faith traditions.
And in all cases, films made for BBC TV audiences are massively boosted by collaborating with other departments such as digital, radio and news. She explains that short clips of programmes on social media can help drive millions of people to view the original content.
Daisy Scalchi will explain her ideas at the Religion Media Centre festival at the JW3 centre at 12.30pm on 12 June. The venue is at 341-351 Finchley Road, London NW3 6ET. Tickets are available here
