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It has been a few weeks since The Passion aired on BBC1 and I have not blogged on it for a while. It may be over, for now, in the UK, but there are important things to look forward to. The first will be the DVD release at some point in the coming months. The next will be the American broadcast next year on HBO. No doubt there will be other broadcasts too throughout the world at different stages, and I will keep my eyes open for what is going on. I may also, from time to time, offer further reflections on The Passion as time goes on. My recent return to England was quite refreshing in the number of people who talked to me about their experiences of watching The Passion -- there was so much positive feedback. I don't have a lot more to talk about at the moment, but I want to draw attention to one more addition to the BBC's Passion website, more "Q & A" with Nigel Stafford-Clark (producer) and Frank Deasy (writer):

The Passion: Questions and Answers II

These questions and answers relate primarily to episodes 3 and 4, on the crucifixion and resurrection (warning: contain spoilers!).

Labels: BBC Passion

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More material has been added to the BBC's The Passion website. New today is an article on the crucifixion, discussing the topic by using the Telegraph and Daily Mail articles as a springboard:

BBC Portrayal of the Crucifixion

The piece is pretty well done, I think. Also new on the articles page is a section in which Nigel Stafford-Clark (producer) and Frank Deasy (writer) answer viewers' questions. There are lots of interesting comments here, and I strongly recommend it:

Your questions answered

The questions answered include one about the lack of miracles in the story, one about the use of regional accents, one about the use of animals, one about the casting of Jesus, one about the shooting of the drama, one about the research for the drama, and lots more.

The new content seems to have knocked off my article, The Passion and Its Historical Context, I hope by accident!

Labels: BBC Passion

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The third episode of The Passion was broadcast tonight on BBC1. I was on the road so was unable to watch it, but will catch up on Sunday (I've seen it lots of times before, but I like to get the full televisual experience of watching it at the same time as everyone else). I am not doing my own reviews of The Passion, at least not for a year or two, because of my involvement in the production. In fact, I don't know that it's ever appropriate for people who played a role (however small) in a production to review it, though they might offer reflections at some point. That is something I have done a little of already, but I would like to do at much greater length in the future. There are all sorts of interesting little pieces of background information that would be interesting to share, but all at the right time. For now, I am fascinated to be listening to others' reactions. And generally speaking, reactions so far have been very encouraging.

For those who missed the episode but who are in the UK, it's available in the iPlayer for another week; you can access it directly from The Passion website. There are several sets of reviews and reflections already available. Doug Chaplin on Metacatholic is still finding more to like than not to like (The Passion continues, and rather well). It's all worth reading, but I found this observation particularly interesting:

One feature that any Jesus film brings home is the difficulty of narrating the terse stories of the gospels over anything like a sufficiently dramatic time span when portrayed on the screen. This was part of the effectiveness of the imprisoning of Jesus in a kind of well in Caiaphas’ courtyard. It gave a sense of time passing to the events, without seriously elongating the trial scenes with invented dialogue.

Gemma Simmonds, SJ, has a positive review over onThinking Faith

. . . . The richness of this production is in those momentary looks of realisation. Pilate looks at Jesus and knows there is more to this than he can see. Claudia’s frenzy is quelled by Pilate’s pragmatism and her own realisation of the risk Jesus represents to what makes her life bearable. Caiaphas’s whole face quivers with intensity and horror as he hears Jesus utter words that would destroy all that he has tried so desperately to save. . . .

And Matt Page, on Bible Films Blog, continues his very helpful Scene Guides series (Part One Scene Guide; Part Two Scene Guide) with his Part Three Scene Guide and connected reflections, including some thoughts on how it would have come across if had been broadcast in the originally planned six half-hour episodes. He wonders how HBO will treat it. My guess would be (and I have heard nothing on this, so it is only a guess) that they will broadcast it in thee x one hour episodes, which will actually end up producing another interesting but different viewing experience.

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Christian Today have been running a big feature on The Passion and they have added a couple of interviews done on the evening of the première, the first with Frank Deasy and the second with me:

Interview: Dr Mark Goodacre, The Passion's Historical Consultant

Interview: Frank Deasy, writer of The Passion

There are lots of other materials on their BBC Passion page, with more being added regularly.

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I omitted to refer to The Independent's very positive review of The Passion. As usual, I'll quote a section, but it's all worth reading:

The Weekend's TV: The Passion, BBC1
Gavin & Stacey, BBC3
Don't pass over this Easter treat
By Thomas Sutcliffe
Monday, 17 March 2008

. . . . The Moroccan location and the dusty hugger-mugger of some of the street scenes mean that it is fleetingly haunted by the spirit of The Life of Brian, but only the most zealously dogmatic Christian could complain that it was irreverent.

Naturally, at least one dogmatic Christian has already volunteered his services. Stephen Green, the self-appointed pharisee who speaks for Christian Voice, has expressed disquiet at the fact that Deasy's account of Christ's last days should have been at pains to round out the motivations and character of two other notable players in the drama – Caiaphas, the High Priest, and Pilate, the Roman Governor. Mr Green wouldn't be satisfied, I suspect, unless both men appeared on screen accompanied by sulphurous gusts of smoke and a blast of the Carmina Burana. But for the rest of us, religiously minded or not, the prospect of a series diplomatically poised between revealed truth and historical speculation must be something of a relief. If you believe that Christ is your redeemer I can't so far see anything in The Passion that would have affronted that faith. And if you don't, its account of the politics of a week that was critical in world history proved surprisingly gripping.

If you missed the first two episodes and live in the UK, the Passion website has placed each one online so that you don't even have to go to the iPlayer:

The Passion: Episode Guide

Also on the BBC site, there are lots of comments from viewers, some of which make interesting reading to get a sketch of a range of reactions.

Digital Spy has viewing figures for the first episode, a slightly disappointing 4.1 million, a 15% share of the audience, apparently losing out to Dancing on Ice, almost 12 million (44% of the audience). As for the second episode, Doug Chaplin (Metacatholic) and Michael Bird (Euangelion) are bang up to date, with their episode 2 reviews going online within hours of last night's broadcast.

Also yesterday, Simon Mayo's TV Panel reviewed The Passion; you can listen again; fast forward to about 3.35pm for discussion of The Passion.

More comments and links later.

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Saving the best until last, it's nice to wake up this morning to a great review in Media Guardian. It is not possible for me to conceal my delight at this review, all the more so as it occurs in The Guardian:

The weekend's TV
Sam Wollaston

A bunch of blokes with long hair and beards head towards a city. ELO on tour? Nope, too many of them, and the lead guy's on an ass. There's a lot of palm fronds about the place ... ah, I think I know what this is: Palm Sunday. And it's going out on Palm Sunday! So The Passion (BBC1, Sunday), a drama that unfolds in four episodes spread over Easter Week, is TV in real time, a bit like 24, but more retro, and the guy saving the world has more hair. You wouldn't catch Jack Bauer on an ass either . . . .

. . . . . I don't think anyone's going to be getting too upset about it. JC isn't a woman, gay, or a Muslim (though it was all filmed in Morocco - I wonder what the locals made of that). It's actually pretty straight. Gospel, you might say. It is also fabulous, with some great performances: Ben Daniels is excellent as a complex Caiaphas, James Nesbitt plays Pontius Pilate with obvious enjoyment, Joseph Mawle is a believable Jesus (which is, I suppose, what you want from someone who says he's the son of God; it can't be an easy role). The ass is splendid too (it's pathetic, I know, but I just enjoy typing that word). But there's also a vitality and realness about the whole thing that you rarely find with this story. A passion, you could even say, in another sense of the word.

We're getting down and dirty in the narrow streets of Jerusalem, overflowing with life and the blood of sacrificed lambs. It's loud, looks alive, you can almost smell it all. This feels like a place and a time that actually happened. It's not at all preachy, though. There's no "he's good and he's bad" stuff. The characters, too, are treated as real people, not merely as vehicles for messages. In fact you could watch The Passion and totally forget that this story was central to a major world religion. And that's a good thing, I think

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It is Monday morning and the papers are full of reviews and comments on The Passion. I hope to blog some more about this at the week goes on. In the mean time, here are some comments on this morning's selection, beginning with a somewhat annoying contribution in the Daily Mail. Further to my previous post on the Telegraph article on the crucifixion, now updated with a comment from Paula Gooder (which, unlike the Telegraph, I did not edit), the Daily Mail now attempts to weigh in on the same topic:

Row over BBC drama which shows Jesus crucified in a foetal position
By PAUL REVOIR

The article appears simply to be a rehash of the Telegraph piece. The idea that there is a "row" is, I think, difficult to sustain. Indeed, the article only quotes one person apparently hostile to the BBC on this topic, and his comments appear to have been drawn from the Telegraph article. I am quoted, but I have not talked to them -- the quotation also comes from the Sunday Telegraph. The article continues the pattern of joint Telegraph / Daily Mail reporting of The Passion (BBC exonerates Judas, etc.). Both papers have been looking for controversy for the last three weeks, and they are still struggling to find it.

I should not be too harsh on them, though. The Telegraph's own TV reviewer clearly loved it, and was unable to find grounds for complaint:

Last night on television: The Passion (BBC1), Gavin and Stacey (BBC3)
By James Walton

. . . In particular, The Passion strikes an impressive balance between being faithful to the gospel stories and being unafraid to flesh them out, when required, with recognisable human motives. It also supplies (helpfully, if not always subtly) the theological, historical and political background to what we’re seeing.

One objection from those Christian groups is apparently that Pontius Pilate is portrayed as a good guy. Well, again – and leaving aside the question of whether this would necessarily be an outrage anyway – I can’t see it myself. As played by James Nesbitt, Pilate isn’t a complete psychopath. Nonetheless, in his career politician’s determination to show the Jews who’s boss, he often might as well be . . . .

. . . . The Passion does perhaps suggest that, in its absence of doubt, Jesus’s is essentially a young man’s gospel (which, I suppose, is mildly controversial, but also interesting). Yet, for the same reason, the programme proves deeply stirring too – as his message of love for God and neighbour slices straight through all the realpolitik around him . . .

The Times also reviews The Passion (again, along with Gavin and Stacey):

The Passion; Gavin and Stacey
Weekend TV
Andrew Billen

It's a mixed review, but I liked this line:

The virtue of Nigel Stafford-Clark's Passion is that it looks historically real but not historic: no one knows, aside presumably from Jesus, that this will be the week that changes the West for ever.

The Herald quite liked it; Michael Barnes, SJ in Thinking Faith (British Jesuits journal) is pretty thrilled with it:

This is brilliant story-telling, carefully plotted and visually superb. One shot, in which Jesus is showered with blood-red poppy petals scattered from windows above, makes for a perfect counterpoint to the traditional waving of palms. Jerusalem, with its narrow alleyways and cramped corners, and the Temple stained by blood sacrifices and burnt offerings, looks just like the provincial backwater which the Romans profess to hate. Apart from the clichéd mood music as Jesus walks through a desolate landscape marked by ominous crosses and smoking fires, the production scarcely puts a foot wrong.

And The Scotsman too lines up to find a lot that it liked in the opening episode:

A very British Passion for Judea
By Andrea Mullaney

. . . . But as a drama, this certainly worked, with an unusual amount of tension for such a familiar story.

Over on reJesus, Matt Page's review is up, and it's encouraging reading for the programme makers. Matt, who runs the Bible Films Blog, knows more than anyone about Bible films and his opinion is worth hearing.

Other bloggers, so far, are a bit luke warm in their comments. Michael Bird offers reflections in Euangelion and, like Doug Chaplin on Metacatholic, he objects to "The endless references to the "kingdom of God is within you"", which, he says, "over emphasizes a minor Lucan theme". Well, I rather like Luke, but I would add that the line in fact comes only once in the episode, when Jesus is talking to Mina as she clings to his feet. I am not sure if I would agree with Michael about the "Borgesque" theology, though I think he rightly perceives that sacrifice is a major theme in Deasy's scripts, and it is a theme that will continue to be worked out in the forthcoming episodes. Doug is not keen on the "rewriting of Jesus' teaching", something I regard as one of the strengths of the writing -- it is fresh and interesting and, I find, pretty powerful. I particularly like Jesus' line to Mary Magdalene, "Before the end of the week, Mary Magdalene, I promise you that you will know God like never before". It may take a little getting used to, though, and I have had a couple of years to get used to a lot of this, and I do realize that my own appreciation of the drama proceeds from my familiarity with it, so I am interested to hear these first impressions. Nevertheless, I am pleased that people are finding so many positives in The Passion, not least because the best is definitely still to come. Episode 2 is on BBC1 tonight at 8.30pm.

Labels: BBC Passion

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On Thursday afternoon, I had a fifteen minute chat with a reporter from the Sunday Telegraph about the way that Jesus' crucifixion is portrayed in The Passion. You can see the way that it is done in a shot in the trailer. It is somewhat different from traditional depictions, but I explained that there is no actual description of the way that Jesus is crucified in the Gospels, and the traditional depiction, with arms outstretched, is not derived from the Gospels. I drew the reporter's attention to a passage in Josephus, War 5.11, which describes victims being crucified in a variety of poses. When he asked me about John 20.24-29, which mentions wounds in Jesus' "hands", I pointed out that the Greek word χείρ, used here, can refer to the arm or the forearm. I also talked a bit about Jehohanan, the one crucified victim we have archaeological evidence of. Little of this conversation actually appears in the article in this morning's Sunday Telegraph, which attempts to put a particular negative spin on the way that Jesus' crucifixion is depicted:

Why the BBC thinks Jesus did not die this way
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent

There are several problems with the article and I would like to draw attention to some of them here. Wynne-Jones writes:

But now the producers of a BBC drama about Christ's final days have challenged the traditional representation, saying they believe Jesus probably did not die that way.

Instead of portraying Christ with his arms out wide and his legs straight down, The Passion will show him nailed to the cross in a foetal position, with his arms above his head and nails through his arms - the way, the producers claim, he may well have been crucified by the Romans.

Leading theologians accused the BBC of "misleading" the public and said it was ignoring the Biblical account of the crucifixion. But the makers of The Passion insist their ideas are based on new historical evidence.

This is not carefully worded. The makers of The Passion are not saying that they "believe Jesus probably did not die" in the way traditionally depicted; they are presenting a drama in which an alternative possibility is presented. After the quotations from me, Wynne-Jones adds:

He added that he thought the Bible did not actually explain in any detail the form of crucifixion employed.

I don't think that; I know that. Anyone who looks at the Gospel accounts will see it to be the case. The article goes on to quote my friend Paula Gooder, though putting a somewhat negative slant on her remarks too:

"They have clearly decided to go for this option because it's unusual and will jolt viewers and challenge them about their assumptions," she said.

"Their portrayal causes a problem as it seems to ignore what the Bible says."

In the Book of John, Jesus says to Thomas: "Put your finger here; see my hands."

I think that it is easy to over-interpret the reference in John 20 and I don't see it as contradicting the way that Jesus is crucified in The Passion (see above). The article goes on:

The Reverend George Curry, who is the chairman of the Church Society, said: "They are misleading people by distorting the facts.

"That's a serious and dangerous thing to do, but sadly utterly predictable and regrettable. Jesus's nails went through his hands, not his forearms. We should be true to history and the events that occurred."

This too is somewhat overstated. It is incorrect to speak of "distorting the facts", not is there anything "utterly predictable" about this. On the contrary, the BBC have gone to great lengths to think seriously about the history in The Passion and it is a shame that this article does attempt to take that seriously.

Update (16:05): Doug Chaplin has some very helpful comments on Metacatholic. I have also been chatting to Paula Gooder this afternoon and, as I suspected, this is a case of selective and misleading quotation. Paula writes:

It is the best portrayal of the crucifixion and resurrection that I have seen for a long time. The drama as a whole including the crucifixion scene draws on some of the best scholarship available. I simply said to the Telegraph that I supposed that some people who didn't like new ideas might find it challenging, they shouldn't but they might!

Labels: BBC Passion

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Thanks to James Crossley for pointing out to me that The Passion was reviewed last night on Newsnight Review. I was delighted to hear Anthony Horowitz, who said that he was still traumatized by the Mel Gibson version, beginning the review by saying that it was "wonderful" and "as close to perfect television as you can get". That is praise! If you are in the UK, you can watch it on the BBC iPlayer. If you are elsewhere, there is a low-quality version available. The review features a couple of clips, including the exchange between Caiaphas and Pilate I wrote about in "The Passion" and Its Historical Context.

Labels: BBC Passion

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I'm bumping this up to the top to remind those in the UK that The Passion mini-series begins this weekend. My posts on it, which include some discussion of my involvement, are here. More later.

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Another new feature has been added to The Passion website at the BBC:

The Passion: Timeline

A series of links are arranged in a Holy Week order, and for each element in the story, there are BBC and non-BBC links, some Passion and some non-Passion. Some of the material is archive material and I was happy to see that one of the links under "The Resurrection" heading was a Beyond Belief from 2002 featuring me, Ed Kessler and the late Daryl Schmidt, and an interview with Michael Goulder at the mid-point. There are many other similar links, some news stories, some articles, some audio.

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Several more videos have been added to The Passion website at the BBC. These are theme-based interviews mainly with Frank Deasy (writer) and Nigel Stafford-Clark (producer) which feature short clips from The Passion. The topics are the Language of Jesus, Filming in Morocco, Judas and Caiaphas and all make interesting viewing. To see them go to the Videos page and scroll down (I can't link to individual ones, so you need to go to the page):

The Passion: Video

Meanwhile, the short main trailer is now also on Youtube though not yet, as far as I can see, on the official BBC channel:

Labels: BBC Passion

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There is a little more available now on the transmission times for The Passion. Although the site's Episode Guide gives the Good Friday episode as 30 minutes, the Radio Times gives it as 60 minutes, 9.00-10.00pm. Since the Radio Times for next week is already in people's homes, that has to be locked in as the time, which leaves the Easter Day episode as thirty minutes, at 7.30pm--8.30pm in between Antiques Roadshow and Lark Rise to Candleford. This actually makes a lot of sense since now the Good Friday episode will include the crucifixion and Easter Day will be burial and resurrection. They have also announced a two and a half hour omnibus combining the first three episodes on Easter day. The updated transmission dates are therefore:

Episode 1: Sunday 16 March, 8pm--9pm, BBC1
Episode 2: Monday 17 March, 8.30pm--9pm, BBC1
Episode 3: Friday 21 March, 9.00pm--10.00pm, BBC1
Episode 4: Sunday 23 March, 7.30pm--8.00pm, BBC1

Episodes 1-3 omnibus: Sunday 23 March, 2.15pm--4.40pm, BBC1

Labels: BBC Passion

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I have been wondering, ever since watching the first edits of The Passion, how I knew Mary (Penelope Wilton). Today I realized that she is Harriet Jones in Doctor Who (series 1, "World War Three" and "Aliens of London"; and the 2005 Christmas special, "Christmas Invasion"). Regular readers will know that my love of Doctor Who is one of the things that brightens my life, and I am delighted to discover several more links between the cast of the two programmes, one I have worked on and one I am a great fan of. Tom Ellis plays Philip and was Tom Milligan in the last episode of Doctor Who series 3 ("Last of the Time Lords"). Dean Lennox Kelly, who plays James, was Shakespeare in "The Shakespeare Code", the second episode in the third series of Doctor Who. Jamie Sives, John, was Captain Reynolds in "Tooth and Claw", the second episode of series 2 of Doctor Who. Daniel Evans, Matthew, was Danny Llewellyn in "The Christmas Invasion". Vinette Robinson, Mina, was Abi Lerner in third series episode "42".

That's a long list; and I've not even begun on Torchwood. To think that I could have met Doctor Who actors at the première too! (Did I mention that I met Robert Powell?)

Labels: BBC Passion, Doctor Who

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I have another article on The Passion website, this time on parables:

Parables
by Mark Goodacre

Labels: BBC Passion, Parables

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One of my favourite podcasts is Start the Week, Andrew Marr's regular Radio 4 Monday morning programme. It's great to discover this week that Frank Deasy is one of the guests, talking about The Passion. You can listen live on the web, or download the podcast -- go to the Start the Week website. The material specifically about The Passion begins at about 24:30.

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The first trailer for The Passion (42 seconds) is now available on the BBC Passion website:

The Passion

Labels: BBC Passion

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The Passion Episode Guide has been updated again, with an adjustment of Episode 3 to Good Friday, and times confirmed for the first three episodes:

Episode 1: Sunday 16 March, 8pm--9pm, BBC1
Episode 2: Monday 17 March, 8.30pm--9pm, BBC1
Episode 3: Friday 21 March, 9.00pm--9.30pm, BBC1
Episode 4: Sunday 23 March, TBA (60 minutes), BBC1

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There are details of the screen dates for The Passion over on its website now -- see Episode Guide:

Episode 1: Sunday 16 March, 8pm-9pm, BBC1
Episode 2: Monday 17 March, 8.30pm-9pm, BBC1
Episode 3: Saturday 22 March, TBA, BBC1
Episode 4: Sunday 23 March, TBA, BBC1

The times of each episode are not yet announced on the site, but a glance at the Radio Times gives the timings for the first two episodes, and I have added those above.

Labels: BBC Passion

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Tomorrow's Times has a great write-up of The Passion by Garry Jenkins. I met Jenkins last night; he was actually over in Morocco for some of the filming and he has provided a pretty full account:

The BBC's bold new interpretation of The Passion
Jesus is a salt-of-the-earth northerner, Mary Magdalene is not a prostitute – oh, and we got the crucifixion all wrong. Welcome to the BBC’s new interpretation of the Passion
Garry Jenkins

And I get a mention too.

Labels: BBC Passion

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Charlotte, NC, 5.13pm: Back in the USA. It's the first time I have arrived since our Green Cards arrived and it was a lot of fun joining the US Citizens / Permanent Resident Aliens line and, for the first time, not having my retina scanned and fingerprints taken.

Perhaps not surprisingly, I overslept this morning. I didn't go to bed until late because I was buzzing so much from the evening's events. Nevertheless, I still made it easily to Gatwick, but not with enough time to spare to put another entry in the travel diary. The flight was a whopping 9 hours, which gave plenty of time for sleeping, reading The Guardian and Doctor Who magazine, and watching the kind of crappy films that one only ever watches on flights, this time the second half of Licence to Wed, which I had begun on the way over, Nanny Diaries and Mr Woodcock, all three pretty terrible.

Now I'm back in the same spot in Charlotte, again drinking Sam Adams, where I was 48 hours ago. I think it was a bit barmy to fly over specially for this event, but I am delighted that I did it. I am unlikely ever to have another opportunity like this, and I am really thrilled to have been able to enjoy it while it lasted. I am actually very proud of my involvement with The Passion. It is a superb drama and I hope that it will be talked about for years to come. And it is a rare thing in an academic's life to have the kind of luck I have had in being invited onto this production, and I am pretty sure I will look back on it in years to come as a fantastic opportunity.

Labels: BBC Passion, Travel diaries

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A hotel in London, 2:18am: I am back from the Passion Première and had a wonderful evening. Before I say anything else, let's just get one thing out of the way: I met Robert Powell! In fact I didn't just meet Robert Powell, but I had a reasonably lengthy and enjoyable conversation with him. I had seen him arrive early in the evening, and saw him having his photograph taken with Joseph Mawle, who plays Jesus in The Passion, and I resisted the temptation to run up to him and say Hi. Happily, later in the evening opportunity presented itself for me to say hello, as I slided steadily towards him alongside Matt Page of the Bible Films blog, who was as keen as I was to meet him.

But with that excitement out of the way, let me rewind a little. I arrived early at the Apollo West End, where the première was to take place, and Matt Page and I filled the time with a pint and some chat. On arrival, I was ushered into a side room where Frank Deasy, the writer of The Passion, was being interviewed. We had often talked on the phone and by email, but this was the first time we had met in person. I did two short interviews in the same room, the first with Christian Premier Radio and the second with Christian Today. I just had time to grab a glass of wine before the screening began, and a chance to meet Nigel Stafford-Clark, the producer, and Michael Offer, the director, also for the first time. And on my way down the stairs, I recognised Joseph Mawle (Jesus) and introduced myself to him and gushed about how good he was in the role. (I did a lot of gushing tonight). I sat with Michael Wakelin, the head of religion and ethics at the BBC, and a fellow advisor on the programme. Jane Tranter, head of drama at the BBC, introduced the screening and read a long list of thank-yous.

Watching the first episode in its final form on the big screen was a wonderful experience. I have seen it many times in earlier edits, but seeing the final version, and on the big screen, was very powerful. The most striking thing to me was the "Coming Soon . . ." trailer at the end, which gathered together some of the most remarkable moments from the forthcoming episodes. And I would be dishonest if I did not confess to some pleasure in seeing my name on the credits after it.

After the screening of the first episode, there was a Q&A session with, left to right, Joseph Mawle (Jesus), Frank Deasy (writer), Jane Tranter (head of drama, chairing), Nigel Stafford-Clark (producer), me, and Michael Offer (director). There were several interesting questions from the audience. Did the spectre of Mel Gibson's film loom large? (No, not really). Had Joseph Mawle had any reservations about playing Jesus (No, not really; yes, there was a huge responsibility, but also he is a "working actor", delighted to get the role). Another question agreed with the others that it was a stunning, compelling piece but added that she was unhappy with one of the lines spoken by Mary; a later questioner echoed the concerns, but I reassured both that I did not think there was any reason to be worried about the theology of the piece, either here or elsewhere.

At the reception afterwards, I met several old friends and lots of new ones, enjoyed a glass of wine (or two) and lots of canopes. The buzz was pretty positive. Almost everyone I talked to had found the first episode compelling drama and they were keen for more.

Oh, and did I mention that I met Robert Powell?

Labels: BBC Passion, Travel diaries

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The website for The Passion is now online. It features pictures from the production, video interviews with the producer Nigel Stafford-Clark and writer Frank Deasy and several of the cast, an episode guide and more. Here is the link:

BBC: The Passion

The articles section includes one I have written on The Passion and Its Historical Context. More content will be added soon.

Labels: BBC Passion

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I've arrived in Charlotte and am enjoying a Sam Adams and some crisps overlooking the concourse. I have a longish wait here but it is large airport and I may even be able to find somewhere to plug in my blogging machine, which is almost out of power. I am happy with the wait; when booking the flights I didn't want to risk missing the flight to London; it's that flight or nothing. I slept very deeply on the flight, and am looking forward to more of the same in a bit.

I may blog later, if I get time, about a couple of the developing media stories about The Passion because I am getting an interesting insight into the way that journalists sometimes go looking for a story.

Labels: BBC Passion, Travel diaries

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It's time for another of my travel diaries. The occasion this time is the premiere of The Passion, the BBC / HBO co-production which will air in the UK on BBC 1 in Holy Week, for which I have been historical consultant. I have never done anything quite so bizarre as travelling to England for only 24 hours. I leave today, arrive in the morning and depart again on Friday morning. But I doubt that I will ever have an occasion like this again, an invitation not only to be at the premiere of a TV mini-series but also to have some involvement in it. At first I laughed off the idea that I might fly over specially, but then the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I could actually pull it off, not least because of when it fell, on a Thursday in a semester when my teaching is all on Mondays and Wednesdays.

So here I am, sitting at Raleigh-Durham International airport on the first leg of my journey. I have already had a beer and a burger in the sports bar and have watched a bit of a BBC4 documentary about Margaret Thatcher on my laptop. I'll be changing at Charlotte, arriving at London Gatwick in the morning. I have the blogging machine with me, as well as a pile of articles to read, lots of podcasts to catch up on and lots of sleep time. As I have said before on such occasions, I am one of those lucky people who really enjoys flying. I find the idea of sitting down doing nothing for hours on end, with food and drink provided, with reading, viewing and listening to do, very attractive; and I find it easy to sleep on flights (and anywhere else, for that matter).

There is one downside, other than the obvious one of being away from the family for a couple of days, and that is that I get to miss most of Dale Allison's tenure as this year's Clark Lecturer at Duke. Before setting off for the airport, I was able to get to the first of his lectures today, on the Historical Jesus and the Theological Jesus. Most of my Historical Jesus class and Kavin Rowe's Introduction to the New Testament class came along too, and the Goodson Chapel was the only place big enough to hold us all. It was an excellent and entertaining lecture, but I don't have the energy to try to summarize it all here. He gives the second lecture in the series tomorrow, and talks tonight to the New Testament colloquium about the "harrowing of hell".

Labels: BBC Passion, Travel diaries

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The BBC Press Office has today released its press pack for the forthcoming drama The Passion. It features interviews with producer Nigel Stafford-Clark, writer Frank Deasy, director Michael Offer and production designer Simon Elliott, several of the cast and me:

The Passion Press Pack

According to the press pack, the website will launch on Thursday.

Labels: BBC Passion

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Over on Bible Films, Matt Page is still on top of things when it comes to The Passion, the BBC / HBO co-production to air this coming Easter. As regular readers will know, I have been a consultant on the series. I have watched the whole series in several different edits now and am really delighted with the production. Matt now reports that the Churches Media Council has a dedicated section of its website on the production and that the official première is taking place on the 28th February in London. Wish I could be there.

Update (2 February): I am happy to say that I think I now have everything in place so that I can, after all, be at the première!

Labels: BBC Passion

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Matt Page has a great round up of the year at his Bible Films Blog. Perhaps more of us should consider an annual individual blog summary like this. Here's Matt's useful round-up:

Bible Films Blog Review of 2007

He ends with the note that "2008 looks likely to be equally busy with a host of films in production, the pick of which looks likely to be the BBC's The Passion in partnership with HBO." I am quite excited about the latter and will, of course, be commenting on it regularly here. I have seen the first four episodes in early edits so far and am very impressed indeed. There will be an announcement soon on the new title for the mini-series, which is now in place. The working title of The Passion has been dropped.

Labels: BBC Passion, Bible Films

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Following on from yesterday's press release, lots of today's papers have picked up on the news about BBC's Passion drama (co-produced with HBO). Perhaps most surprisingly, it even makes it into The Sun where it is described as "a controversial new drama", and there is a nice picture of James Nesbitt (most recently seen in Jekyll), who plays Pontius Pilate. The Times has perhaps the fullest and most interesting article:

Sopranos herald retelling of Passion

After a year of scandal, BBC One has found God. The final week of Christ’s life will be dramatised in a £4 million series that rehabilitates Pontius Pilate.

The Passion, a co-production with HBO, the American company behind The Sopranos, will run nightly, in soap-style episodes, across the Easter week next year.

Joseph Mawle, 33, a relative unknown, will play Jesus in the first television attempt to present the greatest story ever told since Robert Powell starred in the 1977 series Jesus Of Nazareth. Written by Frank Deasy, who won an Emmy for the final instalment of Prime Suspect, The Passion will challenge popular assumptions surrounding the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Pilate, played by James Nesbitt, is shown as a troubled Roman prefect who is forced to clamp down on insurgents running riot in Jerusalem.

The Resurrection will be depicted in a deliberately ambiguous manner, which may anger Christian groups when the series is shown in the United States.

Nigel Stafford-Clark, the producer, told The Times: “The challenge is to rescue the Passion from myth and tell it as an exciting, unfolding story.” . . .

(There is more). Once again it is described as "Easter Week" when they mean Holy Week. I don't think it's quite right to say that it "rehabilitates Pilate" though it is the case that all the characters in the drama are well-drawn, three-dimensional characters. I would also doubt that the depiction of the resurrection will "anger Christian groups" in the US, though you can never predict these things. I have not yet seen the episode, but what I can say on the basis of the scripts and the extensive discussions about them is that it is depicted in a very interesting and fresh way, quite unlike anything in previous Jesus films.

This is London also has an interesting take:

Jesus Back on TV . . . Thirty Years After Robert Powell's Epic

. . . . The new £4million series has been produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark, who is seeking to repeat the success of the half-hour-episodes format he used to critical acclaim with the BBC's adaptation of Dickens's Bleak House in 2005. 'It is a more extreme version of what we faced with Bleak House,' says Stafford-Clark. 'The stakes are higher, the risk greater.'

Filmed during the summer in Morocco, The Passion has been scripted by Irish screenwriter Frank Deasy, of Prime Suspect fame, and is an attempt to give substance to the characters surrounding Christ. The disciples are portrayed as distinctive individuals, while the scribes and Pharisees will be fleshed out, rather than depicted as cartoon villains . . . .

. . . . At 33, Oxford-based Joseph Mawle is the same age as Christ at the time of his crucifixion. Mawle's last television appearance was in the controversial drama Clapham Junction, in which his character was sexually assaulted by a male teenager who had become obsessed with him . . . .

Meanwhile, Inspire Magazine announces that Churches Welcome BBC Passion series, noting that "Andrew Graystone, Director of the Churches’ Media Council, encouraged the Christian community to welcome the BBC’s Passion unreservedly."

The news was announced in several other outlets including Variety, World Screen, Hollywood Reporter, The Stage and The Guardian.

Labels: BBC Passion

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On Bible Films Blog, Matthew Page got to this before I did, but today the BBC put out a press release on its Passion production which is to air next March. Here is the the full text of today's press release, with a couple of comments about my involvement appended underneath:
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BBC One and BBC Drama present a new production of the story of The Passion for Easter 2008

Category: TV Drama; BBC One
Date: 04.12.2007
Printable version

Announced today, the creation of a bold event drama retelling the last week in the life of Jesus Christ – The Passion – written by Emmy Award-winner Frank Deasy (Prime Suspect 7), a BBC Drama Production in association with HBO and Deep Indigo.

Joseph Mawle (Soundproof), James Nesbitt (Murphy's Law), Paul Nicholls (Clapham Junction), Ben Daniels (State Within), Laura Fraser (Casanova), Denis Lawson (Bleak House) and David Oyelowo (Five Days) lead the cast in this unique and compelling dramatisation.

Nigel Stafford-Clark (Bleak House) produces.

The Passion will be stripped across Easter week on BBC One, drawing to a dramatic climax on Easter Sunday.

Visually arresting and rich in colour, the story is rooted in the tangled and chaotic world in which it took place – the city of Jerusalem during Passover week.

Set in the political and religious context of the time, it combines both narrative tension and thematic power to convey the extraordinary events that took place that week in a bold and distinctive way.

This production places the audience at the heart of the action by telling the story from three points of view – the religious authorities, the Romans and Jesus.

For the first time, all the key players are intimately characterised with Jesus (Joseph Mawle) at the centre.

Full of emotion and charged with energy, beginning with Jesus's prophetic entrance through the East Gate, following him to his crucifixion and its startling aftermath.

Award-winning producer Nigel Stafford-Clark says: "The Passion is a gripping, multi-stranded dramatisation of not just the most familiar but arguably the greatest story ever told.

"Both truthful and simple, it gives it back to the audience in a way that will feel as fresh, contemporary and surprising as if it were happening for the first time."

Jane Tranter, Controller, BBC Fiction, says: "Challenging and bold programming and scheduling that you would only find on the BBC, The Passion is an example of BBC Drama's commitment to deliver ambitious and distinctive projects.

"It is a privilege to be making such a major piece of drama from the brilliant Frank Deasy, directed by Michael Offer with an amazing cast.

"We are delighted to be collaborating once again with HBO, continuing our strong creative relationship which has seen us working together on many projects, most recently Five Days, Stuart: A Life Backwards and Einstein And Eddington."

The Passion is produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark (Bleak House), written by Frank Deasy (Prime Suspect 7) and directed by Michael Offer (State Within).

The Executive Producer is Hilary Salmon.

The Passion was shot entirely in Morocco.

Notes to Editors

It's the start of Passover week. In the next few days Jerusalem will more than double in size as thousands of pilgrims come to celebrate the most important festival in their religious calendar.

For their Roman masters, it is the tensest time of the year. Palestine is an unruly province at the best of times, prone to insurgency and driven by an ancient religion that the Romans neither understand nor appreciate.

Indeed, for most of the year the Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate, and his force of 3,000 legionaries base themselves by the sea in the city of Caesarea, where they can enjoy the pleasures of civilisation well away from the perils of Jerusalem's narrow streets.

But for the festivals, and particularly for Passover with its undertones of resistance to imperial power, they move back into the capital city and prepare for trouble.

For the High Priest Caiaphas and his Temple priests too, Passover is not an easy time. The Temple in Jerusalem is the epicentre of the Jewish religion, and during Passover their workload will be immense – on one day alone, some 10,000 lambs will have to be ritually sacrificed in the Temple in the space of a few hours to ensure that every family has its lamb for the Passover meal.

And there is pressure on Caiaphas in other ways. As High Priest, civil unrest is also his responsibility. His Temple guards are the local police force, and it is their job to keep order amongst the civilian population.

Any trouble and the Romans will swiftly move in. And everyone knows what that means.

As Pilate and his wife move rather reluctantly back into their Jerusalem apartments, and Caiaphas and his colleagues review known troublemakers and insurgents who might be on their way to the city, no-one gives much thought to a local preacher from the backwaters of Galilee, who is also making his way to Jerusalem with a gang of followers bonded by two years on the road – a tough, resourceful group whose loyalty is absolute.

Then news is brought that the Galileean is approaching the city on a donkey's colt, and will be entering Jerusalem through the East Gate – thus fulfilling two of the most powerful religious prophecies of the coming of the Messiah. The one who many believe will lead them to military victory or spiritual salvation.

On the streets a crowd is beginning to gather. And the week has only just begun...
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A couple of minor comments. First, this story is widely reported today with the error that it is five episodes. It is actually six. Second, when the press release above says "Easter Week", it should read "Holy Week". I assume that it will run from Monday-Good Friday + Easter Sunday.

More substantively, I am happy to report that I have seen rough edits of the first two episodes and they are really excellent. I am very excited about this, having been involved with this project as a consultant for just over two years. In due course, I would like to tell the story of the project from the sidelines of my small contribution. At this stage, though, I should not be revealing any of its secrets, so my story will have to wait.

Labels: BBC Passion

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The Stage today has the latest on the BBC's planned The Passion drama, due to air in 2008 (see previous, BBC plans big budget Jesus drama, 26 April 2006):

Prime Suspect’s Deasy to pen £4m Passion

Frank Deasy, one of the writers of Prime Suspect, will pen the BBC’s new £4 million drama The Passion, which is understood to be scheduled for 2008.

The mini-series will follow the week leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Producer Nigel-Stafford Clark, who recently worked on the Corporation’s award-winning adaptation of Bleak House, told MediaGuardian that he had selected Deasy because he had an instinctive understanding of the task.

It is reported that the format will take the same soap opera scheduling approach as Bleak House - in half hour episodes each night.

The production, which was the brainchild of the BBC religion department, will also see input from new head of religion and ethics, Michael Wakelin, while Mark Goodacre, a British academic expert on Jesus, has also been engaged as a consultant.

Sounds like they've got some top people involved, then.

Labels: BBC Passion

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