The Gospel on TV: BBC1 during Holy Week beginning on Palm Sunday – ‘The Passion’

BBC’s advertising says:” 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 in 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.

Full of emotion and charged with energy, beginning with Jesus’ 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’.”

Wilma Pearson