The Variety of Religious Programs on British Television

The Variety of Religious Programs on British Television

When television broadcasting began every channel had to broadcast a

religious programme. This was normally on a Sunday between

10.30am-12pm (or 6-7pm).

Church services and hymn singing was usually showed, which is now

known as worship programmes (as they feature some sort of worship).

The times that these programmes were on was called the 'God slot' -

which means; the time dedicated to religious programmes.

These programmes were all regarding the Christian faith, due to the

majority of Christians in the country.

At first, the strictly Christian would watch the religious programmes,

but over many years, these programmes became less popular. One of the

many reasons for this was David Kremer - the programme editor for BBC

religious broadcasting, who noticed that the country had become

vaguely religious. The term 'vaguely religious' means; the belief in

God, but only going to church for a Christening, wedding etc.

As a result, BBC religious broadcasting now only deals with big

questions of life such as, 'why are we here? Where have we come from?

Where are we going?'

Although the 'God slot' has been abandoned, there are still many

programmes related to religion in a vague way, so much so that there

are three types of main religious programmes; magazine, religious

documentaries and worship.

The most popular worship-type program on television today is 'songs of

praise' which has a time of 6.30-7pm every Sunday. The programme is

usually broadcasted from different Christian churches in Britain each

week, and about 6 popular hymns are sung.

A presenter who finds out about ones life and how their Christian

faith has affected them also has a short interview with a member of

the public. The target audiences for worship programmes are people who

fit under the more strictly religious title, and the older Christian

generation.

Another type of religious broadcast is called a magazine programme,

which can be seen on Sunday mornings between 10.30am - 12 noon. This

type of programme includes news from the world of religion, interviews