What does a Bishop watch on TV
If this thought ever crossed your mind you don't need to wonder any more. Recently the people at ‘ignite.cd' (who have an excellent site full of all sorts of information - http://www.ignite.cd) asked Bishop Harold to be their ‘guest tv reviewer' and here's what his viewing schedule looks like for next week:
"Maybe it's my age, but one of the highlights of my week is getting hold of the latest edition of the Radio Times. It is one of the first publications I ever remember as a kid (when it really was mostly the radio times), and one of the best produced magazines imaginable. Only problem is, the programmes don't always live up to the glitz! Nevertheless, here are my suggestions for viewing over the coming week:
Saturday night is one for light viewing. I always reckon the intellectual highlight is Who Wants to be a Millionaire (ITV1, 7.15pm). Confession is good for the soul: I've been addicted since it started. Perhaps it's the dramatic background music, or memories of Chris Tarrant when he did the children's show Tiswas, or just that feel that I could answer all those questions where the stupid contestants can't. But I really love it. Eat your heart out X Factor, Ant and Dec, and Strictly Come dancing. This is the best: Saturday night wouldn't be the same without it!
Sunday will be a difficult choice, with a new episode of A Touch of Frost (ITV, 9pm). But, if I'm back in time from my travels round the diocese, it is David Attenborough's Planet Earth (BBC1, 9pm) which I'll be intending to watch. Six new programmes in this series, and the first beginning in the Arctic and the Antarctic. It's one of those programmes which make you feel as though you just must have high definition TV, but I'll survive a while longer with the old widescreen.
Crime is the theme on Monday: not in drama series, but in documentaries. Lock them up or let them out (BBC2, 9pm) looks at early release of prisoners and the parole system. Then, later in the evening, the Tonight programme, School of Hard Knocks (ITV1, 11pm) looks at the rising tide of violence in UK schools, and includes an interview with Natashia Jackman, who was stabbed in the face in a playground attack.
Religious programming on the main channels is few and far between these days, but occasionally something of interest appears in the regular schedules. For Wednesday night viewing it is the former Presbyterian Moderator, John Dunlop, on his round the world tour for BBC Northern Ireland in A Pilgrim's Progress (BBC1, 10.40pm). John is a master of conversation and analysis, and visits the highly controversial Diocese of New Westminster, where the church has been torn apart because of same-sex blessings. This of course has also deeply affected the whole Anglican Communion. Not to be missed. I just hope it is a balanced and careful report and up to John's usual standard.
I wonder which channel is your default when there's nothing on the usual ones. Mine is More4. Try it on Friday night, as the winter nights draw in, for A Place in the Sun (More4, 7pm). It is, of course, a repeat, but sure it doesn't matter with programmes like that. They are wonderful entertainment, probably totally materialistic (Like Deal or No Deal, which precedes it and has made Noel Edmunds famous again!), and visually superb. Even if we can never afford a place in the sun, we will all have become amateur estate agents in our fantasy world! And we all need a bit of escapism: not least bishops!
+ Harold
3/11/06