BBC to show Nativity series


This is just a heads-up for the series to be broadcast by the BBC in December dramatising the story of the Nativity. My first reaction was to groan and wonder what on earth they were going to come up with this year. Looking at one or two notices for it, I have now suspended judgement.

The Churches Together in England carries and enthusiastic endorsement from Peter Greystone of the Church Army, an evangelistic organisation which operates within the Church of England. The BBC have issed a . Press Release where you can find which TV programmes the various actors have been in: I have absolutely no clue about any of them except "Eastenders" whose script writer has written the series. it will be shown as four 30 minute episodes in December though unfortunately the press release doesn't say when these will be.

I very much hope that this will be as good as Peter Greystone says:
Basically the serial tells the stories as they have been handed down to us with straightforward acceptance of them as true. It fills out the back-story with motivations and emotions in order to make it entirely credible. Admittedly, it does incorporate two thousand years of tradition that has gathered around the story (for example, there is a donkey, Mary ends up in blue, all the characters end up squashed in a stable, and so on). But the fact that it declares that this baby is going to save humankind from its sins is so overpowering that all the embellishments become part of the credibility, not distracting.
If you know any more about this series, please put in a comment.

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