Songs of Praise

Songs of Praise
Genre	Religious television
Created by	Donald Baverstock
Presented by	Aled Jones David Grant Diane Louise Jordan Eamonn Holmes Pam Rhodes Sally Magnusson Dan Walker Bill Turnbull
Theme music composer	Robert Prizeman (1986-)
Ending theme	Songs of Praise - Toccata for Organ
Country of origin	UK
No. of episodes	c. 2,300 (October 2012)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Tommy Nagra (Nov 2008-)
Producer(s)	Garry Boon
Editor(s)	David Taviner (Sept 2009-)[1]
Running time	35 mins
Production company(s)	Religious Programmes Dept, BBC Manchester
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One
Original airing	1 October 1961 (1961-10-01) - present
External links
Songs of Praise

Songs of Praise is a BBC Television religious programme based around Christian hymns which began in October 1961. It is the most-watched British religious television programme.

The first edition was broadcast from the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cardiff, and the series is the longest-running of its kind on television anywhere in the world.^[2]

Format

It is now usually broadcast at tea time on Sundays, normally between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., and it usually includes congregations from churches and cathedrals singing famous hymns whilst the presenter explores that week's theme. While focusing on hymns, in recent years the shows have become more diverse in its content, typically with a different theme for each show, including special programmes for days such as Remembrance Sunday and celebrating the lives of famous British Christians, including the late Dame Thora Hird and Sir Harry Secombe. The programme often airs more contemporary themed episodes than it did in the past, featuring modern Christian artists such as Tim Hughes, Stuart Townend, Lou Fellingham/Phatfish and YFriday.

Worldwide

Outside the United Kingdom, Songs of Praise is regularly shown in the Netherlands, Australia (ABC), New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Canada and South Africa. One of the few peak-time free-to-air religious programmes in Europe (with its Dutch equivalent, Nederland Zingt, broadcast by the EO; S4C's Dechrau Canu, Dechrau Canmol predates Songs of Praise by a few months and still runs regularly).

Foundation

The programme began in October 1961 from 18.15 to 18.55 when BBC and ITV both had to show religious programmes from 6.15 to 7.25 on Sunday evenings, 'the God slot',^[3] which was more formally known as the Restricted Period.^[2] (Its ITV equivalent, Highway, was dropped in the early 1990s). Initially it would be followed by a five minute charity appeal, then a religious discussion programme called Meeting Point until 19.25, when followed by What's My Line?. Also on Sunday morning an actual church service was broadcast live from 10.30.

The programme was the idea of the then Assistant Controller of Programmes at the BBC, Donald Baverstock. During its run until 2011, Songs of Praise has visited over 1,800 churches, cathedrals and chapels, with worshippers having sung over 12,500 hymns. On 2 October 2011, it presented its fiftieth anniversary edition, with guests including Andrea Bocelli, LeAnn Rimes, Katherine Jenkins and Beverley Knight. The programme's most popular hymn is How Great Thou Art.

Programming

From October 1962 it moved to 18:50, with the religious discussion programme beforehand. In May 1976 the BBC and IBA announced that Sunday evening would no longer have a set time for religious programmes, after the Central Religious Advisory Committee decreed; the BBC announced that Songs of Praise would be broadcast from 18.40 to 19.15, ten minutes earlier than previously, but the preceding topical discussion programme (entitled Anno Domini since 1974) would be moved to Sunday nights at 22.15 from April 1977, when it was branded Everyman, and would run until 2005, often alternating (from 1979 to 2000) with Heart of the Matter. The hour-long live Sunday Worship programme on BBC1 was at 12.00.

For many years, the series was replaced during the summer months by other Christian-themed programming. From 1977^[4] until 1993, a selection of hymns from the previous year's shows, linked by Thora Hird reading requests and dedications, was featured in Your Songs of Praise Choice, which changed its name to Praise Be! in the 1980s. Other summer replacements included Home on Sunday (1980–88)^[5] and Sweet Inspiration (1993–94)).^[6]

From 1977 to 1997, it was repeated during the following week, usually on Monday afternoons, initially on BBC1 and later on BBC2. On 3 January 1993 the main programme time moved to 18.25 on Sunday, finishing at 19.00. From January 1996 it moved to 18.10, and gradually it has been shown in a slightly earlier slot in recent years, although the precise time of broadcast has became more variable from week to week.

Each year since 2003, three consecutive weeks of the programme (usually in April) have been devoted to the 'School Choir of the Year' competition - the first two weeks being semi-finals featuring junior and senior school choirs respectively, with the final of both categories in the third week.

Contributors

It has had many regular presenters over the years including Geoffrey Wheeler, Michael Barratt, Cliff Michelmore, Sir Harry Secombe (after Highway ended), Alan Titchmarsh, Roger Royle, Debbie Thrower, Bruce Parker, Ian Gall, Martin Bashir, Jonathan Edwards and Steve Chalke. Guest presenters have included Sir Cliff Richard, Gavin Peacock and Caron Keating.

The current main presenters are Pam Rhodes, Sally Magnusson, Diane-Louise Jordan, Aled Jones, Eamonn Holmes, David Grant, Bill Turnbull and Dan Walker.^[7]

On Sunday 4 November 2012, Ann Widdecombe appeared on the programme as a guest host on a special programme about singleness.^[8]

Interviews

The show has included interviews of Tony Blair, Frances Shand Kydd, Alan Ayckbourn and members of the British Royal Family.

Events

Events have included a 3 October 1982 broadcast from Strangeways Prison (the first time it had broadcast from a prison),^{[citation needed]} a 2 January 1983 broadcast from the Falkland Islands,^{[citation needed]} and a broadcast from St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.^[9]

A competition was held in honor of the 20th anniversary in which people submitted newly written hymns. Fifteen winners were published in a book New Songs of Praise I.^[10]

The programme staged its largest event at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on the first Sunday of 2000.^[11] A live audience of over 60,000 people came to sing hymns, with a 6,000 piece choir, an orchestra of 100 harps, the band of the Welsh Guards and an anthem specially written by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. The programme was produced by John Forrest (Producer-Director). Ian Bradley said the event had a "wonderful vulgarity" but that it also had an "infectious sense of community"^[11]

The Easter 2007 edition of the show had been recorded at the same time as the Christmas 2006 edition of the show at Lichfield Cathedral in Staffordshire in order to cut costs - with simple changes in lighting and flowers to reflect the two major services. The Bishop of Lichfield said the early recording was not a "deliberate deceit" but would give "an air of unreality" to the Easter programme, while a BBC spokeswoman said it was "common practice" to film two shows at once due to the costs in setting up lighting rigs, especially in a large cathedral.^[12]

Reception and impact

In the early 1990s, the weekly viewership of the show was about twenty-five percent of the British population.^[11] In 1998, the average viewership was between 5 and 6 million.^[13] Because of the long time airing of Songs of Praise following the Sunday evening news, the time slot has become known as the "God slot".^[14] The show has been accused of "abandon[ing] its long-standing commitment to straightfoward hymns and 'ordinary' people talking about their often very extraordinary lives and faith and becoming increasingly obsessed with celebrities and soft-focus schmaltz".^[15]

The show appeared as a feature within episodes of the BBC comedy television series The Vicar of Dibley in which David Hofstede called the choir auditions for the show one of the great moments of season one,^[16] and The Brittas Empire.^{[citation needed]}

Recording Songs of Praise in 1988

See also

• Choral Evensong
• Religion in the United Kingdom
• Sunday Half Hour

References

External links

• Songs of Praise at BBC Programmes
• Songs of Praise at the Internet Movie Database
• 50th anniversary in October 2011