Hallelujah! Cliff turns other cheek for the BBC

Only two years ago he emerged triumphant from his High Court battle against the BBC which had, he said, left his reputation ‘forever tainted’.

But in the week he turned 80, Sir Cliff Richard has given startling proof that he lives up to the Christian precept of loving your enemy — by recording a special edition of the Beeb’s flagship religious programme Songs Of Praise.

I can reveal the programme was filmed in St Paul’s Cathedral last week with the working title ‘Britain’s Favourite Carol’.

It also features Forces’ sweetheart Katherine Jenkins, as well as blind Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Irish icon Daniel O’Donnell.

But an insider assures me that there is no question about who the star of the show is.

‘It’s Cliff,’ he tells me. ‘The BBC showed him the idea of the programme — it was wonderful. He sang Bethlehem and a less well-known carol and talked about his faith.

‘ It’s set to go out before Christmas. The deal was that he would be “the star”.’ nevertheless, anyone who had suffered Sir Cliff’s experiences might have demurred. He described as ‘heartbreaking’ a BBC report in which a helicopter was deployed to record a police raid on his house in Berkshire in 2014. Sir Cliff subsequently took action against both the BBC and South yorkshire Police. The latter apologised and paid him damages. The BBC issued an apology — but refused a pay-out, only for the case to be resoundingly settled in his favour with the Corporation ordered to pay him £210,000, as well as £850,000 of his legal costs. ‘Cliff explained that he doesn’t hold grudges and that the only way in life is to move on and move forward,’ I’m told. ‘His view is that all is good again.’ Sir Cliff has been a devout Christian since the mid-1960s. It was at a Billy Graham event, in front of 27,000 people at Earls Court in london, that the star revealed his newfound faith. The BBC declined to make a comment.