THE BISHOP OF NORWICH MY VIEW

I’ll be keeping a close eye on the new Songs Of Praise, says the clergyman

This Sunday I’ll be glued to my television watching Songs Of Praise. There’s nothing remarkable in me sitting down with a cup of tea to enjoy this TV institution but this week I’ll be paying particular interest. That’s because for the first time Songs Of Praise is not being made in-house by the BBC but has been farmed out to an outside production company. It’s all part of the BBC being required to put all its programmes out to tender over the next few years. Sadly for BBC Studios, which made the show, it didn’t win the new three-year contract.

Songs Of Praise has a long and illustrious history. It was first broadcast in 1961 – less than a year after Coronation Street first aired. Over the years it’s reinvented itself several times – I think pretty successfully – to keep pace with ever-changing times. It’s well-made, the presenters including Aled Jones do a fine job and it’s adapted to the much more diverse Christian music culture of today. It’s occasionally been brave too, for instance broadcasting from the church established by the refugees at Calais. It also broadcast from the South Atlantic after the Falklands War.

Sadly, it’s now just about the only regular programme of religious worship on the BBC, which I find strange given that millions of people in the country worship at Christian churches.

I’m wor ried there has been a gradual diminishing of the show’s importance in recent years. There was a time when the Beeb said it wouldn’t schedule it before 5pm, but it’s rarely on later than that now, which takes it away from the mainstream and the chance of a bigger audience. This week’s show is on BBC1 at 4.45pm. Also, its timeslot changes from week to week, meaning it can be difficult to find in the schedules.

I do of course wish the new independent makers of Songs Of Praise well – they’ve inherited a wonderful programme, and I just hope that they don’t water down its Christian focus.

In recent weeks, the Church’s vital role in comforting and caring for the victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster and the terror attacks has been regularly shown on TV news bulletins – proof of how important worship, prayer and faith remains at such times. So I very much hope that the BBC keeps a very close eye on the progress of Songs Of Praise. I and many other devotees certainly will.

The Right Reverend Graham James has been the Bishop of Norwich since 1999. Visit dioceseofnorwich.org.