THE BBC is dramatising the Bible in a big-budget series that will rely heavily on computer-generated imagery, it was announced yesterday.
The Bible will feature the most important and iconic stories from the Old and New Testaments.
An international co-production, it will be ready for broadcast in the form of six one-hour episodes later next year.
The BBC wants to sign up a famous
presenter, whose identity has not been disclosed, to provide the narration for the drama.
Each episode will emphasise the humanity, miraculous experiences and epic encounters contained in the Bible's stories.
The BBC said that the series was designed to be an accessible, entertaining, informative and intelligent guide to the Bible.
The Bible will be produced in-house by the BBC's specialist factual department but is an international effort, part-funded by BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm.
News of The Bible comes after the BBC broadcast its Easter drama The Passion, a retelling of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The Passion, watched by four million viewers, starred Joseph Mawle as Jesus, James Nesbitt as Pilate and Ben Daniels as Caiaphas.
It stirred up controversy when some traditional Christian groups accused the BBC of rewriting the Gospels by appearing to exonerate Judas and Pontius Pilate.
• Channel 4 is following up its Make Me A Muslim series by asking six people to live by strict Christian principles.
Make Me A Christian will ask the volunteers, including a Muslim and from diverging backgrounds, to follow Christian teachings for six weeks.
In Make Me A Muslim, a mixed-race couple, one of whom was a lapsed Muslim, a gay hairdresser, an atheist taxi driver with a porn habit, and a glamour model were guided in the dos and don'ts of the religion.
The full article contains 313 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
