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Belief

First broadcast from 20001204 to 20091225.

Yet anotjher programme where the BBC is giving a series number totally at odds with what it should be - how over 100 episodes (that I know of) can be just 6 series is a mystery.

115 episodes

Series	Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Description
200D	01	Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate	20001204	20010303
04	03	Marina Warner
04	03	Marina Warner
04		Baroness Ruth Deech	20090101		Joan Bakewell talks with public figures, artists and thinkers about what they believe. Joan Bakewell talks to Baroness Ruth Deech, who has spent most of her career in public service and is arguably best known for her work as chair of the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority. She talks to Joan about her upbringing in a Jewish household in south London and what impact this had on some decisions she has had to make during her time at the HFEA.
04		Tim Winter	20090102		Joan Bakewell talks to Cambridge University chaplain and Muslim convert Tim Winter. Joan Bakewell explores areas of belief with artists, thinkers and other public figures. She talks to Cambridge University chaplain and Muslim convert Tim Winter, known as Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad. He explores the moral sense of the sacred, instilled in him by his mother, his search for a connection with his creator and what it means to be a Muslim convert in Britain today. Winter made his own journey towards Islam, via the Unitarian church, bringing Western academic methods to his studies of Islam and its history. He is strongly critical of Wahhabism and of the kinds of Islamic interpretation and fundamentalism which underlie extremism and justifications of violence. A participant in inter-faith dialogue at high levels, he has recently returned from the Vatican in an attempt to improve Muslim Catholic relations.
04		Marina Warner		20091222	Joan Bakewell explores areas of belief with artists, thinkers and other public figures. She talks to prize-winning novelist, critic and cultural historian Marina Warner who, although brought up Catholic and a former pupil of one of Britain's top convent schools, abandoned her faith in her twenties while writing her second book Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary. Yet she remains personally and professionally interested in all things religious, magical, mythical and irrational. Joan Bakewell discusses belief with novelist, critic and cultural historian Marina Warner
04		Tim Winter		20091224	Joan Bakewell explores areas of belief with artists, thinkers and other public figures. She talks to Cambridge University chaplain and Muslim convert Tim Winter, known as Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad. He explores the moral sense of the sacred, instilled in him by his mother, his search for a connection with his creator and what it means to be a Muslim convert in Britain today. Winter made his own journey towards Islam, via the Unitarian church, bringing Western academic methods to his studies of Islam and its history. He is strongly critical of Wahhabism and of the kinds of Islamic interpretation and fundamentalism which underlie extremism and justifications of violence. A participant in inter-faith dialogue at high levels, he has recently returned from the Vatican in an attempt to improve Muslim Catholic relations. Joan Bakewell talks to Cambridge University chaplain and Muslim convert Tim Winter.
04		Tim Winter
05	01	Frank Cottrell-boyce	20090406		Joan Bakewell explores areas of belief with artists, thinkers and other public figures. She discusses the Catholic faith with screenwriter and author Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Writer of the films Millions, Welcome to Sarajevo and 24-Hour Party People, Cottrell-Boyce has also turned his hand to writing children's literature. In 2009, he wrote the screenplay for a BBC Two drama, God on Trial - a feature-length television play based upon the (possibly apocryphal) tale of Auschwitz prisoners setting up court and charging God with having broken his covenant with the Jewish people. It was a job which challenged his own faith, yet revealed new insights to him. Joan Bakewell explores belief with Catholic screenwriter and author Frank Cottrell-Boyce.
05	02	Baroness Uddin	20090407		Joan Bakewell explores areas of belief with artists, thinkers and other public figures. She talks to Britain's first female Muslim Asian peer Baroness Uddin of Bethnal Green. Invited to the House of Lords for her work with women and disability rights, she says her Islamic faith gives her confidence. In her life and work she challenges stereotypes about Muslim women. From a family with strong and successful Muslim women, Lady Uddin tells of her life in north Bangladesh during the war of independence in the 1970s. She describes the colourless landscape into which she arrived in London in 1973 and how she took to the streets of East London to fight fascism. Married at the age of 16, she was determined to return to education and follow in the footsteps of her mother and grandfather in achieving an impressive list of firsts. This she succeeded in, as she became the first Bangledeshi woman to be elected as a local councillor, the first deputy leader of a local council and then the first Muslim Asian woman in the House of Lords. Joan Bakewell discusses belief with Britain's first female Muslim peer Baroness Uddin.
05	03	Stephen Smith	20090408		Joan Bakewell explores areas of belief with artists, thinkers and other public figures. She talks to Stephen Smith, co-founder and director of the Holocaust Centre, set in the countryside of North Nottinghamshire. Originally a Christian retreat house run by his parents, the centre is dedicated to the memory and significance of that terrible event for Jews and non-Jews alike. His vision for it was inspired by his own journey to understand the relationship between Judaism and Christianity as well as the Holocaust itself. In turn, Smith has had to examine his own convictions underpinning the nature of humanity - does good always triumph over evil? Do the actions of good people always win out? It's a process which has led him away from Christianity and towards Judaism. These days, Stephen is much more likely to celebrate Passover than Easter Sunday, his children know as much about the Jewish faith as Christianity and, for him, God cannot be defined. Joan Bakewell talks to co-founder and director of the Holocaust Centre Stephen Smith.
05	04	Mark Haddon	20090409		She talks to Mark Haddon, author of the award-winning book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night. He describes himself as an atheist in a very religious mould - someone who is always asking the big questions of life, such as: Where did we come from? Is there a meaning to all of this? For him, science and literature provide answers to these questions and celebrate some of the mysteries of life.
05	05 LAST	Tony Blair	20090410		Joan Bakewell explores areas of belief with authors, screenwriters, thinkers and other public figures. She talks to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was a committed Christian throughout his premiership. His press secretary, Alistair Campbell, once said, 'we don't do God', fearing his boss would be considered a 'nutter' by the British public. Since leaving office, Blair has converted to Catholicism and talked more freely about the importance of his faith to him. Joan hears how faith and politics have gone hand in hand for Tony Blair since his days at university; she hears how his faith helped him take on the job of leading the country; how he now views his decision to invade Iraq; and what he hopes the Tony Blair Faith Foundation will achieve. His role as envoy to the international Quartet involved in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process regularly takes him to the Holy Land, and Joan hears what impact these visits have on his own faith. Joan Bakewell explores belief with former Prime Minister Tony Blair
06	01	David Starkey	20091221		Joan Bakewell explores areas of belief with artists, thinkers and other public figures. She talks to historian, writer and broadcaster David Starkey about his Quaker upbringing, his rejection of religion as the answer to life's big questions and how he makes sense of recent moves in Catholic-Anglican relations. As the author of a recent biography of Henry VIII, he wonders if time is running out for Henry's great legacy - England's national church - the Church of England. Joan Bakewell discusses belief with historian, writer and broadcaster David Starkey.
06	01	David Starkey
06	01	David Starkey
06	02	Prof John Hull	20091223		She talks to theologian and academic John Hull about his experience of going blind. Born sighted, John underwent several episodes of temporary blindness before finally losing his sight for good more than 35 years ago. His book, Touching the Rock, movingly recounts his journey into acceptance of blindness and how he faced the new challenges of day to day family life. John was born into a conservative Methodist family in Australia. He himself believed he had a vocation to follow in his minister father's footsteps, but a thwarted love affair threw up too many doubts about his own ability to be a minister and his beliefs have developed into a more inclusive and radical brand of Christian faith. Today, having been a leading figure in the debate on religious education in state schools, John now teaches trainee ministers in prophetic ministry.
06	02	Prof John Hull
06	03	Ann Widdecombe
06	03 LAST	Ann Widdecombe	20091225		Joan Bakewell explores areas of belief with artists, thinkers and other public figures. She talks to Conservative MP and novelist Ann Widdecombe, who was a life-long Anglican until the Church of England's decision to ordain women priests in the 1990s. She converted to Catholicism and has been a passionate supporter of Rome ever since. Ann sees a time when the Catholic Church will drop its demand for celibacy amongst its priests and believes Pope Benedict is a figure who could achieve such a reform. For her, such a change is possible within her lifetime. Ann is stepping down as an MP at the next election and says she would like to take up the post of Britain's ambassador to the Holy See which becomes vacant in 2010. Joan Bakewell explores areas of belief with Conservative MP and novelist Ann Widdecombe.
200D	01		20001225	20010324	Joan Bakewell talks to actor and director Janet Suzman about her beliefs, the influences that have shaped her, and her ideas about life's big questions. / 1. Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate.
200D	02		20001226		2. Lord Puttnam, film director.
200D	02	Lord Puttnam, Film Director	20001211	20010310
200D	03		20001227		3. Anita Roddick, businesswoman.
200D	03	Composer James Macmillan	20001218	20010317
200D	04		20001228		4. Anish Kapoor, sculptor.
200D	05	Prof Paul Davies	20001229		Physicist and mathematician.
202A	01		20020325		Joan Bakewell talks to guests about their beliefs and the influences that have shaped them. 1: A S Byatt, writer.
202A	02		20020326		Joan Bakewell talks to guests about their beliefs and the influences that have shaped them. 2: John Tavener, composer.
202A	03	Tanika Gupta, Playwright	20020327		3: Tanika Gupta, playwright.
202A	04	Sir Roger Penrose, Mathematician	20020328		Joan Bakewell talks to guests about their beliefs, the influences that have shaped them and their ideas about life's big questions. 4: Sir Roger Penrose, mathematician.
202A	05	Father Timothy Radcliffe, Dominican Friar	20020329		Joan Bakewell talks to guests about their beliefs, the influences that have shaped them and their ideas about life's big questions.
203D	01	Writer Amy Tan	20031222		Joan Bakewell returns with a new series of Belief in which she talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. In a society where the arena of belief has become increasingly personal and subjective, she explores in conversation with her guests the influences that have shaped them, the ideas they have about life's big questions and how what they believe affects both their personal and professional lives.
203D	01	Writer Philip Pullman	20031229		A series of programmes in which Joan Bakewell talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. In a society where the arena of belief has become increasingly personal and subjective, she explores in conversation with her guests the influences that have shaped them, the ideas they have about life's big questions and how what they believe affects both their personal and professional lives.
203D	02	Artists Amrit And Rabindra Kalir-singh.	20031230		A series of programmes in which Joan Bakewell talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. In a society where the arena of belief has become increasingly personal and subjective, she explores in conversation with her guests the influences that have shaped them, the ideas they have about life's big questions and how what they believe affects both their personal and professional lives. Today's guests are artists Amrit and Rabindra Kalir-Singh.
203D	02	Neuro Scientist Steven Rose	20031223		Joan Bakewell talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. In a society where the arena of belief has become increasingly personal and subjective, she explores in conversation with her guests the influences that have shaped them, the ideas they have about life's big questions and how what they believe affects both their personal and professional lives. Today's guests is neuro scientist Steven Rose.
203D	03	Composer-musician Nitin Sawhney	20031224		Joan Bakewell talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. In a society where the arena of belief has become increasingly personal and subjective, she explores in conversation with her guests the influences that have shaped them, the ideas they have about life's big questions and how what they believe affects both their personal and professional lives.
203D	03	Historian, Karen Armstrong.	20031231		A series of programmes in which Joan Bakewell talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. In a society where the arena of belief has become increasingly personal and subjective, she explores in conversation with her guests the influences that have shaped them, the ideas they have about life's big questions and how what they believe affects both their personal and professional lives.
203D	04	Christian Campaigner Jim Wallis	20031225		Joan Bakewell talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. In a society where the arena of belief has become increasingly personal and subjective, she explores in conversation with her guests the influences that have shaped them, the ideas they have about life's big questions and how what they believe affects both their personal and professional lives. Today CHRISTIAN campaigner Jim Wallis.
203D	05	Irene Khan, Secretary General Of Amnesty International	20031226		Joan Bakewell talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why.
204B	01	Richard Dawkins	20040405		Joan Bakewell talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. 1. Richard Dawkins, Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at OXFORD University, is well known as a passionate opponent of religious belief and as an accomplished communicator of scientific ideas.
204B	02	Poet Wendy Cope	20040406		Author of Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis, explores despair, happiness, and the rejection and return of faith.
204B	03	Sir Crispin Tickell	20040407		drew early attention to the possible catastrophic political effects of climate change, and has played a significant part in keeping it on the world agenda.
204B	04	Rabbi Dame julia Neuberger	20040408		The first woman to have sole charge of a synagogue. In Passover week she reflects on her family roots in German Jewry, and on her championing of ethical values.
204B	05		20040409		John O'donohue, Poet, Writer And Former Priest, reflects on Good Friday, on the influence of landscape, family and philosophy on his writing, pursued in his remote cottage home in the wild scenery of Connemara.
204D	01	Tom Wright	20041227		, Bishop of Durham, is a key figure in the challenge of keeping the Anglican Communion united, and is a Biblical scholar known for his robust interpretations of both Jesus and St Paul.
204D	02	Hanif Kureishi	20041228		is the British-born Asian writer of My Beautiful Laundrette and My Ear At His Heart, whose work demonstrates an enduring ability to shock and to question.
204D	03	Debjani Chatterjee	20041229		is an INDIAn-born poet who connects the narratives of Hindu epics and devotion with a broad personal perspective on faith.
204D	04	howard Jacobson	20041230		is known as a seriously funny novelist, whose observation of his characters' foibles draws on his own roots in MANCHESTER Jewry.
204D	05	Ziauddin Sardar	20050103		A Muslim writer dedicated to the renewal of Islam, an intellectual and commentator who has described his life as "desperately seeking Paradise".
204D	06	Steven Rose	20050104		is a neuroscientist who studies brains. His belief in the moral dimension of human life challenges some of the current orthodoxies of evolutionary biology.
204D	07	Amy Tan	20050105		is an American novelist. Close acquaintance with death and her upbringing with a Baptist father and a Chinese mother have a continuing influence on her.
204D	08	Sir Crispin Tickell	20050106		drew early attention to the possible catastrophic political effects of climate change, and has played a significant part in keeping it on the world agenda.
206B	01		20060410		Scientist and writer Sue Blackmore.
206B	02		20060411		The Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Dholakia.
206B	03		20060412		The philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock
206B	04		20060413		Joan Bakewell talks to guests about their beliefs, influences and their ideas about life's big questions. 4/5. The President of the Royal Society and Astronomer Royal, Lord Martin Rees.
206B	05 LAST		20060414		The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor.
206D	01		20061225		This edition features Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster.
206D	02		20061226		This edition features designer and architectural commentator Charles Jencks
206D	03		20061227		This edition features Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah, Rabbi of Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue.
206D	04		20061228		This edition features climate change scientist John Houghton.
206D	05		20061229		This edition features playwright Howard Brenton.
206D	06		20070101		She talks to Muslim feminist Prof Haleh Afshar.
206D	07		20070102		Writer, performer and academic Tom Shakespeare.
206D	08		20070103		Writer Hanif Kureishi
206D	09		20070104		Poet and Rastafarian Benjamin Zephaniah
206D	10 LAST		20070105		Founder of Kids Company Camila Batmanghelidjh.
207B	01	Theodore Zeldin	20070402		The historian, Theodore Zeldin.
207B	02	Simon Conway Morris	20070403		Palaeontologist Professor Simon Conway Morris
207B	03	Nasser Mansour	20070404		The calligrapher, Nasser Mansour.
207B	04 LAST	Janet Soskice	20070405		The theologian, Dr Janet Soskice.
207D	01	June Osborne	20071226		The Very Rev June Osborne, Dean of Salisbury.
207D	02	Jim Crace	20071227		Internationally acclaimed novelist Jim Crace.
207D	03	Peter Sanders	20071228		Peter Sanders, recognised as a leading photographer of the Islamic world.
207D	04		20071231		Joan Bakewell talks with public figures, artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. 4/7: The philosopher Baroness Warnock.
207D	05		20080101		Award-winning poet Daljit Nagra.
207D	06		20080103		Lord Rees.
207D	07 LAST		20080104		Baroness Deech.
208A	01	Tim Cross	20080317		Major General Tim Cross, whose army career included serving in Northern Ireland, the Balkans and Iraq, discusses military ethics and belief.
208A	02		20080318		Novelist A L Kennedy, winner of the 2007 Costa Book of the Year award.
208A	03	Jonathan Sacks	20080319		The Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks
208A	04		20080320		Sr Frances Dominica, founder of Helen House, the world's first children's hospice.
	05	Artist Twins Amrit And Rabindra Kaur-singh	20021227		Joan Bakewell talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. 5: Artist twins Amrit and Rabindra Kaur-Singh.
	06	Composer Sally Beamish	20021230
	06	James Macmillan	20010102		Composer.
	07	Lawyer And Author Anthony Julius	20030102		Joan Bakewell talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. 7: Lawyer and author Anthony Julius.
	07	Minette Walters	20010103		novelist.
	08	Historian Karen Armstrong	20030103		Joan Bakewell talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why.
	08	Prof John Bowker	20010104		theologian.
	09	Janet Suzman	20010105		actor and director.
		Poet Imtiaz Dharker	20040102		Joan Bakewell talks to the poet Imtiaz Dharker about her views on life's big questions, and how her beliefs have shaped her personal and professional life.
			20050321		Today she talks to poet Benjamin Zephaniah.
			20050322		Joan Bakewell talks to Professor Antony Flew, a former atheist and now a believer in God, about his beliefs, the influences that have shaped them and his ideas about life's big questions.
			20050323		This edition features Haleh Afshar, Muslim academic and feminist.
			20050324		Joan Bakewell talks to artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. This edition features Sir Harry Kroto, Nobel Laureate for Chemistry.
			20050325		Series in which Joan Bakewell talks to guests about their beliefs and the influences that have shaped them. This edition features Michael Symmons Roberts, winner of the 2004 Whitbread Poetry Award.
			20051226		Her guest is Tariq Ramadan, a controversial Muslim academic and champion of the reform of Islam.
			20051227		Her guest is the playwright David Greig.
			20051228		Professor Alister McGrath is the guest.
			20051229		The guest is Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of Kids Company.
			20051230		This edition features writer, performer and academic Tom Shakespeare.
			20060102		The guest is astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell.
			20060103		The guest is poet Michael Symmons Roberts
			20060104		This edition features novelist Howard Jacobson.
			20060105		This edition features sculptor Antony Gormley
			20060106		Series in which Joan Bakewell talks to guests about their beliefs and the influences that have shaped them. This edition features Indian-born poet Debjani Chatterjee.
		Belief, Bishop Of Rochester, The Right Rev Dr Michael Nazir-ali	20081222		Joan Bakewell discusses belief with the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali. Joan Bakewell explores areas of belief with artists, thinkers and other public figures. She talks to the Church of England's first non-white dioceasan bishop, the Bishop of Rochester, the Right Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali. Born in Pakistan, his early influences were both Muslim and Christian, yet today he courts controversy, publically voicing his fears of the perceived dangers from Islam, and his opposition to homosexuality.
		Theodore Zeldin	20081223		She speaks to Theodore Zeldin, a historian celebrated for his radical insights into the nature and history of human relationships.
		Belief, Marina Warner	20081224		She talks to prize-winning novelist, critic and cultural historian Marina Warner who, although brought up Catholic and a former pupil of one of Britain's top convent schools, abandoned her faith in her twenties while writing her second book Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary. Yet she remains personally and professionally interested in all things religious, magical, mythical and irrational.
		Belief, Sister Frances Dominica	20081225		Joan Bakewell talks with public figures, artists and thinkers about what they believe. Joan Bakewell talks to Sister Frances Dominica, founder of the world's first hospice for children, Helen House, in Oxford, and whose Christian faith has found both its greatest challenge and its fulfilment in responding to suffering and loss.
		Belief, Rabbi Dr Tony Bayfield	20081226		Joan Bakewell discusses belief with Rabbi Dr Tony Bayfield, head of Britain's Reform Jews. Joan Bakewell talks to the head of Britain's Reform Jewish community, Rabbi Dr Tony Bayfield, who has devoted his life to challenging those who claim to have a monopoly on truth. He talks openly about the Holocaust survivors who taught him at theological college, the place of converts within Judaism and how his training and work as a Rabbi left him utterly unprepared for the untimely death of his wife. Rabbi Bayfield has focused strongly on promoting Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue as well as criticising all forms of fundamentalism. In 2008, he spearheaded a commitment to collaborate with other branches of Judaism in an attempt to embrace diversity and pluralism and reduce in-fighting. His stance has seen him publicly oppose his friend of 40 years, Britain's Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks. Yet that friendship remains, despite the passionate theological divide.
		Belief, Prof Simon Conway Morris	20081229		Joan Bakewell talks with public figures, artists and thinkers about what they believe. Joan Bakewell speaks to Prof Simon Conway Morris, a palaeontologist who has made a detailed study of the Burgess Shale fossil records in Canada.
		Belief, 30/12/2008	20081230		Joan Bakewell discusses belief with writer, journalist and cultural historian AN Wilson. Joan Bakewell talks with public figures, artists and thinkers about what they believe and why. She talks to writer, journalist and cultural historian AN Wilson, whose attitude to religion has fluctuated over the years. His most recent book, Our Times, takes a scathing look at Britain since 1953 and believes it has changed so much as to be unrecognisable. He puts these changes down to, among other things, mass immigration, a decline in church attendance and a loss of any sense of being a nation. Wilson has supported and attacked religion in almost equal measure throughout his work and life. Initially heading for a vocation in the church, he left theological college after a year and embarked on an academic and writing career. In the 1980s, he argued that society should live without religion and published books on both Jesus and St Paul, professing profound scepticism. Yet the death of his mother and his own journey as a parent, have seen him distance himself from such writings. Nowadays, Wilson is to be found in church on Sundays and welcomes a society that embraces religion. But not, fundamentalist forms of religion, which he says, are on the increase and are to be feared.