Well, the controversial Songs of Praise from the illegal migrant encampment in Calais was broadcast tonight, and I suspect viewing figures will have been well up.
The two items ran as described in the previous post.
In the first we heard from some of the migrants and from Giles Fraser (so, yes, he was on after all). Giles described the migrants as being his brothers and sisters but avoided making any explicitly political points.
In the second items we heard from Christian volunteers from England and France who had come to help the migrants.
In fairness to presenter Sally Magnusson, she did mention that the camp (despite the programme's focus on the Christians there) was mostly Muslim and she did caveat the stories told by the migrants by saying that their stories couldn't be verified. She also asked several times how the migrants and their helpers could justify coming illegally to the UK. So some nods to BBC impartiality were made - though no dissenting voices were heard from (i.e. nobody opposing the actions of either the migrants or their helpers).
The social media reaction has divided predictably. For example, Twitter has gone one way (lauding the programme for showing compassion) and the comments beneath the Daily Mail's article on the story have gone the other (damning it for trying to brainwash its audience into sympathasing with illegal immigrants).
I have to say that the hymn which immediately followed the second of the two items didn't seem to have been accidentally/coincidentally chosen.
It began, "There's a wideness in God's mercy/like the wideness of the sea", and its words (written in Victorian times) carried echoes of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean and the English Channel in its imagery as well as, more generally, chiming uncannily with the sentiments expressed by Giles Fraser and the Christian volunteers throughout both Songs of Praise items.
I have to say that the hymn which immediately followed the second of the two items didn't seem to have been accidentally/coincidentally chosen.
It began, "There's a wideness in God's mercy/like the wideness of the sea", and its words (written in Victorian times) carried echoes of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean and the English Channel in its imagery as well as, more generally, chiming uncannily with the sentiments expressed by Giles Fraser and the Christian volunteers throughout both Songs of Praise items.
It wasn't a newly-recorded hymn either, just randomly included alongside this item in this particular edition of the programme. It was lifted from an earlier episode of Songs of Praise, first broadcast in February 2013.
So it was chosen from the Songs of Praise archive and placed exactly where it was in this edition by those involved in making today's programme. For a reason, I'd say.
So it was chosen from the Songs of Praise archive and placed exactly where it was in this edition by those involved in making today's programme. For a reason, I'd say.
