The Big Questions is a faith and ethics television programme usually presented by Nicky Campbell. It is broadcast live on BBC Onebetween 10:00am and 11:00am on Sunday, replacing The Heaven and Earth Show as the BBC’s religious discussion programme.

Format

The format is loosely based on BBC1’s political discussion show, Question Time, though it also contains elements that are more familiar to daytime chat shows. In the first four series, each show featured four panellists from a range of different religious and ethical perspectives, as well as a number of contributors from the live studio audience. In Series 5, the panel was dropped, and the debates took place entirely within the audience, which still featured a number of contributors.

Each week, panel and audience debate three ethical, moral or religious topics which featured in the week’s news.

Myriam Francois-Cerrah

Guests

Panellists have included notable atheist^[1][2][3] Richard Dawkins, convert to Roman Catholicism Ann Widdecombe, Imam Ibrahim Mogra, Muslim commentator Mohammed Ansar, Scottish philosopher John Joseph Haldane, Bible scholar Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Lord Carey, Jonathan Bartley, Peter Hitchens, Alexander Goldberg, Ian McMillan, Andrew Pinsent, Stephen Law, Tommy Robinson, Michael Nazir-Ali, Samuel Westrop and Decca Aitkenhead.

The programme used to have a slot for a celebrity interview in which a famous person talks about their life and their moral, ethical and religious beliefs and interests. Such celebrities have included Richard Dawkins, Annie Lennox, John Barrowman, Benjamin Zephaniah, John Simpson and Jamelia. In the second series this section was dropped, and the whole programme instead concentrates on the three discussions.

The programme is currently in its eighth series, which began in January 2015.

Suggested Reading

God Is Living, So Why Does Religion Treat God As Dead?