Morning Worship

[Arran]

Re: Morning Worship

I forgot to add that STV and Grampian ITV regions didn't usually show Morning Worship but instead had their own programme called Sunday Service from a (Presbyterian?) church in Scotland. The only times they showed Morning Worship was a few rare occasions when the programme originated from a church in Scotland.

[George 1978]

Re: Morning Worship

It's quite sad that ITV think that their audience is Atheist or even have no religion at all - saying that, on Sunday mornings, my late father used to switch the TV off and have the radio on. BBC 1 only has Sunday services at Easter, Pentecost (although not every year) and obviously when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday. Since the late 1990s, religion to an ITV scheduler is an about overpaid actor sipping the holy wine in the Rovers Return, and having two characters getting married.

Scottish and Grampian probably used to have Sesame Street or some DIY programme while the other regions had the church service, unless it came from Scotland of course. It was mostly middle-ranking companies such as Anglia that used to have their church featured on a Sunday morning. And as soon as you given at least an hour to get over the excitement of someone winning a speedboat on Bullseye, along comes Highway which used to literally be Songs of Praise a la ITV with Sir Harry Secombe in the Grampian region or somewhere as exotic.

I know that the Church of England and other denominations of the Christian faith have criticised broadcasters and even Ofcom for not having church services on Sunday morning anymore. I know as a traditionalist that I prefer to watch the Midnight Mass in the comfort of my own home rather than roam the local streets at midnight on Christmas Eve. On the other hand, as Great Britain has followers of many religions, it could be one way of being impartial and treating everyone equally.

In around 1988 there was something in a TV Times article about Morning Worship doing a service from a mosque although as Friday is the Islamic sabbath, one would not get the same perspective as a Christian service would be on a Sunday. I went to school with lots of kids who were Muslims - I am certain that it would help educate viewers about the different religions that people follow.

[Arran]

Re: Morning Worship

Religious programmes have often been amongst the least popular with the public and a high proportion of them have left much to be desired. Another criticism is the heavy bias of religious programmes towards (mostly Anglican) Christianity. The smaller ITV companies (like Tyne Tees, Westward / TSW, or Border) were tasked with producing a high proportion of religious programmes for ITV as a result of the big ITV companies (like Thames, Central, or Granada) preferring to avoid producing unprofitable minor programmes whenever they could. This was a questionable practice because of the very small number of people who follow non-Christian religions and few non-Christian places of worship within the regions of the smaller ITV companies. However, (almost entirely Christian focused) religious programmes provided a rare chance for smaller ITV companies to produce a networked programme.

It could be argued that the only realistic way to increase the variety of religious programmes and the diversity of religions represented in them would be for ITV companies to outsource production to independent producers rather than trying to produce religious programmes themselves.

The 1990 Broadcasting Act required ITV companies to source a minimum of 25% of programmes from independent producers after 1st January 1993. One would have expected at the time that the production of religious programmes would be amongst the first to be outsourced to independents – by the big ITV companies at least – as a means of improving the quality and diversity of the programmes as well as relieving ITV companies from having to produce them in house.

By a strange twist of irony, the 1990 Broadcasting Act also signalled the beginning of the end of religious programming remits for ITV after 1st January 1993.

[George 1978]

Re: Morning Worship

I assume that because of the senior roles of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Anglicanism will always seem as the default denomination of Christianity, and will be for at least a few more decades, rather than the Methodist, Baptist, or even Catholic churches - the Archbishop if Canterbury will always be seen as being more senior than the Archbishop of Westminster.

I am someone who describes themselves as Christian - full stop. In other words, I am impartial from a religious perspective - I would go to a Methodist church, or a Baptist church or even a Mormon church. One Christmas morning circa 2007 I went to a Catholic service that started at 8.00 am, and then an hour and a half later I walked down the road and joined the congregation at the Anglican church in the same area - I always think that church is a church no matter what their angle or religion happens to be - if they celebrate Christmas then that's fine by me. In 2011 I treated myself to a visit to Southwell Minster to see the then Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, later Bishop of Durham, Dr Paul Butler and join the service there, meaning that I was late back home for Christmas dinner.

I would say that I was more religious than my late parents were, but that was mostly because I like to uphold traditions, and I like to make sure that Christmas is all about Christianity rather than the DFS sale starting on Boxing Day, or buying presents from Argos. My parents only attended churches for weddings, funerals and when my nephew was blessed at a Baptist church - it was a way of being introduced to that church and I went there for several weeks afterwards.

But let's look at Easter - Catholicism gets more prominence due to the Pope's blessing as BBC 1 shows Urbi Et Orbi, although I believe that the Christmas and New Year blessings are also seen on TV in more Catholic countries such as the Irish Republic, France and Italy. Is Easter more of a Catholic thing while Christmas is focuses on more by Anglicans? It seems like that to me.

As for the "dumbing down" of religious broadcasts on ITV, it just shows how far we have been - back on Christmas Day in 1980, Thames had the Christmas morning service where viewers were treated to Dr Robert Runcie himself at Canterbury Cathedral.I cannot imagine Justin Welby popping up at 10.00 am on Christmas Day ITV in the 2010s apart from appearing in the early evening news bulletins along with the Queen and the Pope.

[Arran]

Re: Morning Worship

I'm strongly in favour of televising major events like Christmas, Easter, Remembrance Sunday services etc. but I struggle to understand what the rationale and logic was for producing 52 episodes of Morning Worship every year other than enabling small ITV companies to produce something for the network.

The 25% of programmes from independent producers policy enacted after 1st January 1993 could have ushered in a new era for religious programmes on ITV. More interesting, more relevant to viewers, more diverse in terms of the religions represented, even more respected.

There is a theory that Thames lost to Carlton because it failed to offer sufficient local programmes for the diverse population of the region it served, as it centred its interests on the production of mass popular entertainment for the network at prime time. Given the diversity of London then programmes to reflect and cater for local cultural and religious interests could only have come from independent producers rather than a huge monolithic programme factory like Thames, and Carlton was a publisher broadcaster outsourcing most of its production to independents. With hindsight it never worked out, probably because of the end of religious programming remits for ITV after 1st January 1993, and how Carlton preferred to procure mass popular entertainment from Thames living on as an independent producer rather than local interest programmes from local independent producers.

[George 1978]

Re: Morning Worship

I am also in favour of church services on TV at Christmas and Easter, however I almost feel that the days of these could almost be numbered sadly because of the changes in TV scheduling. One thing to look at is the Bank Holiday schedules over the past five years or so for example - on Bank Holiday Mondays there used to be end-of-the-pier type specials, and the odd Superman and James Bond on, now it's business as usual especially on ITV, albeit with a shortened news bulletin. My point is that if such normal scheduling can replace films on a Bank Holiday, then it seems that the same effect could eventually extend to Christmas and Easter, and that could even mean church services being cut back and even axed. I wouldn't be surprised that by the early 2020s BBC 1 would be showing Homes Under the Hammer at 10.00 am on Christmas morning rather than the traditional church service.

Come January 1993, Highway was "demoted" to 2.00 pm on Sunday afternoon, and ITV had shown Hollywood movies from 6.30 pm until 8.30 pm when something like You've Been Framed came on. OK, people don't go to the cinema to see a church service or go church to see a film in a mainstream sense, but I believe that George Carey would have been against the move understandably.

I have never lived in London myself not even back in the 1980s, but I think that from YouTube clips that I have seen, LWT did do quite a few regional programmes which reflected the diverse population of London more than Thames did - they had the LMU (written in the same way as the LWT stripes were) - the London Minority Unit. The London companies did have power to dominate the network which is what they did - Oxford Street based retailers and all that provided a lucrative source of advertising for the London region especially in the weeks running up to Christmas each year.

[Arran]

Re: Morning Worship

I think there is some truth to what you say about LWT producing more local programmes than Thames did to reflect the cultural and religious interests of the region. One such programme was Credo.

Highway was moved to 2PM because the Sunday evening God slot had been legally abolished on 1st January 1993. ITV companies had been lobbying for the God slot to be abolished for years.

There used to be a body called the Central Religious Advisory Committee (CRAC) which advised on religious matters to both the BBC and ITV companies. It was comprised of representative figures of the main Christian denominations but it did not have any representatives from non-Christian religions. As its name suggests, it only operated in an advisory capacity and it had no real power and authority to dictate matters when it came to programme production.


The IBA also had its own committee comprised of representatives from the established churches of England, Wales, and Scotland, along with the Roman Catholic and the Free Church, but again, no representatives of non-Christian religions. I believe that this committee held more authority over ITV companies and their programmes than CRAC did.

[George 1978]

Re: Morning Worship

I am too young to remember Credo (I assume that the programme name rhymed with "Play Doh"), although I have seen it mentioned in TV listings from around 1978 - I always assumed that it was a predecessor to Highway. Funnily enough, in an episode of In Bed With Medinner, in the part of the programme where he plays clips of old programmes on his industrial video machine, Bob Mills plays the Credo theme tune after pausing and rewinding it, commenting that it gave him happy memories hearing the theme tune again. Credo was made by LWT (I think), and I suppose as a weekend company, they were a lot more responsible for religion than Thames was.

Songs of Praise seems to be hanging on a thread these days - it always seemed to be on at around 6.45 pm, and now it could be on at any time on a Sunday afternoon.