''The Heaven and Earth Show'' is a BBC television programme that aired on Sunday mornings from 10am to 11am on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

. The show ran for nine years between 1998 and 2007, looking at spiritual and moral issues. Over the years it had numerous presenters, and its final presenter was

Gloria Hunniford Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford, OBE (born 10 April 1940) is a Northern Irish television and radio presenter, broadcaster and singer. She is known for presenting programmes on the BBC and ITV, such as '' Rip Off Britain'', and her regular appea ...

Format

The programme had a magazine format, with guests of all backgrounds talking about various ethical, spiritual and cultural issues. The programme also featured phone-ins, email and text readouts. Commonly a celebrity guest would be interviewed about their career with a particular focus on religious belief or spirituality; some later guests included

Jermaine Jackson Jermaine La Jaune Jackson (born December 11, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and bassist. He is best known for being a member of the Jackson family. From 1964 to 1975, Jermaine was second vocalist after his brother Michael of The Jackso ...

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and Vic Reeves. ''Heaven and Earth'' was notably different from traditional "God slot" (Sunday morning/afternoon) programming in that it concentrated on a wide range of beliefs rather than just Christianity – for example, features on the ethics of

halal ''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with '' haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification k ...

meat or "

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

" concepts of spirituality. It included prominent figures from the Church and Islamic, Jewish, Hindu and secular communities and would also contain reports on topical religious issues, with notable reporters including

Toyah Willcox Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English musician, actress, and TV presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Willcox has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 stage plays an ...

, John Walters,

Ed Stourton Edward John Ivo Stourton(born November 1957) is a BBC broadcaster and presenter of the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Sunday'', and a frequent contributor to the ''Today'' programme, where for ten years he was one of the main presenters. He is the aut ...

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Kate Silverton Kate Silverton (born 4 August 1970) is an English journalist. She formerly worked as a broadcaster and newsreader for the BBC. Silverton was a regular presenter of '' BBC News at One'' and ''BBC Weekend News'', as well as making occasional app ...

and

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. Occasionally there were special programmes such as that on 7 September 2003 covering three different types of beliefs:

theist Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a supreme being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred to ...

, New Age followers and

atheists Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

agnostics Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

. A specially commissioned poll was produced on issues raised.

Productions

''Heaven and Earth'' was made by the BBC's in-house Religion and Ethics department and was broadcast live from a former news studio at the BBC in Oxford Road, Manchester. Later on, as part of a re-launch, the show moved to ITV's Granada Studios.

Cancellation

The BBC announced in the spring of 2007 that they would be cancelling the show in autumn after a run of nine years and replacing it for a 12-month period with commissions made by two independent production companies. On 2 September 2007, Heaven & Earth had its final show;

The Proclaimers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

and Beth Neilsen Chapman were the final musical guests.

Notable guests

Over the years many guests appeared on the programme, including: *

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– US country music singer/songwriter *

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– US blues musician/songwriter/performer *

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– US soul/pop singer *

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– Canadian actor (''

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'') *

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– British TV and radio presenter *

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– US movie star *

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– British pop singer *

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– British singer * Vic Reeves – British comedian *

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– British TV presenter *

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– US musician *

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– US stage and movie star *

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– British TV presenter *

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– British actor and presenter *

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– British actor (''

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'', ''

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'') *

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– British actor ( The Doctor in ''

'') *

– British musician and TV presenter *

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– Zimbabwean cricketer *

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– Irish actor (

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) *

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– US actor *

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– Musician *

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– British singer *

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– British singer and musician * Jim Jefferies – Australian comedian * Ed Byrne – Irish comedian * Anja Steinbauer – Philosopher *

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– Sex Pistols front man. * Joan Sims – English actress (in one of her final interviews)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heaven and Earsh Show, The 1998 British television series debuts 2007 British television series endings BBC Television shows British religious television series

Format

Productions

Cancellation

Notable guests

See also

References

External links