''The Big Questions'' is an

interfaith dialogue Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is ...

and ethics television programme usually presented by

Nicky Campbell Nicholas Andrew Argyll Campbell, OBE (born Nicholas Lackey, 10 April 1961) is a Scottish broadcaster and journalist. He has worked in television and radio since 1981 and as a network presenter with BBC Radio since 1987. Early life Campbell wa ...

. It is broadcast live 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, p ...

on Sunday mornings, replacing ''

The Heaven and Earth Show ''The Heaven and Earth Show'' is a BBC television programme that aired on Sunday mornings from 10am to 11am on BBC One. The show ran for nine years between 1998 and 2007, looking at spiritual and moral issues. Over the years it had numerous prese ...

'' as the BBC's religious discussion programme.

Format

The format is loosely based on BBC One's political discussion show, ''

Question Time A question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be ca ...

'', 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.

Guests

Panellists have included notable

atheist 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 ...

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...

, convert to Roman Catholicism

Ann Widdecombe Ann Noreen Widdecombe (born 4 October 1947) is a British politician, author and television personality. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald, and the former Maidstone constituency, from 1987 to 2010 and Member of the E ...

Imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

Ibrahim Mogra Ibrahim Mogra is an imam from Leicester and former Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain. Early life Mogra was born in 1965 into a family of Gujarati Indian origin and emigrated to the UK at the age of 18 to study and ...

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

commentator Mohammed Ansar, Rabbi

Laura Janner-Klausner Laura Naomi Janner-Klausner ( he, לוֹרָה ג׳אָנֶר-קלְוֹזנֶר, born 1 August 1963) is a British rabbi and an inclusion and development coach who served as the inaugural Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism from 2011 until 2020. Jan ...

, Scottish philosopher

John Joseph Haldane John Joseph Haldane (born 19 February 1954) is a British philosopher, commentator and broadcaster. He is a former papal adviser to the Vatican. He is credited with coining the term 'Analytical Thomism' and is himself a Thomist in the analytic t ...

, Bible scholar

Francesca Stavrakopoulou Francesca Stavrakopoulou (; born 3 October 1975) is a British biblical scholar and broadcaster. She is currently Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter. The main focus of her research is on the Hebrew Bible, a ...

Lord Carey George Leonard Carey, Baron Carey of Clifton (born 13 November 1935) is a retired Anglican bishop who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, having previously been the Bishop of Bath and Wells. During his time as archbishop the Ch ...

Jonathan Bartley Jonathan Charles Bartley (born 16 October 1971) is a British politician and was Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, a position he shared with Caroline Lucas and then, from 4 September 2018, with Siân Berry. He was the Green Pa ...

Peter Hitchens Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English author, broadcaster, journalist, and commentator. He writes for '' The Mail on Sunday'' and was a foreign correspondent reporting from both Moscow and Washington, D.C. Peter Hitchens ...

Alexander Goldberg Alexander Barnett Goldberg (born 1974) is the Dean of Religious Life and Belief, Coordinating and the Jewish Chaplain to the University of Surrey, England, a rabbi, barrister, and human rights activist. Biography His family originates from Ire ...

, Ian McMillan,

Andrew Pinsent Fr. Andrew Pinsent (born 1966) is Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, part of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford. He is also a Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford, an ...

Stephen Law Stephen Law (born 1960) is an English philosopher. He is currently Director of the Certificate in Higher and Education and Director of Philosophy at The Department of Continuing Education, University of Oxford. Law was previously Reader in Ph ...

, Tommy Robinson,

Michael Nazir-Ali Michael James Nazir-Ali ( ur, ; born 19 August 1949) is a Pakistani-born British Roman Catholic priest and former Anglican bishop who served as the 106th Bishop of Rochester from 1994 to 2009 and, before that, as Bishop of Raiwind in Pakistan ...

, Samuel Westrop,

Peter Tatchell Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is a British human rights campaigner, originally from Australia, best known for his work with LGBT social movements. Tatchell was selected as the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey ...

and

Decca Aitkenhead Jessica "Decca" Aitkenhead (born 1971) is an English journalist, writer and broadcaster. Early life and education Aitkenhead's family lived in Wiltshire when she was born; she has three older brothers. Her father was a teacher in Bristol befo ...

. 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

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the New wave music, new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician D ...

John Barrowman John Scot Barrowman (born 11 March 1967) is a Scottish-American actor, author, presenter, singer and comic book writer. He is known for his role as Captain Jack Harkness in '' Doctor Who'' and ''Torchwood'', and as Malcolm Merlyn in the Arrow ...

Benjamin Zephaniah Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (born 15 April 1958)Gregory, Andy (2002), ''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Europa, p. 562. . is a British writer and dub poet. He was included in ''The Times'' list of Britain's top 50 post-wa ...

, John Simpson and

Jamelia ' Jamelia Niela Davis (born 11 January 1981) is an English singer, songwriter and television presenter. She has released three studio albums, each of which has reached the Top 40 in the UK, which collectively have spawned eight UK top-ten singl ...

. In the second series this section was dropped, and the whole programme instead concentrates on the three discussions. The programme's 250th episode was 3 June 2018.

Presenters

has presented the show since it began in 2007. Campbell was initially joined by

Sonia Deol Sonia Deol is an English radio and television presenter of Indian descent. Background Deol's media career began before she left school, when at the age of 14 she presented a oneoff programme to raise money for Comic Relief on the BBC Local Radi ...

during the first 14 episodes of series one in February 2008. Deol no longer appeared after this. During series 3 in June 2010, Campbell was absent from the programme.

Kaye Adams Kaye Adams (born 28 December 1962) is a United Kingdom, Scottish television presenter and journalist. She was an anchor on ITV (TV network), ITV topical discussion show ''Loose Women'' from 1999 to 2006 and again from 2013 and was a regular pa ...

guest presented the programme on these dates. Campbell then returned from his absence to present the final show in July 2010.

Programme information

The programme is produced for the BBC by Mentorn Media (owned by

Tinopolis The Tinopolis Group is an international TV production and distribution group with businesses based in the UK and US. It produces over 4,500 hours of television annually for more than 200 UK and foreign broadcasters. History Llanelli, Wales, b ...

). From July 2010, ''The Big Questions breaks and its slot was filled with a new studio-based religious and ethics discussion programme, '' Sunday Morning Live'' hosted by

Sean Fletcher {{Infobox person , name = Sean Fletcher , image = , caption = , birth_date = {{birth date and age, 1974, 4, 20, df=y , birth_place = New York, New York, U.S. , death_date = , death_place = ...

and

Cherry Healey Cherry Kathleen Healey (born 1980 as Cherry Kathleen Chadwyck-Healey) is a British television presenter, frequently featuring in self-titled lifestyle documentaries on the BBC. Early life Healey is the daughter of Nicholas Gerald Chadwyck-Healey ...

(formerly

Susanna Reid Susanna Reid (born 10 December 1970) is an English television presenter and journalist. She was a co-presenter of ''BBC Breakfast'' from 2003 until 2014 alongside Bill Turnbull and Charlie Stayt. In 2013, she finished as a runner-up on the elev ...

Samira Ahmed Samira Ahmed (born 15 June 1968) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster at the BBC, where she has presented Radio 3's ''Night Waves'' and Radio 4's '' PM'', ''The World Tonight'', '' Sunday'' and '' Front Row'' and has presented the ...

Sian Williams Sian Mary Williams (; born 28 November 1964) is a Welsh journalist, current affairs presenter best known for her work with the BBC, and psychologist. From 2001 until 2012, Williams regularly presented weekday editions of '' BBC Breakfast'' a ...

Naga Munchetty Subha Nagalakshmi Munchetty-Chendriah (born 25 February 1975), also known as Naga Munchetty, is a British television presenter, newsreader and journalist. She regularly presents '' BBC Breakfast''. She is also a former presenter of BBC World Ne ...

and

Emma Barnett Emma Barnett (born 5 February 1985) is a British broadcaster and journalist. She has been the main presenter of ''Woman's Hour'' on BBC Radio 4 since January 2021. Barnett worked for BBC Radio 5 Live for six years, beginning in 2014, after th ...

). ''The Big Questions'' runs from January to July, and ''Sunday Morning Live'' runs from July until November.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Big Questions, The 2007 British television series debuts 2010s British television series 2020s British television series BBC Television shows British religious television series English-language television shows