Lots of cleverer souls than I have already posted in the BBC Passion, and they've said a lot of the things I think too, only better.  Although there are things I'd want to critique about it, it was, overall a superb piece of television and all credit to the BBC for giving over two and a half hours of prime time broadcasting to show it.

The Philistine within me, on seeing the trailers, had pondered the improbability of the marriage of Thermoman to a forensic scientist, wondered where Pilate had hidden his BT home hub and whether his wife's nightmare was because she'd once again lost the baby photos.  Such is the danger of choosing actors that are so familiar.  For all that, once I actually watched the episodes this did not prove a problem.

There were bits that grated, such as Jesus calling the bread and wine a sacrament, such as Jesus being a fair-skinned sandy-haired westerner, such as some key scenes being located other than the gospels suggest.  But these were outweighted by the bits that inspired - the portrayal of Caiphas as a man seeking to fulfil what he believed was God's call, the tender protrayal of Judas, the humanity of Jesus' agony in Gethsemane.

Overall, I think it was a great achievement.  Some purists will no doubt question the depature from gosel dialogue.  Some will be unhappy with the interpretive slant given to the whole story.  And just maybe some will be curious to know more about this story, this man who walked the earth all those years ago.

A lot of people are talking about the series.  I hope that those of us who count ourselves Jesus' followers will enter positively into discussions, not pointing out what we perceive as errors of fact or doctrine, but adding our insights to those which God has supplied through this work of film, whether the producer realises it or not!