About Songs of Praise

In 1961 there were only 2 TV Channels in Britain: the BBC, funded by the licence payers, and ITV, funded by advertisers. On Sunday evenings at 6.15pm, the choice of viewing was a religious programme on the BBC or a religious programme on ITV. It was called 'the closed period' and lasted for 70 minutes.

Many of these programmes were studio debates with occasional films but, once or twice a year, there was a programme of hymn-singing broadcast from a studio. The programme budgets were kept small. From the beginning of nationwide TV broadcasting after World War Two, 'religion' was thought to be too serious a matter for the visual medium.

But one Sunday lunchtime in 1961, Donald Baverstock, a famous producer on the news magazine Tonight, watched by chance a test transmission of an outside broadcast of hymn-singing in Welsh from a Welsh chapel. He found it such a compelling experience, wide shots of a beautiful chapel and close ups of people's faces singing with deep faith, that he suggested to Stuart Hood, then Director of BBC TV programmes, that a programme in English might be just as popular. The Head of Religious Broadcasting was appalled: how could you attract young people to religion with a programme of hymn-singing in church?

His protests were over-ruled and a short series was scheduled from the evening of the first Sunday in October 1961. The first programme came from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cardiff and then, as Songs of Praise has ever since, the programme travelled, first to churches and chapels all over Britain and later further afield; to Moscow, Peking, The Falkland Isles as well as to Australia and New Zealand.

Songs of Praise was an overnight success and on some Sundays as many as 12 million viewers viewed the programme. The average audience today, is still a remarkable 2.5 million, a great achievement in our multi-channel world. This figure also grows at times of national celebration or sadness. In 1965, just a day after the death of Sir Winston Churchill, a special edition was broadcast 'live' from Harrow School; in 1969 Prince Charles celebrated his installation as Prince of Wales by joining choirs in Morriston Tabernacle; and after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Songs of Praise cameras were in London's St Paul's Cathedral within hours. As part of the BBC's welcome to the year 2000, more than 65,000 singers performed 'live' in Cardiff's Millenium Stadium, and on the last Sunday of 2004, in the aftermath of the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, a special vigil came from the crypt of Liverpool's Roman Catholic Cathedral, where contributions from Muslims and Hindus reflected a tragedy which had affected people of many faiths.

In over 4 decades, Songs of Praise has recorded the changing religious landscape of Britain. In the 1960's making the programme together influenced and contributed to the ecumenical movement in the British churches and from the beginning, at the heart of the programme have been congregational choirs uniting Christians of all denominations. Within a few years, Christian and Jewish choirs also came together. A Hindu Christian choir performed in 1984 in a programme from the multi-faith community of Southall and in 1991, during the first Gulf War, Muslims and Jews took part in programmes from Westminster Abbey and Dunblane Cathedral in Scotland.

In January 1977, Songs of Praise was given its most dramatic makeover. An increased budget meant that instead of simple introductions to each hymn recorded in the featured church, members of the local community now chose and introduced the hymns themselves, in filmed interviews. Now the audience could hear stories of faith, and how hymns can express an individual's human experience. The audience soon rose from an average 2 million to an average 6 million.

At its heart Songs of Praise has always been a musical celebration of faith. Since 2000 the traditional ingredient of congregational hymn-singing has been increasingly shared with solos from Gospel singers like Heather Small and performance artists like Russell Watson, Bryn Terfel and Hayley Westenra. There are now special annual events such as The Big Sing in the Royal Albert Hall in London, which sells out within minutes of being announced (just as a similar Songs of Praise programme in the Sydney Opera House in Australia sold out). The School Choir of the Year competition has attracted increasing entries vying for a place in the TV Finale in each Spring.

An enormous number of people have presented Songs of Praise. The regular team is Aled Jones, who once sang on the programme as a treble from Bangor Cathedral, Pam Rhodes, Diane Louise Jordan and Sally Magnusson. Like Aled, Cliff Richard has also presented as well as performed in the programme. Other past presenters include Cliff Michelmore from Tonight, Nationwide's Michael Barratt, Geoffrey Wheeler, introducer of schools' quiz Top of the Form, and David Steele MP. But for many viewers, their all time favourites will always be two of Britain's greatest entertainers, the singer, Sir Harry Secombe, and the actress, Dame Thora Hird. Sir Harry came to Songs of Praise from its old rival Highway which had ended when ITV stopped religious broadcasting on Sunday evening in 1992. For 17 years, Dame Thora had her own spin off series, Praise Be! in which viewers requested their favourite hymns from Songs of Praise. Beginning as a simple studio presentation in 1977, Praise Be! later migrated to Dame Thora's own home as well as going on the road itself.

In 2006 Songs of Praise celebrated its 45th year and is now the only religious programme scheduled for peak-time viewing on a free-to-air channel in Europe and possibly in the world. A weekly programme shown on TVNZ in New Zealand every Sunday morning itself called Praise Be echoes the form in which Songs of Praise began, but otherwise the programme seems destined to remain unique.

by Andrew Barr