Nigel Stafford-Clark on the BBC's The Passion

See all posts on this film
I've already written a couple of posts about the BBC's planned Easter drama The Passion which is due to air in Holy Week 2008. Earlier today I stumbled across an MP3 of an hour long interview with the producer of this series Nigel Stafford-Clark, which was recorded just a few weeks ago at the 2007 Churches Media Conference.

Pleasingly the interviewer is incredibly disciplined and just lets Stafford-Clark (Bleak House) talk, and, as a result, Stafford Clark's very forthcoming. Sadly he's unable to reveal the identity of the actor chosen to play Jesus, but otherwise even I am left with very few questions at this stage.

The series is due to run as six half-hour episodes airing nightly in Holy Week. Stafford-Clark is passionate about locating the story in its correct historical context (I picked up a few things along the way) and seems keen to avoid any kind of anti-Semitism. And whilst some well-known actors will be involved they will tend to play those characters who were well known at the time (like Caiaphas and Pilate) rather than Jesus and his disciples.

All of which sounds fascinating, particularly as filming doesn't start until August. It's meant to be a two month shoot in Morocco. Coincidentally, I'm going on holiday there in October, so hopefully I'll be able to catch some of the buzz from the end of filming.