Trailer for BBC1's The Nativity

Mark Goodacre has the news that a trailer for BBC1's The Nativity has gone online at YouTube. The trailer is definitely going for that traditional family feel, and Jordan's soap-operaexpertise is very much to the fore in the snippets of the confrontation between Mary and Joseph. I have to say I really like what I've seen of the annunciation. The Angel Gabriel is really quite unremarkable and naturalistic, which should prevent the programme dating as others that have gone for a more supernatural angle have in the past. This even makes Pasolini's young girl look a little showy. It will be interesting to see whether that opens the door for any of the characters, not to mention the audience, to view this event sceptically.

There's also a piece on this in print edition of the Christmas Edition of The Radio Times with a brief capsule review of each episode available online.

Jim Davila has linked to an article on the programme in yesterday's The Independent. It's by Gerard Gilbert, who was actually an extra in The Jesus Film (1979), and he goes on to discuss a few of the well-known Jesus films, including this witty line on The Passion of the Christ: "At least the actors spoke in subtitled Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic, so we didn't have to listen to English being turned into a dead language, as it is in most Jesus films."

Lastly, there a small website on the film courtesy of the Church Media Network.