Broadcast Dates:

A prologue was shown before the series proper entitled, ‘Preparing the Way’

• Episode 1: ‘The Beloved Son’ – Broadcast: Sunday 19th February, 1956
• Episode 2: ‘Jesus the Healer – Broadcast: Sunday 26th February, 1956
• Episode 3: ‘Jesus the Teacher’ – Broadcast: Sunday 4th March, 1956
• Episode 4: ‘Jesus the King’ – Broadcast: Sunday 11th March, 1956
• Episode 5: ‘The Road to Jerusalem’ – Broadcast: Sunday March 18th, 1956
• Episode 6: ‘Behold the Man’ – Broadcast: Sunday 25th March, 1956
• Episode 7: ‘I Am Always With You’ – Broadcast: Sunday 1st April, 1956

Character: John the Baptist

Peter as John the Baptist

In 1956, the BBC made Television history with a series of eight programmes on the life of Christ. Before this production censorship regulations prohibited the portrayal of Christ by an actor in public performances. It was only after the Central Religious Council approved the project, and the choice of actor in the central role, that the BBC were given the go-ahead.

Treated as an experiment, Jesus of Nazareth was placed in the children’s programmes slot on Sundays. But it attracted an adult audience whose appreciation placed it, as a BBC survey showed, next to the Coronation of 1953 in national appeal.

The series was produced by Joy Harington and would be considered her most notable work for television, for which she received the 1956 award of the Guild of Television Producers and Directors, the first to be presented for a children’s serial. Tom Fleming created a moving interpretation of Christ, and unusually for a live serial, with filmed locations in Galilee and Jerusalem, it was telerecorded so it could be reshown over the Easter holidays in future years. The scenes, especially of the Crucifixion, were regarded as some of the most powerful ever televised.

Writing in the Radio Times in February 1956, Freda Lingstrom, the Head of Children’s Television, wrote: ‘Our aim is to awaken the interest of children in the origins of the most significant influence in their lives, and help them to understand something of the background against which the Christian story was enacted.’

For the all-important casting, Harrington wanted an actor who was strong, virile, full of life and energy and convinced of his mission. Tom Fleming, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in June 1927, was relatively unknown to television audiences in 1956, having only appeared in half-a-dozen productions, which were all single plays. The son of a Baptist preacher, he was initially anxious about playing the part. It was his interest in the spiritual value of the project that finally convinced him to undertake a part which, according the Freda Lingstrom, he approached with humility and a high sense of purpose.

In the spring of 1955, Fleming and Harrington and a contingent of the Children’s Film Unit, travelled to the Middle East, where certain sequences were shot in order to enrich the live productions. As Freda Lingstrom wrote; ‘Children will see him as Jesus in the scorching sun of the wilderness with hot desert wind blowing his robes and hair in disorder, far from the lifeless coloured-print image stamped on the minds of so many.’

This was a huge undertaking for the BBC. It was unheard of, prior to this, to take a film unit abroad to record original material for any of their productions. No doubt the Corporation was very much aware of the possible impact the series of plays could have. Especially if they got it wrong.

Linstrom again; ‘Throughout, the plays will present happenings in a straightforward manner with little emphasis on the miraculous. It is not our intention to rationalise events, nor shall we put forward any new interpretation of the gospels; our purpose is to offer children as true a picture as we can with the weight of authority behind it. Throughout, the humanity, courage and endurance of Jesus will be manifest; we shall not minimise the tragedy of the Crucifixion but care will be taken to see that it will be presented in such a way as to give older children food for thought while in no way alarming younger ones or leaving them with any suggestion of horror.’

Summing up, Lingstrom offered a word of advice to parents. Advice that most likely ensured an increased adult audience for what was seemingly being presented as a children’s series: ‘It should be remembered that this project is designed for older children and parents are asked to see that younger ones should not see the play alone.’ Nice bit of marketing.  

Jesus of Nazareth began on Sunday 12 February 1956 with ‘The Prologue’. The play opened with a boy of twelve travelling with his parents to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Jesus is seen talking with the elders in the Temple and subsequently found by Mary and Joseph and taken home. The eighth and final part of the series was broadcast on Easter Day.

In 1977, a British-Italian co-production was produced for television under the same title.

Trivia: The series was partly shot in Galilee and Jerusalem. Making the series was a courageous undertaking. At that time, censorship regulations prohibited the portrayal of Christ by an actor in public performances. The series was commended by The Guild of Film and Television Directors. After it’s first broadcast in 1956, the series was reshown every Easter for three years afterwards.

The following was written by Mark Goodacre – Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Duke University, in the Religious Studies Department.

So, have you ever seen the TV series Jesus of Nazareth? No, not that series, but the one made twenty years earlier by the BBC? Me neither. In fact I didn’t even know about it until yesterday. Here’s the story.

I have been reporting recently on my research into the forgotten BBC production Paul of Tarsus (1960) ), research which led to the book of the series produced by its writer, producer and director Joy Harington. In the preface to that book, she writes the following:

The idea for this book and the Television series that preceded it was born in 1956 when the series ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ ended with these words from Jesus to his disciples: ‘Go and teach all nations the things that you have seen and heard . . . . . And know that I am with you always — even unto the end of the world.’ It left one with the feeling ‘What happened then?’ After all, it was a big order to give a handful of fishermen and peasants in a small occupied country . . .

And so on. So, it seems, there was a TV series on Jesus’ life broadcast in 1956 on the BBC. I didn’t think I had heard of this before, so I went to the net to see how many others had heard of it. The answer is: very few.

The IMDb weakly mentions Jesus of Nazareth from 1953, starring Tom Fleming. In the light of the above, the date is certainly wrong. Is it even the same production? Well, it looks like it is because this TV series clearly featured Tom Fleming playing Jesus. There is a good paragraph or so on it on the BFI’s Screenonline.  Profile of Joy Harington:

But perhaps what is considered her most notable work for television was the eight-part Sunday serial Jesus of Nazareth (BBC, 1956) for which she received the 1956 award of the Guild of Television Producers and Directors (now BAFTA), the first to be presented for a children’s serial. A live studio production with exteriors filmed on location in Galilee and Jerusalem, it was a courageous undertaking. At that time, censorship regulations prohibited the portrayal of Christ by an actor in public performances. However, the Central Religious Council approved the project and Tom Fleming was cast as Jesus Christ. The serial was an outstanding success. Harington followed with a similar ten-part series, Paul of Tarsus (BBC, 1960), for which the exteriors were filmed mainly in Crete.

So we now know that Paul of Tarsus was filmed in Crete, and Jesus of Nazareth was partly filmed in Israel, and the latter was considered “a children’s serial”. There is more research to be done about this lost series, and I look forward to reporting back on this in due course.

Above: A page from the Radio Times (12th April, 1957) – published to coincide with the first rescreening of the series at Easter that year.