This thesis explores the nature of, and developments in, the coverage of religion and spirituality in factual British television programming 2000-2009, focusing on mainstream terrestrial networks (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five) with a public service remit. The study employs a mixed-method approach with an emphasis on discourse. Working within a broadly Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework, it explores discourses around religion/spirituality, identity and nationality across a range of environments – from the programmes themselves to audience discussion (in focus groups, questionnaires, forum and Twitter discussions, YouTube comments and blogs) and industry accounts of production (in policies, guidelines, publicity and interviews with several of those involved at different stages of the production process). The theoretical context of this study includes debates over the ‘secularisation thesis’, the rise of ‘fundamentalism’, the individualisation of religion and the apparent interest in ‘spirituality’ as opposed to ‘religion’, the role of public service broadcasting, issues of media representation of minorities, and developments within British factual television genres. The study concludes that, despite public service commitments, there is a lack of diversity in the portrayal of religion and spirituality within mainstream factual British television, with Christianity, Islam and Atheism dominating coverage. All faiths are represented by a limited repertoire of signifiers. Audiences, both those who have been researched for this study and those who feature in research by the broadcasters and Ofcom, often complain about what they perceive as 'misrepresentation', whilst at the same time discussing 'other' people in stereotypical terms. Within all of the discursive contexts studied, there is a construction of Britain as a liberal, tolerant, moderate place, where spiritual/religious belief is acceptable as long as it operates within particular parameters. When beliefs and practices do not conform to these standards, they are exoticised, ridiculed or presented as dangerous, and often linked to other nations, thus emphasising how they are not a British way of expressing one's spirituality. However, I argue that the problematic nature of these constructions is in part a result of the complex interaction between audiences, programme makers, policy, academic discourse and media texts. Each area of discourse informs the other, replicating and reinforcing notions of Britishness, religion and spirituality across multiple contexts.

This thesis examines the way in which media professionals negotiate the occupational challenges related to television and radio production. It has used the subject of religion and its treatment within the BBC as a microcosm to unpack some of the dilemmas of contemporary broadcasting. In recent years religious programmes have evolved in both form and content leading to what some observers claim is a “renaissance” in religious broadcasting. However, any claims of a renaissance have to be balanced against the complex institutional and commercial constraints that challenge its long-term viability. This research finds that despite the BBC’s public commitment to covering a religious brief, producers in this style of programming are subject to many of the same competitive forces as those in other areas of production. Furthermore those producers who work in-house within the BBC’s Department of Religion and Ethics believe that in practice they are being increasingly undermined through the internal culture of the Corporation and the strategic decisions it has adopted. This is not an intentional snub by the BBC but a product of the pressure the Corporation finds itself under in an increasingly competitive broadcasting ecology, hence the removal of the protection once afforded to both the department and the output. Those who informed this study have responded to these challenges in a number of different ways. Of these, the two most important are the adoption of a discourse of ‘professionalism’ designed to underscore their creativity, knowledge and value to the BBC and overcome the ghettoisation of religious broadcasting and second, in the opening up of religion to a range of new formats and conventions which are designed to make the programming more audience, and thus commissioner, friendly. However, despite both these responses the long-term future of religious broadcasting and its suppliers is still far from clear. Therefore, using historical analysis, interviews with media professionals and a period of observational research this thesis offers critical insights into the private world of religious broadcasting at the BBC.