The Passion (TV serial)
Encyclopedia
The Passion is a television drama serial produced by the BBC
and HBO Films
in association with Deep Indigo Productions. It tells the story of the last week in the life of Jesus
. The serial was first proposed by Peter Fincham
in 2006, on the success of the contemporary-set Manchester Passion
. Writer Frank Deasy
and producer Nigel Stafford-Clark
were inspired to make a drama that opened up the story beyond the "vacuum" it is often told in. They did this by expanding the roles of Pontius Pilate
and Caiaphas
, and exploring the politics of Judea
at the time. Deasy and Stafford-Clark were aided by scholar Mark Goodacre
, with whom they put together an extensive research manual about the topic.
The part of Jesus is played by Joseph Mawle
, who researched the role by reading the Gospels and research papers. Other main roles were played by Paloma Baeza
(Mary Magdalene
), Ben Daniels
(Caiaphas), James Nesbitt
(Pilate), David Oyelowo
(Joseph of Arimathea
), and Penelope Wilton
(Mary
). It was directed by Michael Offer on location in Morocco from 27 August to 23 October 2007, and broadcast on BBC One
in four parts from 16 to 23 March 2008. Its viewing figures ranged from 3.2 million to 4.9 million people, and it received generally positive critical reception.
causes a stir among the Jews. The Romans are having to deal with a small rebellion and the High Priest wants to be rid of Jesus, since he is causing a disturbance and challenging his authority.
Episode 2 — In the second, half-hour, episode the High Priest Caiaphas
calls a council to determine how Jesus should be dealt with after he is overheard mocking the Temple, and his fate is sealed.
Episode 3 — The third, hour-long, episode relates the events from the Last Supper
to the Crucifixion of Jesus
.
Episode 4 — The final, half-hour, episode features the Resurrection of Jesus
, the sightings of him by Mary Magdalene and others, and his departure from the disciples after impressing upon Peter the importance of spreading his word. Caiaphus' wife gives birth to a son, and Pilate and his wife return to Rome.
announced that following the success of the Manchester Passion
—a contemporary retelling of the passion that was broadcast live from the streets of Manchester
—a "straight" adaptation would be produced for broadcast in 2008. Fincham wanted it to be the "centrepiece" of BBC One's Easter 2008 schedule and hoped that it would have the same impact as Jesus of Nazareth
did in the 1970s. Nigel Stafford-Clark
, the producer of BBC One's successful 2005 adaptation of Bleak House
, was brought on as producer, and a contract was tendered for a writer. Frank Deasy
was announced as having won the contract in July 2006. Stafford-Clark chose him because he believed that Deasy understood the scale of the project. The production was budgeted at £4 million. Both Deasy and Stafford-Clark looked to emulate the style of The Gospel According to St. Matthew
(Pier Paolo Pasolini
, 1964) over The Passion of the Christ
(Mel Gibson
, 2004). Deasy had walked out of The Passion of the Christ after 20 minutes because it "drained the spirituality of Jesus". Jesus of Nazareth had opposite effect on him, in that he believed Franco Zeffirelli
's version was too spiritual. In his version, Deasy wanted to "draw Jesus down into the world more as a human character who is frustrated, angry, fearful and doubtful, and who doesn't have what is almost a mask of humanity, but is truly human." Deasy and Stafford-Clark formed a development team, bringing on religion scholar Dr Mark Goodacre
and the BBC's head of religion and ethics, Michael Wakelin. Together, they prepared a research manual containing as much information as they could find about Jerusalem, first-century lifestyles, and the gospels.
Following his appointment as writer, Deasy spent the next year researching the gospels in Israel
and consulting Goodacre. His first draft was submitted in the autumn of 2006. Drawing on what he had learned from Jesus of Nazareth, Deasy chose to portray Jesus as the "human character" in Matthew
and Mark
, rather than the god-like figure in John
. He also incorporated Jesus's relationship with women as written in Luke
. For the opening scene of Episode 1, he was influenced by the opening scene of Downfall
(Oliver Hirschbiegel
, 2004):
Deasy and Stafford-Clark were also interested in opening up the story beyond the "vacuum" in which they believe other depictions of the week are set. They did this by expanding the roles of Caiaphas and Pilate beyond mere "panto villains", and examining the politics of Judea at the time; Deasy explained that it was "much more rich to see Caiaphas as a flawed human being". Joseph Mawle was the first actor auditioned for the part of Jesus. He was cast in May 2007 and prepared for the role by reading "the Gospels, research papers, medical documents, endless books and prayers". Mawle wanted to meet actor Robert Powell
to discuss his portrayal of Jesus in Jesus of Nazareth, but the two could not arrange a convenient time. By chance, the two met in the toilets at Gatwick Airport when Powell was going on holiday with his family and Mawle was leaving for Morroco to film The Passion. James Nesbitt was filming in Belfast when his agent sent him the script. He initially did not want the part, but took it when his agent told him that Stafford-Clark was the producer; Nesbitt had enjoyed his version of Bleak House. He played Pilate as "a cold, hard warrior", and was inspired—by the peace in Ireland—to play him Irish. Paloma Baeza felt a "responsibility" when she was offered the part of Mary Magdalene because of the scale of the story being told. Of playing Mary, she said, "I was looking at her journey, who this person was and her relationship to Jesus. And looking at her as a woman and her predicament."
Production was based at the Atlas Studios in Morroco. Sets were constructed on locations in Ouarzazate
from May to August 2007. Principal photography took place from 27 August to 23 October. Scenes in Jerusalem were filmed in Tamnougalt
. Many scenes were filmed with hand-held cameras to make it appear that the audience is "eavesdropping" on characters' conversations. A significant scene was the crucifixion in Episode 3. The scene was filmed over three days and was frequently interrupted by torrential downpours. Mawle's make-up call came at 3.30 a.m. and it took five hours to apply cuts, bruises and blisters to his body. As he carried the cross over the sand, Mawle imagined the pain and exhaustion Jesus felt when he did it. Contrary to traditional depictions of the crucifixion, where Jesus is shown nailed to the cross by his hands, production designer Simon Elliot chose to show Jesus in the foetal position, with the nails through his arms. Mark Goodacre advised that this was the most common and effective method of crucifixion used by the Romans, and Elliot believed that "the Victorian image" did not match historical evidence; The Passions interpretation was based on a skeleton of a crucified man that was discovered near Jerusalem in the 1960s. 3,000 extras participated in the trial scenes in Episode 3.
The first episode was given a preview screening by the BBC at the Apollo West End cinema on 28 February 2008. The episode was introduced by BBC controller of fiction Jane Tranter
to an invited audience of press and religious leaders. The producers delivered the final cut of Episode 4 on 11 March.
Jesus and followers
At the Temple
Romans
People in Jerusalem
-style repeat of the first three parts was broadcast in the afternoon of 21 March. The first part opened with overnight ratings of 4.1 million viewers and a 15% audience share. The second episode, scheduled against popular ITV
soap opera Coronation Street
, dropped to 3.2 million. Episode 3 brought in 3.7 million viewers and Episode 4 received 4.9 million and a 21% share.
The series was generally well-received. The main review in The Guardian
of the first episode was positive, remarking "you could watch The Passion and totally forget that this story was central to a major world religion. And that's a good thing, I think." However, another article in the paper, discussing UK television over Easter 2008, called it "a dramatisation so conventional and reverent that the only harrumphing angle the papers have been able to find has been the position of the hands on the crucifix". The Independent
s Thomas Sutcliffe commented that "only the most zealously dogmatic Christian could complain that it was irreverent", The Daily Telegraph
s James Walton's review of the same episode praised the humanising of Pilate and Caiaphas, and felt Mawle's depiction of Jesus, despite not having the same "spell-binding effect as Robert Powell did in Jesus of Nazareth", nevertheless was "more appealingly human". Andrew Billen of The Times
praised "some nice touches", but was overall more critical, calling Mawle's portrayal of Jesus too "meek, mild and hangdog".
Stephen Green, from Christian Voice
, voiced disquiet over the series giving sympathetic portrayals to Caiaphas and Pilate, though press reactions found this unjustified.
on 20 October 2008.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and HBO Films
HBO Films
HBO Films is a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. While much of HBO Films' output is created directly for the television market, such as the film Witness Protection and the mini-series Band of Brothers, Pacific, Generation Kill and Angels in...
in association with Deep Indigo Productions. It tells the story of the last week in the life of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. The serial was first proposed by Peter Fincham
Peter Fincham
Peter Fincham is a British television producer and executive, currently the Director of Television for the ITV network. He was also formerly the Controller of BBC One, the primary television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation, until his resignation on 5 October 2007, following...
in 2006, on the success of the contemporary-set Manchester Passion
Manchester Passion
The Manchester Passion is a passion play about the last hours of Jesus, retold using a backdrop of the contemporary music of Manchester.The event took place on the streets of Manchester, and aired live on BBC Three on Good Friday, 14 April 2006....
. Writer Frank Deasy
Frank Deasy
Frank Deasy was an Irish screenwriter. He won an Emmy Award for the television series Prime Suspect and was also nominated for his works, Looking After Jo Jo and The Grass Arena...
and producer Nigel Stafford-Clark
Nigel Stafford-Clark
Nigel Stafford-Clark is a British film and television producer, and the brother of the theatre director Max Stafford-Clark. He was educated at Felsted and Trinity College, Cambridge, and worked in advertising and in sponsored documentaries before becoming a commercials producer at Moving Picture...
were inspired to make a drama that opened up the story beyond the "vacuum" it is often told in. They did this by expanding the roles of Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilatus , known in the English-speaking world as Pontius Pilate , was the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, from AD 26–36. He is best known as the judge at Jesus' trial and the man who authorized the crucifixion of Jesus...
and Caiaphas
Caiaphas
Joseph, son of Caiaphas, Hebrew יוסף בַּר קַיָּפָא or Yosef Bar Kayafa, commonly known simply as Caiaphas in the New Testament, was the Roman-appointed Jewish high priest who is said to have organized the plot to kill Jesus...
, and exploring the politics of Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
at the time. Deasy and Stafford-Clark were aided by scholar Mark Goodacre
Mark Goodacre
Mark Goodacre is a New Testament scholar and Professor at Duke University's Department of Religion. He has written extensively on the Synoptic Problem; that is, the origins of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke...
, with whom they put together an extensive research manual about the topic.
The part of Jesus is played by Joseph Mawle
Joseph Mawle
-Biography:Mawle graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2002 in the same year he appeared in the Irish Hurling TV adverts for Guinness. He began work in the theatre prior to training at Bristol mainly for Box Clever Theatre Company and in his own production of 'Solo Hamlet'He landed his...
, who researched the role by reading the Gospels and research papers. Other main roles were played by Paloma Baeza
Paloma Baeza
-Biography:Baeza lived in Mexico during her childhood. Her Mexican father and her English mother were hippie musicians. In 1975, when Baeza was 5 months old, her parents married in London and they went to Mexico City. They divorced nine years afterwards....
(Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
), Ben Daniels
Ben Daniels
Ben Daniels is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art , he has taken on roles in numerous productions...
(Caiaphas), James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster...
(Pilate), David Oyelowo
David Oyelowo
- Background :Oyelowo was born in Oxford, England of Nigerian descent. He is married to actress Jessica Oyelowo and they have three sons.Oyelowo first attended a youth theatre after being invited by a girl to whom he was attracted. He then studied Theatre Studies for A level and his teacher...
(Joseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea was, according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion. He is mentioned in all four Gospels.-Gospel references:...
), and Penelope Wilton
Penelope Wilton
Penelope Alice Wilton, OBE is an English actress.-Life and career:Penelope Alice Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a former actress mother and a businessman father. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant...
(Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
). It was directed by Michael Offer on location in Morocco from 27 August to 23 October 2007, and broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
in four parts from 16 to 23 March 2008. Its viewing figures ranged from 3.2 million to 4.9 million people, and it received generally positive critical reception.
Plot
Episode 1 — In the first hour-long episode, Jesus's arrival in Jerusalem on Palm SundayPalm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....
causes a stir among the Jews. The Romans are having to deal with a small rebellion and the High Priest wants to be rid of Jesus, since he is causing a disturbance and challenging his authority.
Episode 2 — In the second, half-hour, episode the High Priest Caiaphas
Caiaphas
Joseph, son of Caiaphas, Hebrew יוסף בַּר קַיָּפָא or Yosef Bar Kayafa, commonly known simply as Caiaphas in the New Testament, was the Roman-appointed Jewish high priest who is said to have organized the plot to kill Jesus...
calls a council to determine how Jesus should be dealt with after he is overheard mocking the Temple, and his fate is sealed.
Episode 3 — The third, hour-long, episode relates the events from the Last Supper
Last Supper
The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "communion" or "the Lord's Supper".The First Epistle to the Corinthians is...
to the Crucifixion of Jesus
Crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion of Jesus and his ensuing death is an event that occurred during the 1st century AD. Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God as well as the Messiah, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally executed on a cross...
.
Episode 4 — The final, half-hour, episode features the Resurrection of Jesus
Resurrection of Jesus
The Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus states that Jesus returned to bodily life on the third day following his death by crucifixion. It is a key element of Christian faith and theology and part of the Nicene Creed: "On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures"...
, the sightings of him by Mary Magdalene and others, and his departure from the disciples after impressing upon Peter the importance of spreading his word. Caiaphus' wife gives birth to a son, and Pilate and his wife return to Rome.
Production
At a conference in April 2006, Controller of BBC One Peter FinchamPeter Fincham
Peter Fincham is a British television producer and executive, currently the Director of Television for the ITV network. He was also formerly the Controller of BBC One, the primary television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation, until his resignation on 5 October 2007, following...
announced that following the success of the Manchester Passion
Manchester Passion
The Manchester Passion is a passion play about the last hours of Jesus, retold using a backdrop of the contemporary music of Manchester.The event took place on the streets of Manchester, and aired live on BBC Three on Good Friday, 14 April 2006....
—a contemporary retelling of the passion that was broadcast live from the streets of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
—a "straight" adaptation would be produced for broadcast in 2008. Fincham wanted it to be the "centrepiece" of BBC One's Easter 2008 schedule and hoped that it would have the same impact as Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus of Nazareth (film)
Jesus of Nazareth is a 1977 Anglo-Italian television mini-series dramatising the birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus based on the accounts in the four New Testament Gospels....
did in the 1970s. Nigel Stafford-Clark
Nigel Stafford-Clark
Nigel Stafford-Clark is a British film and television producer, and the brother of the theatre director Max Stafford-Clark. He was educated at Felsted and Trinity College, Cambridge, and worked in advertising and in sponsored documentaries before becoming a commercials producer at Moving Picture...
, the producer of BBC One's successful 2005 adaptation of Bleak House
Bleak House
Bleak House is the ninth novel by Charles Dickens, published in twenty monthly installments between March 1852 and September 1853. It is held to be one of Dickens's finest novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon...
, was brought on as producer, and a contract was tendered for a writer. Frank Deasy
Frank Deasy
Frank Deasy was an Irish screenwriter. He won an Emmy Award for the television series Prime Suspect and was also nominated for his works, Looking After Jo Jo and The Grass Arena...
was announced as having won the contract in July 2006. Stafford-Clark chose him because he believed that Deasy understood the scale of the project. The production was budgeted at £4 million. Both Deasy and Stafford-Clark looked to emulate the style of The Gospel According to St. Matthew
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (film)
The Gospel According to St. Matthew is a 1964 Italian film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection....
(Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...
, 1964) over The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 American drama film directed by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus. It depicts the Passion of Jesus largely according to the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John...
(Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
, 2004). Deasy had walked out of The Passion of the Christ after 20 minutes because it "drained the spirituality of Jesus". Jesus of Nazareth had opposite effect on him, in that he believed Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....
's version was too spiritual. In his version, Deasy wanted to "draw Jesus down into the world more as a human character who is frustrated, angry, fearful and doubtful, and who doesn't have what is almost a mask of humanity, but is truly human." Deasy and Stafford-Clark formed a development team, bringing on religion scholar Dr Mark Goodacre
Mark Goodacre
Mark Goodacre is a New Testament scholar and Professor at Duke University's Department of Religion. He has written extensively on the Synoptic Problem; that is, the origins of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke...
and the BBC's head of religion and ethics, Michael Wakelin. Together, they prepared a research manual containing as much information as they could find about Jerusalem, first-century lifestyles, and the gospels.
Following his appointment as writer, Deasy spent the next year researching the gospels in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and consulting Goodacre. His first draft was submitted in the autumn of 2006. Drawing on what he had learned from Jesus of Nazareth, Deasy chose to portray Jesus as the "human character" in Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
and Mark
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...
, rather than the god-like figure in John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
. He also incorporated Jesus's relationship with women as written in Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
. For the opening scene of Episode 1, he was influenced by the opening scene of Downfall
Downfall (film)
Downfall is a 2004 German/Italian/Austrian epic war film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, depicting the final ten days of Adolf Hitler's life in his Berlin bunker and Nazi Germany in 1945....
(Oliver Hirschbiegel
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Oliver Hirschbiegel is a German film director. His works include Das Experiment and the Oscar nominated Der Untergang.- Career :...
, 2004):
In it, a peasant coming to Passover in Jerusalem is frightened when he comes across the disciples, because they've been in the desert or in Galilee for two years. They've been sleeping out and they appear slightly intimidating to him. It attempts to introduce a world in which Christianity didn't yet exist, and these precepts and concepts that are so familiar to us now, were startlingly new and really exploded on the scene during this crucial week.
Deasy and Stafford-Clark were also interested in opening up the story beyond the "vacuum" in which they believe other depictions of the week are set. They did this by expanding the roles of Caiaphas and Pilate beyond mere "panto villains", and examining the politics of Judea at the time; Deasy explained that it was "much more rich to see Caiaphas as a flawed human being". Joseph Mawle was the first actor auditioned for the part of Jesus. He was cast in May 2007 and prepared for the role by reading "the Gospels, research papers, medical documents, endless books and prayers". Mawle wanted to meet actor Robert Powell
Robert Powell
Robert Powell is an English television and film actor, probably most famous for his title role in Jesus of Nazareth and as the fictional secret agent Richard Hannay...
to discuss his portrayal of Jesus in Jesus of Nazareth, but the two could not arrange a convenient time. By chance, the two met in the toilets at Gatwick Airport when Powell was going on holiday with his family and Mawle was leaving for Morroco to film The Passion. James Nesbitt was filming in Belfast when his agent sent him the script. He initially did not want the part, but took it when his agent told him that Stafford-Clark was the producer; Nesbitt had enjoyed his version of Bleak House. He played Pilate as "a cold, hard warrior", and was inspired—by the peace in Ireland—to play him Irish. Paloma Baeza felt a "responsibility" when she was offered the part of Mary Magdalene because of the scale of the story being told. Of playing Mary, she said, "I was looking at her journey, who this person was and her relationship to Jesus. And looking at her as a woman and her predicament."
Production was based at the Atlas Studios in Morroco. Sets were constructed on locations in Ouarzazate
Ouarzazate
-See also:* Tizi n'Tichka: The mountain pass that leads to Ouarzazate* List of Movies shot in Morocco-External links:* at IMDb...
from May to August 2007. Principal photography took place from 27 August to 23 October. Scenes in Jerusalem were filmed in Tamnougalt
Tamnougalt
Tamnougalt is a village in the Draa River valley in Morocco, some 95 kilometers south of Ouarzazat. The village is close to Agdz and has a famous kasbah. It is the former capital of the Mezguita region and residence of former caïds. Its name means 'meeting point' in Tachelhit...
. Many scenes were filmed with hand-held cameras to make it appear that the audience is "eavesdropping" on characters' conversations. A significant scene was the crucifixion in Episode 3. The scene was filmed over three days and was frequently interrupted by torrential downpours. Mawle's make-up call came at 3.30 a.m. and it took five hours to apply cuts, bruises and blisters to his body. As he carried the cross over the sand, Mawle imagined the pain and exhaustion Jesus felt when he did it. Contrary to traditional depictions of the crucifixion, where Jesus is shown nailed to the cross by his hands, production designer Simon Elliot chose to show Jesus in the foetal position, with the nails through his arms. Mark Goodacre advised that this was the most common and effective method of crucifixion used by the Romans, and Elliot believed that "the Victorian image" did not match historical evidence; The Passions interpretation was based on a skeleton of a crucified man that was discovered near Jerusalem in the 1960s. 3,000 extras participated in the trial scenes in Episode 3.
The first episode was given a preview screening by the BBC at the Apollo West End cinema on 28 February 2008. The episode was introduced by BBC controller of fiction Jane Tranter
Jane Tranter
Jane Tranter is an English television executive who has been the executive vice-president of programming and production at BBC Worldwide's Los Angeles base since January 2009...
to an invited audience of press and religious leaders. The producers delivered the final cut of Episode 4 on 11 March.
Cast
Jesus and followers
At the Temple
Romans
People in Jerusalem
Reception
The serial opened with an hour-long episode on 16 March, followed by a half-hour episode on 17 March, another hour-long episode on 21 March and a concluding half-hour episode on 23 March. An omnibusOmnibus (broadcast)
An omnibus is a compilation of daily television or radio episodes that is re-broadcast during the following weekend. The term has been most frequently used in the United Kingdom, though it has also been used in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa...
-style repeat of the first three parts was broadcast in the afternoon of 21 March. The first part opened with overnight ratings of 4.1 million viewers and a 15% audience share. The second episode, scheduled against popular ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
soap opera Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, dropped to 3.2 million. Episode 3 brought in 3.7 million viewers and Episode 4 received 4.9 million and a 21% share.
The series was generally well-received. The main review in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
of the first episode was positive, remarking "you could watch The Passion and totally forget that this story was central to a major world religion. And that's a good thing, I think." However, another article in the paper, discussing UK television over Easter 2008, called it "a dramatisation so conventional and reverent that the only harrumphing angle the papers have been able to find has been the position of the hands on the crucifix". The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
s Thomas Sutcliffe commented that "only the most zealously dogmatic Christian could complain that it was irreverent", The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
s James Walton's review of the same episode praised the humanising of Pilate and Caiaphas, and felt Mawle's depiction of Jesus, despite not having the same "spell-binding effect as Robert Powell did in Jesus of Nazareth", nevertheless was "more appealingly human". Andrew Billen of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
praised "some nice touches", but was overall more critical, calling Mawle's portrayal of Jesus too "meek, mild and hangdog".
Stephen Green, from Christian Voice
Christian Voice (UK)
Christian Voice is a Christian pressure group based in the United Kingdom. Its stated objective is "to uphold Christianity as the Faith of the United Kingdom, to be a voice for Biblical values in law and public policy, and to defend and support traditional family life." It is independent of...
, voiced disquiet over the series giving sympathetic portrayals to Caiaphas and Pilate, though press reactions found this unjustified.
DVD release
The Passion was released on DVD in the UK by Acorn Media UKAcorn Media UK
Acorn Media UK is a DVD publisher which distributes and sells home video products with a particular focus on British television.- Company history :The company was founded in 1997 when Lesley Fromant set up a branch of parent company Acorn Media in the UK....
on 20 October 2008.