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Alpha - Will It Change Their Lives?
Moore TV, broadcast on ITV regions Sunday evenings.
Check your local TV listings for times of transmission.

Goldfish-bowl TV is currently flavour of the month, what with Survivor, Big Brother, Popstars and the like all inviting you to observe the lives of a small number of people in an intense group experience. The latest is a major departure, however: the experiences of ten young people are recorded as they 'do Alpha' (attend an Alpha course in Christianity) and get to grips with biblical Christianity. Moore Television's Alpha - Will it Change Their Lives? is being broadcast over August and September on ITV.

The fact that it is being aired at all is both a wonder and a further demonstration that well-produced, professional Christian TV that asks no special favours for its faith is increasingly accepted on UK television channels.

This production uses two high-profile presenters - Sir David Frost and youth presenter Diane Louise Jordan, who presents the church promotional video for the series. David Frost - who memorably coached boxer Mohammed Ali in the basics of Christian love in a TV interview years ago, and in another equally memorable encounter almost persuaded Richard Nixon to take moral responsibility for Watergate - is an ideal presenter.

Professionalism

Alpha 'reflects my interests and concerns', he comments, but he adopts the role of objective commentator, waiting to see how the ten young people will fare. And Diane Louise Jordan's infectious cheerfulness is matched by the personal conviction with which she talks about Christian topics.

Alpha itself is now legendary. From small beginnings at London's Holy Trinity Brompton in 1993, it is now operating in 122 countries and 7,000 Alpha courses run in the UK. Over 3,000,000 have completed the course, and it runs in 80% of UK prisons. Its well-known leader, Nicky Gumbel, is one of the UK's top-selling Christian authors.

Alpha has its critics, and indeed has been criticised in EN from time to time, and there are reports that the course has been slightly modified to make it acceptable to a wider range of Christians (a matter of emphasis, not content). Two of the TV episodes will feature the 'Holy Spirit weekend away', which has led some to question the balance of the course. Somebody holding a negative view of Alpha was included in the first episode, but it turned out he disliked Alpha's emphasis on the centrality of Scripture and, by implication, the fact that it is evangelical. Some EN readers may have preferred to discuss the charismatic aspects of the course. Whether the series will have problems of balance remains to be seen.

Ice-breaker

The first episode is an ice-breaker. It presents Nicky Gumbel, who comes across as a likeable, non-confrontational and non-fanatical person with a fund of impeccably-timed one-liners and a great gift for communication. We also see something of the work of Alpha in prisons (an amazing story), and hear comments on Alpha by a variety of observers and course participants. The filming and scripting are good and Sir David is as reliable as ever.

Too young?

My reservation is the young people themselves. All ten are attractive, personable people approaching Alpha with a variety of agendas and preconceptions. They are intelligent, articulate and entertaining, and speak compellingly about what is important in their lives whether it be family, clubbing or more spiritual concerns.

The trouble is that they are so attractive, like the cast of a sitcom: all Londoners, all employed and working in the management, executive, legal, or arts sectors (you see them, for example, talking web sites and contracts, surrounded by executive decor). They dress smartly, live in nice flats, and have enough money to have fun after work (lots of dancing and a bit of a preoccupation with bare midriffs on someone's part). Those Christians who speak of how the Alpha course has helped them also project a strongly middle-class image.

Of course Alpha has helped the impoverished, the manual workers, the people who don't have great social lives. The trouble is that the series so far doesn't make a big point of it. Which is a pity. This series should have a huge impact, and on video would make an invaluable resource. It's a shame that there will be some viewers who will probably conclude, for the wrong reasons, that this is not for them - a more unfortunate outcome, perhaps, than any real or perceived over-emphasis on charismatic experience.

Professionalism wins... for the beautiful people

Professionalism

Ice-breaker

Too young?

David Porter

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