The Big Questions


The Big Questions is an interfaith dialogue and ethics television programme usually presented by Nicky Campbell. It is broadcast live on BBC One between 10:00am and 11:00am on Sunday, replacing The Heaven and Earth Show as the BBC's religious discussion programme.

Format

The format is loosely based on BBC One's political discussion show, Question Time, though it also contains elements that are more familiar to daytime chat shows. In the first four series, each show featured four panellists from a range of different religious and ethical perspectives, as well as a number of contributors from the live studio audience. In Series 5, the panel was dropped, and the debates took place entirely within the audience, which still featured a number of contributors.
Each week, panel and audience debate three ethical, moral or religious topics which featured in the week's news.
SeriesEpisodesTransmission datesNotes
1249 September 2007 – 6 April 2008
24128 December 2008 – 22 November 2009
3243 January 2010 – 4 July 2010
4209 January 2011 – 19 June 2011
5208 January 2012 – 25 November 2012
6223 January 2013 – 23 June 2013
7215 January 2014 – 15 June 2014
82011 January 2015 – 14 June 2015
92010 January 2016 – 12 June 2016
10208 January 2017 – 11 June 2017
11197 January 2018 – 10 June 2018251 episodes as of 3 June 2018
12196 January 2019 –

Guests

Panellists have included notable atheist Richard Dawkins, convert to Roman Catholicism Ann Widdecombe, Imam Ibrahim Mogra, Muslim commentator Mohammed Ansar, Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, Scottish philosopher John Joseph Haldane, Bible scholar Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Lord Carey, Jonathan Bartley, Peter Hitchens, Alexander Goldberg, Ian McMillan, Andrew Pinsent, Stephen Law, Tommy Robinson, Michael Nazir-Ali, Samuel Westrop and Decca Aitkenhead.
The programme used to have a slot for a celebrity interview in which a famous person talks about their life and their moral, ethical and religious beliefs and interests. Such celebrities have included Richard Dawkins, Annie Lennox, John Barrowman, Benjamin Zephaniah, John Simpson and Jamelia. In the second series this section was dropped, and the whole programme instead concentrates on the three discussions.
The programme's 250th episode was 3 June 2018.

Presenters

has presented the show since it began in 2007. Campbell was initially joined by Sonia Deol during the first 14 episodes of series one in February 2008. Deol no longer appeared after this.
During series 3 in June 2010, Campbell was absent from the programme. Kaye Adams guest presented the programme on these dates. Campbell then returned from his absence to present the final show in July 2010.

Programme information

The programme is produced for the BBC by Mentorn Media.
From July 2010, The Big Questions' breaks and its slot was filled with a new studio-based religious and ethics discussion programme, Sunday Morning Live hosted by Sean Fletcher and Cherry Healey. The Big Questions runs from January to July, and Sunday Morning Live runs from July until November.