RAGEH OMAAR'S new BBC series on the miracles of Jesus gets a rather unfriendly review by Caitlin Moran in the London Times:

Still, did you know that Scott’s middle name was Falcon? Or that Jesus’s real name was Joshua? The latter was one of the intriguing facts thrown up by The Miracles of Jesus (BBC One, Sunday). Well, actually, it was the only fact thrown up by The Miracles of Jesus.

This was a programme of such fluffiness that it would have made anyone — up to and including the Archbishop of Canterbury — shout “But have you got any science? Any facts? Anything other than re-creations of Middle Eastern peasants constantly hassling Jesus to sort something else out?”

The fact that it was fronted by Rageh Omaar didn’t help.

There aren’t many television personalities for whom a blithe lack of self-awareness is a handicap — by-and-large, the less they realize they’re idiots, the more hilarious it is for us — but Omaar really is the dizzy limit. I’ll never forget him fronting a wafer-thin show on the Iraq War — during the months he was the “Scud stud” — and opening it with the line “I want to ask you what you remember of the Iraq War? Was it shock and awe, or Jessica Lynch, or even the red and dusty skies?” like he was Richard bloody Burton reading Under Milk Wood.

Here he’s just as moony and portentous — reverently trailing his hand over ancient Hebrew texts, staring out to seas where Jesus might have been, and posing with one foot up on a boulder, crotchily. Omaar! You’re a news reporter! You can’t say things like “Who’s to say it wasn’t a miracle?” If you think the miracles of Jesus are anything other than metaphorical hogwash, then you need to be presenting a show called How Every Scientific Achievement of the Last 500 Years Must be Wrong!

Teddy Jamieson in The Herald is a little less sarcastic, but not terribly satisfied either:

Unfortunately, there are a couple of problems with The Miracles of Jesus. Rageh's arguments are being presented as, well, gospel. Last night's programme didn't offer much room for doubt or debate. And most of its running time was given over to dramatic reconstructions of the miracles in question. The Beeb have obviously spent a lot of money on these, and presumably want to make as much of them as possible - but this meant the discourse came out a poor second to the drama. Pity, that.

I didn't notice that the show was on last night, but I'm not sure I would have taken the time to watch it if I had.