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Good Morning.

As friends of Ambridge will know, Radio 4’s Archers are now back recording in their studio. Meanwhile TV soaps have hit on the notion of using actors’ real life partners as body doubles, so that they can film characters kissing.

Soap operas can play an important part in our life together. Behind their inevitable tendency to portray communities that face more triumphs and tragedies in a single year than most of us do in a lifetime, they have the time and space to allow their main characters to develop and deepen. At their best, they have allowed some of the most complex morals issues to be played out in front of us, from self-harm to sexual abuse, without short cutting to a simple solution.

A good novel can do the same, I’m as informed by fiction as much as I am by theology. But I also learn from the complicated lives and loves of those at the heart of many bible stories. My namesake, King David, is no simple two dimensional hero. The story of his reign exposes and explores his adultery, and how he has his partner’s husband killed to cover it up, alongside recounting his military and civil successes. In the gospels, St Peter, that leader among the followers of Jesus, is shown as impetuous and fearful, as well as courageous and clear sighted. Even Jesus’s own mother Mary, often held up as the prime example of what it is to be a Christian, is not beyond having her failings clearly noted.

A good soap opera treats its characters sympathetically, whilst not glossing over their misdoings. It invites us to reflect on their words and actions, their motivations and morals, without designating them saints or villains. It builds up our own ethical empathy and understanding, equipping us better to face the challenges of our own lives. I wouldn’t go as far as the French Existentialist Albert Camus, who opined that to understand all is to forgive all; some sins require more than mere comprehension to reach a point of absolution. But I recognize in my own spiritual life, that the God who knows me more intimately and fully than could any human being, is the most ready to forgive of all.

TV and radio are going to be a little strange for a while yet, as programmes recorded under lockdown conditions work their way through the broadcasting schedules. It won’t be surprising if further innovations, beyond inviting partners to come along and kiss, will emerge. The best soap operas understand they need to develop in ways that take us beyond stereotypes; to know better and learn more deeply, from our friends who live in Albert Square, Ambridge, and beyond.

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