Pilgrims on a tourist trail

BROADCAST NEWS by Joanna Moorhead
THERE'S nothing like a cold, miserable January to increase the ratings of the holiday programmes, so presumably that lucky band of journalists who get to travel the globe on our behalf have had their exploits charted by more viewers than usual this year.
Mind you, the current crop of series on sun, sea and sand have had rather more to recommend them than the offerings of the past holiday programmes seem finally to have come of age, with a lot more honesty, irreverence and fun than before.
Number one on my viewing for this year has been Anne Gregg's excellent Package Pilgrims, a down-to-earth look at what's in store if you choose to take off in search of spiritual. as well as temporal. replenishment, and this week's programme saw Anne and her team in the Holy Land (Sunday ITV).
Like many who go there with high expectations. Anne confessed to being disappointed at many of the sights and experiences on offer. Jerusalem and Bethlehem, she explained, are noisy, messy and tacky, and the places which mean most to Christians are often distinctly lacking in atmosphere and overrun with other tourists.
Rightly. though, Anne's advice was not to let that deter: human life is about the messy hubbub of reality. so perhaps it's appropriate that the place where Christ lived should be not somewhere removed and silent and awesome. but alive and vibrant and humming.
Package Pilgrims offers just the right mix between tips the guide books don't give. and thoughtful musings from Anne and the pilgrims she interviews along her route. Practical advice is minimal. but if something's crucial Anne will make sure she passes it on.
Did you know, for example, that if you go for a dip in the Dead Sea it's absolutely imperative you don't drink the water? Apparently, as little as half a glass of the stuff can kill. You have been warned. For more essential advice on travelling in the footsteps of Christ, tune in
this Sunday to the second part of Package Pilgrims' trip to the Holy Land.
THE WEEK AHEAD Sunday: 9.15am, BBC 1: "Did Jesus really do all that?" asks the Good Book Guide with Tony Robinson; 930am, BBC1: Students at the Royal National college for the Blind in Hereford talk about their feelings for God as they face up to a life without sight in This is the Day; llam, ITV: Morning Worship from St James Catholic Church in Reading. Berkshire, focuses on the challenges faced by young people in a difficult world. The celebrant is Mgr James Joyce; 12 noon, ITV: Anne Gregg continues her exploration of the Holy Land in Package Pilgrims; 3.30pm, Radio 4: Immortal Diamonds, in which Rosemary Hartill explores the relationship between God and poets, focusing on TS Eliot; 6.25 pm, BBCI: Songs of Praise pays tribute to veteran preacher Lord Soper on his 90th birthday; 10.10pm, BBC1: Sixty years after Hitler's rise to power, Heart of the Matter explores whether the resurgence of neo-Nazism indicates that Germany will always struggle to be free of racism; 11.05pm, ITV: The James Whale Question asks whether killing people be it in war, as punishment, or as selfdefence can ever be right.
Wednesday: 6.05pm, BBC2: Reportage: Food and Famine looks at who is to blame for Third World famine: 8,10pm, BBC2: Irish writer Brian Moore, born into a large Catholic family in Belfast, is profiled in Bookmark to coincide with the publication of his new novel No Other Life, which tells the story of a Jesuit priest who adopts a young boy who goes on to become President.