- The Moral Maze
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The Moral Maze Genre Individual cross examinations of successive witnesses by a group of panellists on live radio Running time 45 mins (Wednesdays 20.00) Country UK Languages English Home station BBC Radio 4 Hosts Michael Buerk Creators Rev Ernie Rea Producers Phil Pegum (BBC Religion & Ethics) Recording studio BBC Manchester Air dates since 20 August 1990 Website Website The Moral Maze is a radio programme on BBC Radio 4, broadcast since 1990.
Contents
Structure
Four regular panellists discuss moral and ethical issues relating to a recent news story. The debate is often combative and guest witnesses may be cross-examined aggressively. The programme is hosted by Michael Buerk. The format is loosely based on the Select Committee procedure at the House of Westminster, in which invited guests on a particular topic of discussion are mercilessly grilled (often to the point of humiliation) by a regular (and carefully chosen) panel (such as the MPs on the Select Committee).
Michael Buerk delivers a no-holds-barred (often irreverent) preamble launching the topic, then introduces the first witness. In the ensuing interrogation, the witnesses are teasingly goaded into philosophically tripping themselves up (contradicting their own beliefs). Platitudes are quickly exposed for their fragility. Witnesses taken unawares by the incisive, unceremonious questioning, may then replace civility for discourteousness - usually when their arguments have been hit for six. When being briefed for their appearances, witnesses were encouraged to be as aggressive as you like.
It is produced at the BBC North West's New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road in Manchester. It is soon to be made at Salford Quays. It is one of the few main Radio 4 programmes not to be available as a podcast.
Panellists
The regular panellists are:
- Claire Fox
- Clifford Longley
- Kenan Malik
- Michael Portillo
- Melanie Phillips
- Matthew Taylor
The panellists mainly group themselves into two camps of either a pro-liberal viewpoint or a more traditional one. Claire Fox likes to have a foot in both camps. Many of the discussions revolve around whether newly-adopted liberal values are eroding more-traditional values.
Other infrequent panellists have been:
- Anne McElvoy
- Geoffrey Robertson
Notable former panellists include Rabbi Hugo Gryn (he died in August 1996); Janet Daley; Edward Pearce; politician Michael Gove; Ian Hargreaves; the philosophers Simon Blackburn and Roger Scruton and the historian David Starkey.
History
The first programme on Monday 20 August 1990 was forty minutes long from 11am, and followed by Poetry Please. It was made by the Factual Unit of Religious Programmes (later called Factual Programmes Religion) at BBC North in Manchester. It was hoped that the programme format would involve the panellists' views being revised during the course of a programme, but the reverse often would be the consequence.
In April 1991 it had moved to Tuesdays, and followed the 9.00 news, until 9.45 (a slot similar to the current In Our Time). In July 1991, it had moved to 20.05-20.50 on Fridays, replacing Any Questions? for the summer recess. There was then a repeat at 1pm on the fllowing Saturday, and a phone-in from 14.00-14.30, replacing Any Answers?. There was also an end-of-year programme. In July 1992 it had moved to Thursday mornings following the 9am news. It became a de rigueur listen for Westminster MPs. By 1997 it was fifty-five minutes long, lasting until 10am. It moved to Wednesday evenings from 13 May 1998 in the 1998 schedule changes, with a repeat of the forty-five minute programme on Saturday night at 22.15, .
Michael Buerk has presented the programme since August 1990.
TV pilot
In early 1994 a television version was considered, which eventually took off on Saturday 10 September 1994 on BBC2. It was a trial series of six 45-minute-long programmes broadcast around midnight. It had audiences of around 1.3 million. It last broadcast on 15 October 1994 at 23.00.
See also
- List of national radio programmes made in Manchester
- The Choice (radio series)
- Heart of the Matter - Joan Bakewell BBC1 programme
References
External links
Audio clips
Categories:- BBC Radio 4 programmes
- Religious radio programs
- BBC Manchester productions
- 1990 radio programme debuts
- Core issues in ethics
- Applied ethics
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