• Jesus back on TV...30 years after Robert Powell‚Äôs epic

The BBC is aiming to make Christ's final hours even more vivid by casting well-known actors in central roles and adopting a 'soap opera' style for The Passion, which will be shown in six half-hour episodes on BBC1 next Easter. James Nesbitt, of Cold Feet fame, plays Pontius Pilate, while former EastEnders heartthrob Paul Nicholls plays Judas Iscariot. But the central role of Jesus Christ has been given to a relative unknown, Joseph Mawle.