The Passion

I'd never even heard of this 1999 film, which has just been broadcast on Talking Pictures TV and can now be seen on it's catch-up service. I found myself becoming more and more involved with the characters as the story developed and was on tenterhooks right up until the end. Gina McKee is always worth watching, and the relationship between her character and the outsider who has been recruited to play Jesus is convincingly depicted. Paul Nicholls and the other leading cast members all give strong performances. Although the was a BBC Wales production ,it was filmed in Devon. Definitely recommended!

This film aired here over the course of three nights, and after watching just a couple of minutes of the first part I was hooked. I began watching because I recognized Paul Nicholls (Daniel) from EastEnders, and found that he was very talented. Gina McKee (Ellie) was also excellent, and stunning in a very every-day kind of way. And the rest of the cast was also wonderful.

As a married woman, I fully identified with Ellie and found the story very plausible for the most part. I found myself thinking about it for days and even weeks afterwards. Though it wasn't perfect, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I hope it airs again so I can see the first few minutes that I missed and then enjoy it all over again.

I remember watching this back when this was shown in 1999 and found myself enjoying how well acted the play was. It would be great now if this was repeated on TV as it is a shame that such an ambitious production was not shown again and forgotten. However one part of this is forgotten and that apart from the original music used, the 1997 album by Supergrass - In It For The Money was used throughout the three part drama as well, which complemented the story wonderfully and showed that the album is one of the most under rated albums of the 1990s. The music complemented the play so well and I guess one of the reason why it has not been repeated or even released on DVD is there might be over the use of the music used.

I saw this when it was shown in three episodes on T.V. here and did enjoy most of the story but some of the characters were a little less true to life than they could have been. It also seemed a little over long being shown over three nights. Daniel and Ellie were about the most interesting characters and the husband of Ellie the least plausible character. It is only now after a considerable amount of time has elapsed since I first saw this production that I am keen to see it again and hope that it can be shown once more or released on video which I think I would buy. Paul Nicholls has grown on me since I first noticed his acting talents in The Passion and hope that he is seen in many more roles like this one. It would be nice to see a sequel to this story if this were possible.