THE BBC IS set to broadcast a segment of an episode of their long-running religious programme ‘Songs of Praise’ from the migrant camp in Calais.
The area, which has come to be known as the ‘Jungle’, is situated on the outskirts of the French town around a mile away from the Channel Tunnel and holds an estimated 2,500 migrants.
Filming for the programme took place over last weekend and will be hosted by Sally Magnusson.
The show is a magazine programme on Sunday and features hymns from churches around the UK.
The upcoming segment will be filmed at a temporary Ethiopian Orthodox Church that has been set up in the camp.
The programme has come in for criticism from some areas of the UK press.
Today’s front cover of the the Daily Express is headlined ‘This is how the BBC is spending your money – Songs of Praise filmed in migrant camp’.
The newspaper also refers to criticism that the BBC has received from Conservative MPs over its decision to film in the camp.
The Daily Mail has also said that an Eritrean priest who is resident in the camp has pulled out of the broadcast due to fears of repercussions in his home country.
However, many people have been coming come to the defence of the programme on social media – saying that broadcasting from a migrant church seems, in fact, like quite a Christian thing to do…
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