Sunday TV Choice: Pilgrimage: The Road Through the Alps (BBC2, 9pm)
Along with chocolate eggs, the BBC2 series Pilgrimage, which takes a group of celebrities of differing faiths and beliefs and sends them on a spiritual journey, has become something of an Easter tradition.
The first run aired in 2018, and saw Neil Morrissey, Debbie McGee and the Rev Kate Bottley, among others, following the Camino de Santiago. Since then, there have been pilgrimages everywhere from Istanbul to North Wales, but the latest selection of famous faces are tackling a revived medieval Catholic route, travelling from just outside Innsbruck on the Austrian Camino and finishing near Lake Zurich in Switzerland.
The 300km trek has some strenuous climbs, but it’s not just going to be physically challenging – it will also be a chance for them to ponder some of life’s big questions.
Our pilgrims include practising Catholic Harry Clark, who is best known for being the winner on the second series of The Traitors. On that show, he needed a strategy, but now he can be honest with his fellow participants.
He explains: “I’m so excited to go on this Pilgrimage, to meet the other pilgrims and find out about their religions, what they believe in and why, and if they don’t believe, why?”
Those fellow pilgrims include actress and comedian Helen Lederer, who is hoping the experience will help her to understand her heritage. She says: “My father was born into a Jewish family. Although my Czechoslovakian grandparents were cultural Jews, they never talked about faith. My mother came from the Isle of Wight, and I’m told I was christened.
“Being a mix means that you have respect for both things and there is a particular quality I’m learning and feeling more as I get even older, that you can’t shed your background. So, with my mixed background, with all the pain of my family that isn’t mine, but theirs, I want to be able to turn it into something that will give me a bit of peace.”
Journalist Nelufar Hedayat admits her relationship to her faith has sometimes been complex. She says: “I was born in Kabul, in Afghanistan. When I was a young refugee in Britain, my faith took a firm back seat as that was part of my past and why I was here, so I didn’t want anything to do with it. Those feelings lasted for quite a while, until I was at secondary school when I was with other young Muslims, and I realised I could be both British and Muslim.
“As a modern Muslim, I’m trying to find a way through the faith that I was born into, and even now, it’s strained at the very best… So, I want to bring a sense of openness to this Pilgrimage.”
She’ll also be joined on their route by former the Wanted singer Jay McGuiness, who describes himself as agnostic, standup comedian Daliso Chaponda, who grew up in a Christian family but is exploring the Baha’i faith, presenter Jeff Brazier, who went to Catholic schools but now is spiritual, and retired Paralympian and practising Christian Stef Reid.
The three-part series continues on Monday and Tuesday.