Calais 'Jungle' Songs of Praise prompts applause and fury

An episode of the BBC's Songs of Praise filmed at a migrant camp in Calais has been hailed as "extremely moving" by many commentators. Others were incensed by a perceived misuse of the licence fee.

The programme, which presents Christian hymns each Sunday, was thrust into the public eye when the Daily Express criticised the BBC for broadcasting a segment of the show from the migrant camp in Calais that's widely known as "The Jungle".

In an article entitled "Songs of Praise in Calais EXPOSED – this is how the BBC is spending YOUR cash", the Express said the BBC had provoked "fury" for arranging to film the programme in a "lawless ghetto". The newspaper called the decision a "farce".

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The article went on to quote Nigel Farage, who called the BBC "overtly political" for trying to "influence the debate" on immigration and claimed that "the vast majority of people think it's just plain wrong". Farage said the BBC should be filming in towns along the Kent coast that have been affected by the migrant crisis.

The Daily Mail was also critical of the programme, which aired on Sunday, calling it a "stunt" and an "opportunistic exercise in conscience-tweaking". The newspaper ridiculed the BBC for providing "only a tiny glimpse of an actual service" at St Michael's (the makeshift church in the camp).

But many others came to the defence of the show.

In The Sunday Times, India Knight said she was "extremely moved" by the programme and "heart-burstingly proud of the BBC". Knight also noted that the show was doing the Christian job of "making us feel compassion for our brothers and sisters".

The Independent reported that many tweeters also expressed their approval, calling the show "inspirational". Many said they were watching the programme for the first time ever, and praised it for "humanising the migrants who have been widely vilified in the media".

Ed Power in the Daily Telegraph agreed, saying that "the core Christian values of empathy and compassion shone brightly" in the programme and that it challenged "widely held perceptions of religious programming as quaint and irrelevant".

He also praised the BBC for allowing residents of the Jungle "to tell their stories in an honest and sensation-free manner" and called presenter Sally Magnusson "sensitive but not condescending".

But Power did have one criticism for what was otherwise "a genuinely moving programme". He said there was not enough of the "Jungle" in the 35-minute broadcast, which spent too much time on a separate item about a Christian rocker called Matt Redman.

"After all that expense and controversy," says Power, "surely the Calais crisis merited an entire episode of its own?"