TV Review: Jesus’ female disciples: The new evidence – a timely new take on the ultimate boys’ club

THE GUARDIAN
By Julia Raeside

Buddy movie … Helen Bond & Joan Taylor in Israel. Photograph: Production/Channel 4

Until now, the women in the Bible have been split broadly into “pious onlookers or repentant prostitutes”. But in Jesus’ Female Disciples: The New Evidence, Bible experts Helen Bond and Joan Taylor are determined to prove that the women in the greatest story ever told have been gradually side-lined and all but erased. Naturally, to do this they must go on a journey. I have long since given up hope that another means of historical TV investigation might be deployed. One where an expert with a headful of facts gets to show and tell their findings without the window dressing of a buddy movie. And every moment of significance being prefigured and accompanied by two dozen steadfast violinists, working their elbows like pistons. [More]