The BBC is set to air a drama based on novels from Philip Pullman, the author who has previously said he is “trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief”.
BBC One announced on Tuesday that it was commissioning a drama series based on Pullman’s book, His Dark Materials, but is yet to give a date for transmission.
Pullman has repeatedly attacked the Christian faith, at one point saying his books are about ‘killing God’, and that God should be ‘put down’ if he is as Christians describe him.
Overthrow God
BBC News has said that the His Dark Materials trilogy tells of “a battle against the church and a fight to overthrow God”, while The Guardian says the books cast “original sin in a positive light”.
Jane Tranter, who is leading the BBC project, dismissed the idea that religious groups may object to the upcoming drama.
However Pullman himself said in 2008 that the Christian response to a film version of one of the books “did influence a number of people not to go to see it”.
Toned down
The Golden Compass film, which was released in 2007 featuring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, was intended as the first instalment of the trilogy.
Many of the more explicitly anti-Christian themes of the first novel were toned down for the film version, but its Director said these would emerge in later films.
So far the other two books have not been adapted for cinema.
Rebel
Pullman has told The Washington Post that he is “trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief”, while The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Pullman said: “My books are about killing God”.
In 2002 he told The Sunday Telegraph: “if there is a God and he is as the Christians describe him, then he deserves to be put down and rebelled against”.