Category: Radio 4
Date: 30.12.2005
Printable version
Broadcaster and former Conservative MP Michael Portillo is to join the panel of BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze, the series in which expert witnesses are cross examined on the moral conundrums behind the week's most engrossing news stories.
The Moral Maze has been presented by Michael Buerk since the series began in 1990.
Michael Portillo will be a regular panellist alongside Professor Steven Rose, Melanie Phillips, Claire Fox, Clifford Longley and Ian Hargreaves.
Portillo brings a wide range of political and broadcasting experience to his new role.
He is a former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (2000-01) and has made a number of television programmes including When Michael Portillo Became a Single Mum for BBC TWO and This Week on BBC ONE with Andrew Neil and Diane Abbott MP.
Christine Morgan, Executive Producer, The Moral Maze, says: "Michael Portillo's background, encompassing politics and history, gives him a broad understanding when it comes to people and their individual situations.
"We look forward to him bringing that to bear on the issues of the week."
The Moral Maze, which is produced by BBC Religion and Ethics, recently broadcast its 400th edition and is always live.
It is differentiated from other debate formats by the acceptance that this is a forum where the unsayable can be said and the unaskable asked.
It is always provocative and combative, even if it concludes that there are no definitive answers in the maze that is morality.
Notes to Editors
Michael Portillo will appear in seven programmes of The Moral Maze (from a total number of ten), including the first show of the new series on 25 January 2006.
The Moral Maze has a dedicated message board for those listeners who want to carry on the debate after the broadcast has finished.
It can be accessed via www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/religion/moralmaze
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