Writer and BBC Guest is Not Longer Welcome by the Media Corporation

Country: United Kingdom

Date of incident: September 25, 2008


Rev Graham P Taylor, author of the best-seller Shadowmancer, sometimes called the new C. S. Lewis, said the BBC does not welcome him anymore because he could be seen as promoting Christianity. Taylor, a parish priest who signed a £3.5 million contract to publish Shadowmancer claims that the relationship with the BBC went well "until they realised that there were religious allegories in my stories".

After the release of Shadowmancer, the Anglican priest Rev. Graham Taylor appeared on several BBC programmes. However, in occasion of his new book he talked about his faith, and was not invited again by the BBC. "They weren't turning me down because I was a bad guest, but because of who I am," says Taylor. His novel Wormwood sold 22,000 copies on one day but the invite never came. "A BBC producer told me 'off the record' that it was a matter of my faith and the fact that I was an Anglican priest. 'We can't be seen to be promoting Jesus'," he explained to The Telegraph.

A BBC spokesman said: "Programme makers make their own editorial decisions about which guests to have on their shows. There is no truth in the claim that there is a BBC ban on Rev. G P Taylor."

Sources:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/2910437/Shadowmancer-author-BBC-banned-me-because-Im-Christian.html
http://www.christian.org.uk/news/christian-bestseller-blacklisted-by-bbc/