Category: Radio 4
Date: 30.12.2005
Printable version
Broadcaster and former Conservative MP Michael Portillo is to join the panel of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ 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.
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The Moral Maze has been presented by Michael Buerk since the series began in 1990.
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Michael Portillo will be a regular panellist alongside Professor Steven Rose, Melanie Phillips, Claire Fox, Clifford Longley and Ian Hargreaves.
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Portillo brings a wide range of political and broadcasting experience to his new role.
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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 ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ TWO and This Week on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ ONE with Andrew Neil and Diane Abbott MP.
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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.
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"We look forward to him bringing that to bear on the issues of the week."
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The Moral Maze, which is produced by ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Religion and Ethics, recently broadcast its 400th edition and is always live.
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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.
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It is always provocative and combative, even if it concludes that there are no definitive answers in the maze that is morality.
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Notes to Editors
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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.
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The Moral Maze has a dedicated message board for those listeners who want to carry on the debate after the broadcast has finished.
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It can be accessed via www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/religion/moralmaze
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