Everyman

A growing number of people in Britain are coming to believe in the power of the supernatural, their convictions strengthened by the extraordinary experience of being taken over, as they claim, by the Holy Spirit. They speak in unknown tongues, they experience ecstatic states, they enter trance, and they fall unconscious. Unlike most claims of supernatural activity, these phenomena have a long, respectable Christian history, and can be witnessed - and filmed - by non-believers. This film reports on the return of the supernatural to British religion, and on the latest scientific experiments designed to reproduce states of religious trance.

Can severely mentally handicapped children have normal lives? And at what cost to those supporting them? The recent debate over the Arthur case concentrated on the moment of decision faced by doctors and parents, but what is life like for-and with-the mentally handicapped as they grow up? In this film Everyman tells the story of one mongol child -Kathy Chalcraft - now aged 17, of her parents' struggle to bring her up within the family, and of the difficult decision they face as she approaches school leaving age: should they give up their present jobs and spend the rest of their lives caring for her? Or should they find an alternative home for her to live in? Filmed over a period of six months last year, the programme records the conflicts and pressures that build up as the Chalcrafts make their choice.

Is there life after death or is death the end? This is a report on a group of people who believe they know the answer to that universal question. These people believe they have seen beyond death and affirm that there is heaven and reunion with loved ones on the other side. People who make these claims are not cranks or religious freaks and they are growing in number. They are of all ages, backgrounds and cultures. The one thing they have in common is that they have had a close brush with death and recovered, either spontaneously or through advanced medical techniques before death became irreversible. Not everyone is convinced by their claims. This Everyman film offers a chance to weigh the evidence as presented by believers and sceptics as they consider the mystery of death.

'The most politically potent show ever staged in South Africa. That's how The Observer's correspondent described Woza Albert !, a new work devised by two black actors which has been playing to packed houses in South Africa, both black and white. So far it has escaped censorship, and if that continues it opens in Los Angeles and then London later this year. The play is very funny and also very moving The story-line is Itrikingly original: what would happen if Jesus chose South Africa for his' Second Coming? At first, the authorities are flattered by his choice; but when he starts to denounce injustice, he is dealt with accordingly. All the parts, including the Prime Minister, are played by the two actors: to denote a white man, they stick ping-pong balls on then-noses. In the explosive final scene, th. Moolah raises African liberathe Messiah raises African liberation heroes from their graves.

Work is not only a principal means ;-of income, it also organises our time, gives us status and a sense of worth. Our attitude to work has been formed largely by the Protestant religion of the reformation: the moral basis of capitalism; also the impetus behind socialism and the development of Trades Unions. Today, in our secular society, it is a hangover from Protestantism that causes us to equate work with worth, and that condemns the unemployed to feelings of guilt and shame. Against a background of rising and possibly permanent unemployment, this film asks whether it is time to scrap the old work ethic. Are there different ways of valuing people other than through work and income? Can work, income and leisure be fairly distributed? Or are we doomed to develop an unstable two-tier society of the working and the workless?

In seven weeks' time Pope John Paul II will arrive in Great Britain, on the first visit to these islands by a reigning Pontiff. It is a great symbolic event, but it is not just a symbol, an institution, that is coming: it is also a man. KAROL wojTYLA has, in the three-and-a-half years of his Papacy, become probably the most famous man on the planet. Few Popes, if any, have made such a strong public impact; few have given rise to such conflicting emotions. What sort of man is he? And where is he taking the Roman Catholic Church? The answers are rooted in his life, so in this film Peter France (above) presents a complete film record of Karol Wajtyla's 62 years-from Wadowice to the Vatican. He travels to Rome and Poland to trace the connection between the life and the Papacy. And he talks to some of Pope John Paul II's leading supporters and critics.