small screen Christ and crystallinity

Christ and crystallinity

It was GK Chesterton, my dears, who noted that when people stop believing in God, they don't just believe in nothing, but on the contrary, they believe in anything at all. Desperately Seeking Something (Mon 8pm C4) is a new series about the flourishing of "alternative" religions. And who better to present it than Travelog man Pete McCarthy, who was educated by monks and Christian brothers? "I've taken on the role of Everyman," says Pete amiably. "I'm like lots of people who have given up religion and never replaced it with anything else." So off he went this summer meeting pagans, Odinists, colour therapists and, er, people who believe that Jesus came from Venus. Pete's intention was not to humiliate, however: "A lot of the things that sounded completely barking gave me an intense sense of well-being." He says that shooting the series has definitely opened his eyes: "I now believe, for example, that there are people with what you might call clairvoyant powers."