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Sacred Wonders is a new three-part documentary for 成人论坛 One. It's a round the world trip to see what people do for their faith at some of the most important religious sites on the planet.

How did the idea for Sacred Wonders come about?

The idea really started from a 成人论坛 Science programme called Earth’s Natural Wonders. The series looked at how people live and survive in natural wonders, like Mount Everest and the Amazon, which are as beautiful as they are dangerous.  The question was, could we take the same approach with places of worship?

The answer was: not exactly.

There’s rarely a fight for survival in places of worship, but what we did see was that for many people, their religious beliefs can seem every bit as real and vital to them as, say, the danger of crossing a crevasse on Mount Everest.  

The human stories behind the wonders

We wanted to make this series different to other religious programmes out there.

Many religious programmes focus primarily on grand architecture, or acts of worship. We knew that with a primetime slot on 成人论坛 One that an hour of Gothic columns and carvings wasn’t going to cut it. That’s why Sacred Wonders is about human stories and how faith drives individuals to do amazing things.

One of my favourite places we went to was the Great Mosque of Djenné, in Mali. It’s made of mud, and the walls dry out and crack in the heat of the African sun. So the whole town comes together every year to re-plaster the walls. It’s a collective effort, faith brings people together to look after something that’s important to all of them. It’s fascinating to see.

It’s even more inspiring given this is happening at a time of conflict in the region. In fact, we had to leave early because terrorists groups had found out we were filming there - we were very prominent, a full crew using drones to capture the site tends to bring attention. Quite a few sacred wonders are in troubled parts of the world, but we felt that the ones we filmed were worth the effort. Especially that so many of our stories showed that there’s far more that unites people across the world than divides us.

Advice for upcoming producers

TV is actually my second career. I started out as a lab scientist, but it wasn’t for me. I wanted to work on more than just one narrow field for long periods of time.

My first role in TV was as a researcher for How 2 - it was exactly what I’d hoped for. I was working on different, fun projects. Eventually, I moved onto directing. One of my first jobs was a documentary for 成人论坛 Scotland about the history of Christianity in Scotland, so I’ve had a very varied career.

I think the main thing for people who want to become producers is, grow a passion for the subject matter, and find the story within it. Almost everything becomes more interesting the more you find out about it. Everything has a story, you just need to find the right way to tell it. People forget that story is at the heart of all TV, even documentaries, so don’t neglect the story.

I feel lucky to have been on Sacred Wonders, because it’s the kind of series I dreamed about making when I started in TV. I knew there would be good stories to tell.  It wasn’t easy, though. There was a huge amount of research and negotiation that went into getting everything we needed lined up, so that we could tell those stories in the best way.

Watch Sacred Wonders on 成人论坛 One and 成人论坛 iPlayer at 9pm from Wednesday 7 August.