The Second Coming (TV)
| The Second Coming | |
|---|---|
The opening titles of The Second Coming
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| Genre | Drama Supernatural |
| Written by | Russell T Davies |
| Directed by | Adrian Shergold |
| Starring |
Christopher Eccleston Lesley Sharp Mark Benton Kenny Doughty |
| Composer(s) | Murray Gold |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 2 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Nicola Shindler Russell T Davies |
| Producer(s) | Ann Harrison-Baxter |
| Editor(s) | Tony Cranstoun |
| Running time | 145 min. |
| Production company(s) | Red Production Company |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Original release | 9 February – 10 February 2003 |
| External links | |
| www |
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The Second Coming is a two-part British television drama first screened on ITV in the United Kingdom in February 2003. It concerns the realisation of humble video store worker Steve Baxter (played by Christopher Eccleston) that he is in fact the Son of God, and has just a few days to find the human race's Third Testament and thus avert the Apocalypse.
It was written by Russell T Davies (later head writer of the 2005 series of Doctor Who), and produced by the independent Red Production Company. The programme was originally commissioned as four one-hour episodes by Channel 4 in 1999; however, when new executives took over running the drama department at that channel, they decided not to pursue the project. Davies and Red's founder Nicola Shindler took the project to the BBC, who quickly turned it down; it found a home on ITV, a channel that had gained a reputation for producing mainstream, unchallenging, "middle-of-the-road" drama in recent years.
Screened over two successive evenings in prime time on Sunday and Monday, 9–10 February 2003, The Second Coming gained viewing figures of over six million. Davies, who is an atheist, has said his intention was to provoke debate and get people thinking about religion.
Steven Baxter, a good-hearted but slightly awkward video shop worker from Manchester, disappears for forty days and forty nights after a drunken night out with his friends to celebrate his best friend Judy's divorce, during which he shared a kiss with her. He is found wandering Saddleworth Moor, and he claims to be the second coming of Jesus. At first he is met with scepticism, and is even locked up. One of the few people who believes him is a young Catholic priest, who mentions an obscure Christian text that mentions that the lamb will be sent to the city of the North, followed by a series of numbers that turned out to be map co-ordinates. The recent death of the Pope is also seen as a sign. Steve escapes and, after one final night out before starting his duties, decides to indicate he is really the son of God to humanity by turning night into day over the small area of the football stadium at Maine Road (he lets people know about it by advertising on the internet). The feat attracts the attention of the world's media. Steve then announces he must find the third testament within five days. He states that humanity needs to start taking responsibility for their actions, and that everyone, regardless of their religion or origin, needs to begin again and forget past conflicts. He also says that Christians should not boast about being right, then reveals that currently Heaven is empty, while Hell is bursting at the seams. There is much hysteria and panic; particularly when The Devil and several demons possess people (only indicated by silver eyes) to cause trouble. Satan takes possession of a man named Johnny Tyler that Judy met through a dating agency. He eventually reveals to Judy he wants Steve to fail and fall into despair, so that after Armageddon God will judge Steve's actions as a human and send him to hell, and they can rule together. In a deleted scene, it is revealed Satan also wants God to return to being the merciless, angry God of the Old Testament.
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