May 23, 2014, by Lindsay Brooke
University chaplain on BBC’s ‘Barely Legal Drivers’.
Take to the road on Monday night with University Chaplain Revd John Bentham. He’ll be appearing on the BBC Three series ‘Barely Legal Drivers‘ – the programme that films young drivers behind the wheel of the family car while they are totally unaware that their every move is being filmed by hidden cameras and watched by their parents.
How did John get involved?
The BBC wanted to film at the Malt Cross Cafe Bar in St James St, just off Market Square in Nottingham home to Nottingham’s Street Pastors and run by a coalition of churches. John is one of the trustees and when they asked him for an interview he was happy to help: “I said yes because I think it raised good issues about responsible drinking.”
‘Barely Legal Drivers’
John appears in episode three of series two on Monday evening BBC Three at 10pm.
In south London, 18-year-old Renaldo has just started his first year at uni and has thrown himself into the nightlife. But his mum Nadine raised him as a strict Christian and Skypes and phones to ensure he is getting himself to church. Renaldo is pulled in two directions. Little does he know that his mum is about to see how he deals with temptation, first-hand.
John was filmed in conversation with Renaldo – a student from East London, studying at Loughborough university – about University life, drinking as a Christian, and his mother who is a Pentecostal pastor trying to get him to church on Sunday mornings when he has been clubbing.
Monday night’s programme
The Venue
The Malt Cross is a vibrant Christian Charity and Café-Bar in the heart of Nottingham which aims to support and serve the people of Nottingham through the charitable outreach work of Street Pastors, Safe Space and historic preservation. The much-loved café bar is a place where relationships and community are built as we host a diverse and vibrant programme of Arts, Events, Artistic Communities and Live Music.
John is Area Dean for Nottingham West and Anglican Chaplain to the University of Nottingham. He was also one of the originators of the Soul Survivor Youth Festival, has been a committee member of Greenbelt Arts Festival and is a keen advocate for ‘Fresh Expressions/ Mission Shaped Church’ in the Church of England.
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