Seaside Parish

The Diocese has enjoyed an extended period of publicity for the life of the local Church, since we were asked by the production company Tiger Aspect, in 2003, if we could provide a Parish, or group of parishes which were a typical example of the life of a parish priest in the country. BBC 2 had commissioned a pilot series, in 2002, called Country Parish, and filmed in Hampshire. It had attracted good audiences, and now they needed to feature a new priest.

Tiger Aspect wanted a coastal parish, or group of parishes, preferably in an attractive area. The priest could be male or female, young or old, and the parish needed to be a reasonably accurate reflection of a typical Cornish community. The Company suggested a number of possible locations, and a number of clergy whom they had discovered, very often, through the parish websites. To have television cameras following you - and your family - for every waking hour can be taxing. Clear guidelines had to be established as to what degree of pastoral control the parish priest, or the Bishop, might be allowed, in dealing with sensitive issues. The Bishop felt that some of the clergy who had been suggested might find the continued intrusion of the cameras difficult. The people of the parishes would also need to be consulted, through their Churchwardens. And, ultimately, the priest would have to be happy to have their ministry under the spotlight.

So it was that in early 2003 the first series of Seaside Parish began to be filmed in the Boscastle Group of parishes on the North Coast of Cornwall. The newly appointed priest was the Reverend Christine Musser, only two years into her ministry, having served her curacy at Torpoint. There are seven churches in the Boscastle Group, and the priest serves an area of over 20,000 acres, with a winter population of just over 2,000. In the summer the village and Harbour at Boscastle, set in National Trust coastal land, is a honeypot for visitors, and a popular holiday destination. The smaller parishes also have their attractions, especially St Juliot with its associations with the writer Thomas Hardy. As  Bishop Bill Ind remarked ‘If the viewers don't find the story interesting, they're bound to like the wallpaper!' For the local scenery, a mixture of coastal splendour, winding country lanes and open moorland, is picture postcard Cornwall at its best.

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