Never on a Sunday Trivia Quiz

Answer: Life of Brian

In addition to being perhaps the most daring Monty Python film, 'Life of Brian' is arguably the cream of their creativity. The film follows the life of an average everyday chap who goes by the name of, you guessed it, Brian; his compatriots mistake him to be the Messiah, a fact which doesn't go down well with his mother, Mandy (Terry Jones in drag). Jones gets to utter one of the most famous lines from the film, "he's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy", not long after he catches Brian naked with a woman.

Not all of the female characters are played by the Pythons in drag, the humorously named Judith Iscariot was played by Sue Jones-Davies who, in later life, became mayor of the Welsh town of Aberystwyth. It was a long held notion, though likely to be an urban myth, that 'Life of Brian' was banned in Aberystwyth for over three decades; who better than Sue Jones-Davies to make sure the folks of mid-Wales get to enjoy Monty Python at their best!

Answer: The Passion of the Christ

Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' gives a blow-by-blow account of the build up to and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, though whether or not the painful detail is historically accurate has been brought up for debate by religious scholars. The much missed film critic, Roger Ebert, wrote an outstanding review of 'The Passion of the Christ' and within it he said that, "this is the most violent film I have ever seen". This wasn't necessarily a criticism, just a statement of personal truth made by a man who had seen a ridiculous number of movies; some of the most extreme slasher films notwithstanding, there surely can't be many films more violent than this?

On a lighter note, upon typing 'The Passion of the Christ' into Google, Autocomplete suggests 'The Passion of the Christ 2'; it seems as though one graphic crucifixion isn't enough for some people! Further inspection led me to 'Family Guy', a programme that has drummed up more than its fair share of controversy.

Answer: True Blood

'True Blood' is one of the better modern treatments of vampires and their relevant folklore. The programme was based around the daily life of half-fairy, half-human, Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin); a life that started off somewhat serenely but soon developed into supernatural chaos.

She became infatuated with a vampire named Bill (Stephen Moyer) and was consequently introduced to a nocturnal world of blood, sex and politics. As the show's seasons progressed, more and more supernatural and mythological creatures were introduced such as werewolves, shifters and maenads. With so many different species all vying for supremacy, many vampires put their faith in the Vampire Bible, a book which contradicted the Christian account of creation.

The Vampire Bible describes how God created Lilith in addition to Adam and Eve, a fact that led to vampire fundamentalists inferring that as God made Adam, Eve and Lilith in His own image, God must be vampire!

Answer: South Park

'South Park' is one of the most egalitarian programmes ever created; gay people, black people, Canadians, the Chinese, women, white males, overweight people, Americans, Germans, nerds, Jews, the Japanese, Christians and the middle-aged are all treated satirically (there are many more groups that I've neglected to mention - I don't have the space to be as egalitarian as 'South Park'!).

Despite Kenny, Cartman and the rest of the crew being used to laugh at various differences as outlined above, many Catholic organisations took exception to the show's use of the Virgin Mary in the episode 'Bloody Mary'.

The Catholic League wasn't impressed and urged the show's creators to come up with a sincere apology for their lurid output whilst the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops believed the programme exhibited "extreme insensitivity".

It probably didn't help the show's case that the 'Bloody Mary' episode was originally broadcast on the night before the Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

Answer: Tom Hanks

As a non-religious person, I am not best placed to judge whether or not 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Angels & Demons' offended Catholics by its religious content; what I can gather is that many Catholics were offended more by how trashy the films were! I happen to enjoy the films as a bit of light entertainment that's not to be taken too seriously; when you compare these films to the previous productions that starred Tom Hanks, such as 'Philadelphia' and 'Saving Private Ryan', it becomes clear where these Dan Brown adaptations are in the pecking order.

The revisionist treatment of the role of Mary Magdalene stirred up most of the controversy surrounding 'The Da Vinci Code', whilst 'Angels & Demons' featured a mentally unstable camerlengo played by Ewan McGregor.

Answer: Family Guy

'Family Guy', whilst being a perfectly fine programme in its own right, was something of a poor relation to 'South Park'. Just as controversial but not quite as fluent, 'Family Guy' had a tough start on FOX; fan loyalty resulted in the show, which was cancelled in 2002, being brought back to life in 2005 on Adult Swim.

A sizeable number of 'Family Guy' episodes, a programme that was set in the fictional Quahog, have been noted by Christian groups as being insulting towards people of faith; an episode called 'Road to the Multiverse' explicitly showed Christianity to have a negative effect on human existence - the universe that never experienced Christianity was a peaceful and more scientifically advanced place. The Parents Television Council had this to say about the show, "mockery of God is a constant". Christianity was not the sole butt of the show's jokes though, critics from 'Entertainment Weekly' have suggested that 'Family Guy' has a tendency toward anti-Semitism. The main proponent of this statement was Ken Tucker, a man who never liked the show and who distinguished it as the worst television programme of 2000!

Answer: Dogma

Whilst 'Dogma' can be said to be ostensibly anti-religious, the movie could be seen as being friendly to Christianity despite gently ribbing the religion; after all, the two fallen angels played by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck really were angels and God is revealed to be a reality. One of the early scenes in the film shows how one of the fallen angels, Loki (Damon), effortlessly talks a nun out of her faith; despite sounding "off", this scene, and many others like it, was tastefully done (the Golgothan seeks to contradict me, however!). 'Dogma' may not be on the top of the list of films to watch on Sunday for the religiously inclined, but I am sure it can be enjoyed by everybody from Monday to Saturday!

Answer: Martin Scorsese

In 1951, the Greek writer, Nikos Kazantzakis, published one of his most controversial offerings, 'The Last Temptation of Christ'. In this book, Jesus was a "mere" man and religious themes became intertwined with the philosophies of Nietzsche. The Church of Greece didn't like his literary offering and neither did the Roman Catholic Church, the latter rather quickly placing Kazantzakis' work on to the List of Prohibited Books (Latin: Index Librorum Prohibitorum). A few decades later, who should come along and want to make a film on a book that has been prohibited by the Vatican but Martin Scorsese. Many things get lost in translation from book to movie, but the fundamental basis of Kazantzakis' work, that Jesus was mortal and not divine, was carried through to the big screen.

Prior to the release of 'The Last Temptation of Christ' in 1988, the film had already riled, enthralled and dissatisfied a wide variety of people; from Scorsese's point of view, that of a capitalist filmmaker, "there is no such thing as bad publicity" and so the film quickly became "one to watch".

Answer: Jerry Springer's

'Jerry Springer: The Opera' was a British musical that ran for nearly two years in theatres across the city of Springer's birth, London. As you can imagine for a musical based on the trashy television output that is 'The Jerry Springer Show', there is a lot of profanity; in fact, there is so much profanity that the names of a great number of the tunes cannot be replicated here! Despite much controversy, the show did well; once the show's run in London had come to an end in early 2005, 'Jerry Springer: The Opera' toured the United Kingdom throughout 2006.

Just before 'Jerry Springer: The Opera' completed its run in London, the BBC decided to air a television version of the musical. This decision prompted over 45,000 people to complain and some religious groups, such as 'Christian Voice', to protest.

Answer: Stigmata

There isn't really much good to be said of Rupert Wainwright's 'Stigmata' and that is true from both religious and non-religious perspectives. Wainwright hadn't really directed anything of note prior to the release of 'Stigmata' in 1999 and didn't capitalise on what turned out to be his best known work thereafter.

If Patricia Arquette is the star of a film, then it is one that is best avoided; that said, some of us really do like to watch bad films as it makes the good ones so much better. Arquette plays a hairdresser who happens to be an atheist, not a particularly enthralling background but we'll roll with it. Her life runs along nicely until all of a sudden, she starts exhibiting signs consistent with a diagnosis of stigmata. Naturally, the Vatican sends one of their guys to visit Arquette's character to see if Pittsburgh has itself a brand new atheist stigmatic! A film such as 'Stigmata' would not be complete without there being a villainous Catholic official and on this occasion, Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce took up the role. I have no idea what Pryce was doing in such a poor film, having previously featured in the likes of 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen' (1988), 'Glengarry Glen Ross' (1992) and 'Evita' (1996), but everybody makes mistakes!