A CLERGYMAN from Dorchester is to appear in a new TV series on the history of Christianity.

The Rev Harold Stephens, team rector of the benefice of Dorchester, was interviewed for the show by political heavyweight Ann Widdecombe MP.

The pair’s discussions focused on Dorchester during the church’s more puritanical days in the 1600s and the Rev John White, who founded Massachusetts in the US.

Mr Stephens said he was apprehensive before meeting Miss Widdecombe but found her to be an engaging interviewer.

He added: “There are going to be four programmes in all about the history of Christianity.

“The section I’m going to be in is about the puritanical period of the church, which was quite strong in Dorchester in the 1600s.

“A lot of the discussion was about one of my predecessors, the Rev John White, who founded colonies in the New World.

“It was a very conformist period, with lots of struggles against alcohol and vice, but there were also a lot of positives with the opening of new schools. It was a very engaging topic to discuss.”

Television crews spent the best part of a day in Dorchester with Mr Stephens and Miss Widdecombe, known for her membership of Conservative Christian Fellowship and a strident advocate of family values.

She is a Roman Catholic, famously converting from the Church of England in 1993 after it allowed the ordination of female priests.

Mr Stephens said: “She split with the church over its decision to allow women into the clergy.

“I thought that there may have been some unease but she was a very engaging person to talk to.

“She’s a very forceful lady – very small but with a very firm voice – but she also asked me a lot of incisive questions.

“We were filming for about an hour and a half but I don’t know what’s going to be in the show.

“I was told my section would last for most of that episode but it could be anything from 10 seconds to several minutes.”

The series is due to air on Channel 4 at the end of themonth.