Episode 1

Handel’s Messiah is the nation’s favourite choral work. It has now been a consistent hit for 275 years, being performed all over the country, year in, year out, since it was put on as an Easter fundraiser at London’s Foundling Hospital in 1750.

Gareth Malone has known, loved and sung Messiah since he was a boy, but this will be his first time conducting a performance. By selecting eight new singers from hundreds of applicants and embarking on seven weeks of intense coaching, he hopes to put on a performance to remember, share his love of singing once again and create yet more fans for this choral classic.

Gareth's eight novice singers will be stretched to their limits by a gruelling rehearsal schedule amid their own personal challenges, which include a breast cancer diagnosis and a recent bereavement. It all builds to a glorious performance alongside the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales and four leading professional soloists at Cardiff’s Llandaff Cathedral.

Interwoven with the singing, the series sees Gareth dig deeper into the history of Messiah, its religious meaning and its place in British culture over many generations. In this episode, he visits Halifax Choral Society, which has performed the work annually for 206 consecutive years, and meets early music expert Dr Hannah French at Handel’s home in London’s Mayfair. He also spends time with Cardiff vicar Father Jarel Robinson-Brown, looking at artworks that help explain the theme of Handel’s Messiah: the life of Christ.

This is a rare television foray into the world of classical music for Gareth – better known for series like The Choir: Military Wives and Boys Don’t Sing – and it follows his series of Easter 2024, when he took on Bach’s St John Passion with the BBC Singers and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Messiah, however, has a deeply personal significance for Gareth, being one of the first pieces of classical music he saw performed and a work his parents and grandmother also loved singing.

Across the pair of documentaries and a two-hour performance, we see Gareth battle to make sure his eight new singers are ready for their big day, and witness how the experience affects them as individuals and as a group. Like the performance of 1750, Gareth’s is a fundraiser, this time for BBC Children in Need.