Since Rowan Williams stepped down this afternoon from the hardest job in the Church of England (or maybe not, parish life is just a microcosm of the Anglican Communion tbh), Twitter has been awash with suggestions of who will succeed him.
It was suggested that rather than the Crown Nominations Commission we could have a Bishops Got Talent show, with possible candidates competing for the post. This leads to the fun possibility of theme weeks:
- Sermon week
- Sitting through tedious civic occasions looking interested week
- Dealing with the media week (including a round of ‘explaining the basics of the Christian faith to most reporters and especially sub-editors’)
- Eyebrow styling week
- Mitre modelling week
It also led to speculation about who could be on the panel. They must obviously conform to the required stereotypes of benign expert/stroppy upstart/foxy chick/joker. First suggestions (who do not necessarily have to be alive or real) include:
- St John
- Archdeacon Robert (from Rev)
- Ellie (the Headteacher from Rev)
- Adrian Plass.
I’d love to hear your ideas for possible rounds and those you have for alternative panel members.
The Vicar's Wife 
One of the later weeks would have to be dealing with royals. Can they handle a wedding without loosing several billion tv viewers? Do a coronation without dropping the crown?
There’s also the question of who the presenter(s) would be. Media experience and church knowledge: Bishop’s son Hugh Dennis? Only Connect player / ex-Communard Rev Richard Coles? Or for a neutral non-Anglican angle, Sister Wendy? (Maybe she would be best suited for the follow up programme on the lines of Strictly: It Takes 2 / Apprentice You’re Fired on BBC 4.)
What about a round for writing to a 6year old?
I’d like to see the Bishop who could match this!
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.archbishopofcanterbury.org%2Farticles.php%2F2389%2Fthe-archbishop-writes-to-lulu-aged-6-about-god&h=BAQF48l5F
A friend of mine has just pointed out we’ve got to involve Cliff Richard somehow. Perhaps he could write the signature tune?
What about ‘Universalist Challenge’?…