Season 12: Ep3 | Murray Watts: Bringing Scripture to Stage and Screen

2026-01-20

Watch or listen to award-winning playwright and screenwriter, Murray Watts being interviewed by seasoned journalist, Lorna Dueck. In this episode, they discuss faith and how raw human emotion gives voice to our struggle and need for God. And how the role of creativity and creative people is an expression of feeling part of the body of Christ, and is key in bringing emotion, humanness, and the love of God into the church.In this episode, Murray and Lorna discussMurray’s life as an award-winning p...

In this episode, Murray and Lorna discuss

Murray’s life as an award-winning playwright, whose life’s work brings Scripture to the stage and screen.
His play, The Beloved Son, inspired by writer Henry Nouwen’s longing for affirmation and divine identity.
How the arts help people sense the vast and personal love of God—even those unsure that they believe.
Why Christians need the arts to become fully human, not merely more religious.
How plays and films allow us to grieve, hope, and tell the truth we struggle to voice in church.
How Scripture invites believers to feel God’s love, not merely understand it intellectually.
How Biblical wisdom affirms play, creativity, and joy as part of faithful living.

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Read the transcript: https://biblesociety.ca/transcript-scripture-untangled-s12-ep3

Murray Watts is best known as a playwright and screenwriter. His work as a writer in TV, radio, film and theatre has won awards and received critical acclaim.

He is the writer of many screenplays which include The Dream, starring Jeremy Irons (BBC 2) and the feature film The Miracle Maker (BBC/S4C/ICON), which was released to international acclaim in 2000 and was ABC network’s highest rated movie for Easter 2000/1. He was the screenwriter for KJB – The Book That Changed the World (1A PRODUCTIONS/DISCOVERY CHANNEL/BBC SCOTLAND). KJB was awarded the Movie Guide Epiphany Prize for the most inspirational Programme on US TV in 2011.

He has also written and directed many plays over the last 40 years, including the award-winning The Fatherland for Bush Theatre in 1989 (which he later adapted as The Monday Play for BBC Radio 4). The King’s Head Theatre in London staged a season of four of his plays throughout January 2012, including Mr. Darwin’s Tree. Mr. Darwin’s Tree was originally commissioned to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and was premiered in Westminster Abbey. The play has been performed in many countries, including China, South Korea, and throughout the US.

He is currently the screenwriter for several feature films in development, including Power and Glory, a film about Michael Faraday.

Murray Watts is the founder and director of The Wayfarer Trust, an international arts charity offering support and encouragement to people in the world of arts and media (www.wayfarertrust.org). He lives at Freswick Castle in the far north of Scotland, which is a haven for visiting artists from around the world (www.freswickcastle.com)

Website: https://www.murraywatts.co.uk/