The Big Questions
Format
Format
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The format is loosely based on BBC One's political discussion show, *[Question Time](/wiki/Question_Time_%28TV_series%29 "Question Time (TV series)")*, though it also contains elements that are more familiar to daytime chat shows. In the first four series, each show featured four panellists from a range of different religious and ethical perspectives, as well as a number of contributors from the live studio audience. In Series 5, the panel was dropped, and the debates took place entirely within the audience, which still featured a number of contributors. The programme was axed by the BBC in 2021\.

Each week, panel and audience debate three ethical, moral or religious topics which featured in the week's news.

| Series | Episodes | Transmission dates | Notes |
| 1 | 24 | 9 September 2007 – 6 April 2008 |  |
| 2 | 41 | 28 December 2008 – 22 November 2009 |  |
| 3 | 24 | 3 January 2010 – 4 July 2010 |  |
| 4 | 20 | 9 January 2011 – 19 June 2011 |  |
| 5 | 20 | 8 January 2012 – 25 November 2012 |  |
| 6 | 22 | 3 January 2013 – 23 June 2013 |  |
| 7 | 21 | 5 January 2014 – 15 June 2014 |  |
| 8 | 20 | 11 January 2015 – 14 June 2015 |  |
| 9 | 20 | 10 January 2016 – 12 June 2016 |  |
| 10 | 20 | 8 January 2017 – 11 June 2017 |  |
| 11 | 19 | 7 January 2018 – 10 June 2018 | 250 episodes as of 3 June 2018 |
|
| 12 | 10 | 6 January 2019 – 10 March 2019 |  |
| 13 | 10 | 2 February 2020 \- 5 April 2020 |  |
| 14 | 10 | 17 January 2021 \- 21 March 2021 |

What are some alternative formats that might have been used instead of The Big Questions?