Channel Four is to broadcast an advertisement for the Alpha course as part of this autumn’s national initiative campaign.

The 60-second commercial will be shown on Wednesday, September 12 at 10.10pm during a break in the American drama ‘Brothers and Sisters’, starring Calista Flockhart.

The advertisement will also appear more than 70 times on digital TV stations E4 and E4+1 during the next two weeks – and on thousands of cinema screens across the country.

The film depicts human life as a conveyor belt from birth to death and includes many wry humorous touches. It is the creation of 24-year-old Alpha supporter Alastair Duckworth.

In addition to the TV and cinema advertising, the commercial will be shown on screens in nearly 400 bars across the UK and on 275 buses in London and Birmingham.

This is the tenth annual national Alpha initiative when posters and other publicity raise the profile of the 10-week course. Awareness of the course has risen to 23 per cent of the British adult population as a result – more than 10 million people.

More than 7,000 churches of all denominations across the UK are taking part in the initiative by holding supper parties and putting up posters.
Other organisations like prisons, schools, universities, clubs and offices will also be taking part.

The campaign is financed by churches, including Holy Trinity Brompton, and a number of charitable trusts.

Holy Trinity is holding its own events to promote the church’s own Alpha course as part of the initiative, including a big launch event starring TV explorer Bear Grylls on Wednesday, September 26 at 7pm. Drinks and ‘nibbles’ will be served at the beginning of the evening.

The event follows the success of a similar occasion last year when nearly 1,000 people heard Nicky Gumbel interview Bear Grylls and his wife Shara. There will also be an initiative prayer meeting in the church on the evening of September 14 as part of the nationwide Alpha prayer initiative in the run-up to the start of the courses.

The Holy Trinity Alpha courses start on Wednesday, October 3 – one in the morning and one in the evening. A student course will also be running throughout the autumn at Tiger Tiger nightclub in the Haymarket.

The advertisement can be seen on alpha.org