Though a respected scholar and university lecturer, Francesca Stavrakopoulou is not your average academic.  She has quickly established herself as a bold and engaging TV presenter following the success of her recent BBC 2 documentary series, Bible’s Buried Secrets – the BBC’s most successful religion series of the past decade. Controversial and provocative (as one episode of Points of View proved), Francesca didn’t shy away from presenting her academic opinions on the fictitious nature of the Bible and its supposed history. While she is a specialist in religion, she is also an atheist unafraid to voice her opinions on sensitive issues. She won rave reviews for her enthusiastic presenting style, and has been hailed as ‘the BBC’s new face of religion’. 

Born in London to an English mother and a Greek father, she considers herself neither really English nor Greek, but a fully-fledged Londoner. From humble beginnings in West London, she won a bursary to study at a prestigious secondary school and then went on to gain a place at Oxford University. There, she completed her BA degree in Theology in 1997, her Masters degree in 1999, and then her doctorate in 2003. She spent three years lecturing at Oxford, before taking up a post at the University of Exeter in 2005.

Francesca first appeared on our screens as a ‘talking head’ in two episodes of Channel 4’s documentary series The Bible: A History, in which she guided Rageh Omaar through the complexities of biblical ideology, and then forcefully challenged Ann Widdecombe’s assumptions about the Bible. She further proved she is unafraid of challenging debate by appearing as a guest panellist alongside Richard Dawkins on BBC 1’s religious and ethical debate show, The Big Questions, hosted by Nicky Campbell.

But she’s not just a geek. Whether it’s presenting complex ideas on TV, writing for national newspapers or appearing on Woman’s Hour on Radio 4, Francesca comes across as warm, intelligent and humorous, cracking jokes alongside John Lloyd, Dave Gorman and Jimmy Carr in Radio 4’s comedy panel show The Museum of Curiosity.  

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