The drama, shown over four evenings at prime-time, was written by Frank Deasy and starred James Mawle as Jesus.

Canon Mervyn Roberts of St Chad's Church, Bishop's Tachbrook said: "Here was a Passion without the "over the top" blood, sweat and tears of Mel Gibson's epic and I thought it was more enlightening and revealing.

"Frank Deasy created characters from the gospel narratives that stood out from the pages. His writing certainly challenged me to view the events of Jesus' death from the perspective of his detractors, something I found particularly helpful. Caiaphas the high priest was outstandingly characterised and his take on the unfolding drama was one of the highlights for me.

"The setting was superb and the stifling atmosphere of the city and temple in 1st century Judea was well portrayed."

Doreen Mills, reader at St Mary's Collegiate Church, Warwick, said there were some details which grated with her, in particular the siting of the tomb at Calvary rather than in the garden of Gethsemane.

She said: "Having said that, there were many 'pictures' that rang very true. Here we were presented with no reverent band of devout disciples but a puzzled, argumentative and frightened group of idealistic young men. We met a Jesus who truly agonised over his calling and a Judas who, with divided loyalties, was weak rather than evil.

"But, perhaps for me the accolade goes to the handling of the character of Caiaphas. Not a bad man, he was represented as a leader who initially, in all honesty, acted as he thought best when he believed he was faced with a weapon of national destruction.

"However, seeing all contrary viewpoints as a challenge to his authority, the issue became a power struggle that he was determined to win at all costs. Sounds familiar?"

Ruth Smith, secretary of Churches Together in Leamington was pleased by the decision to schedule the drama at peak times.

She said: "I found the beginning quite confusing as we cut from Jesus and the disciples to Caiaphas and back before the characters were established, but I appreciated the way the characters were portrayed as recognisable people."

Peter Burns, pastor at Warwick Baptist Church thought the series was "a successful attempt" to portray the true story of Easter.

He explained: "I have some minor criticism relating to some of the scenes, not least the lack of excitement among the disciples when the risen Lord Jesus appeared in their midst, but on the whole the narrative remained loyal to the Bible and most of the events were true to life."

"The question I would like to pose now is 'what are we to do about it?'

"After the bravery of the BBC to take up prime-time TV schedules with such a dramatic story, are we going to constrict it as an interesting but irrelevant piece of drama, or realise that this is a true story about a real man who came back from the dead?"