It's a grey morning in Manchester and Russell T Davies is enjoying a quick fag break while the production crew stop for coffee. 'I 
bloody hate filming,' he says, far too happily for a man who expects to be taken seriously. 'I come on set every day, and I'm glad 
I do. I might make one suggestion a day, or add two words to a speech, but I'm glad I was here. But apart from that, I bloody hate 
it.' 
  The set is a sixth-form college in Sa1ford, although today it's masquerading as a police station. And while he may pass himself 
off as a prettY affable sort of chap, there's clearly something of the devil in Mr Davies. It wasn't so long ago that he was raising 
holy hell at the Daily Mail with scenes of homosexual sin and debauchery in 'Queer As Folk'. Shortly afterwards he was upsetting devout gays 
everywhere with 'Bob & Rose', his tale of a gay man who suddenly falls in love with a woman. Now he's really upping the ante. In Davies' 
latest TV drama, the Son of God returns to earth in the shape of Steven Baxter , an ordinarynorthem lad who works in a video shop in Sa1ford. 
Predictably, Steven's mates takea bit of convincing that he is, infact, theMessiah. And just as predictably, some people will take an awful 
lot of convincing that 'The Second Coming' isn't the biggest affront to the Christian faith since 'The Life of Brian'. 
  'It's a total mind-fuck, isn't it?' Davies chuckles, puffing away. 'Imagine you woke up tomorrow and it's all real - God, religion, the Devil, 
Heaven, Hell. Imagine! You'd die!' Luckily, Steven Baxter is made of stronger stuff. When the thunderbolt strikes, he disappears for 40 days and 
40 nights, and is found wandering the Yorkshire Moors. Returning to Salford, he immediately sets about spreading the word of God and persuading 
his friends that he hasn't completely lost his marbles. 
The greatest resistance comes, understandably, from Judith. Friends since childhood, she and Steven have been in love with one another for 
years. Now, 
just as they're finally about to get it together, off he goes performing miracles and stirring up a media circus that threatens to destroy what 
little intimacy they had. 
  It may be the greatest story ever told, but it's also a pretty tall tale to tell convincingly. This may explain why it's taken Davies three years to 
get 'The Second Coming' into production, and why Channel 4 pulled the plug on the project even after the success of 'Queer As Folk'. ' Anew head of 
drama came in and told me I was going to look stupid,' Davies says. Still, C4's loss is ITV's gain. Produced by the same people as both 'Queer As Folk' 
and 'Bob & Rose', 'The Second Coming' has all the qualities you expect from a Russell T Davies drama. The writing is warm and witty, the characters 
well drawn and totally rounded. 
  Visually, too, it's a different story entirely. 'There's no glossy clubs,' Davies explains. 'It's all backstreet pubs, wastelands and grey, gritty 
urban worlds. These are ordinary Salford people, and it was important that the look of the thing reflected that.' 
  When it came to casting the role of Steven Baxter, Davies didn't have to look very far. 'Christopher Eccleston was the automatic choice,'he says,
stubbing out his cigarette. 'Who else do you get? I mean, he scares me. Actually, he's not as intense as he looks. But he's just compelling. He's 
bigger than a normal human being. I know that sounds like a wanky press release sort of thing to say, but it's true. He's got that salt-of-the-earth, 
normal Salford lad quality. But he's also got this incredible presence; Let's face it, it was either him or Kevin Webster!' 
Sitting across the room, quietly munching on an apple, the actor who just put Kevin Webster out of a job explains what first attracted him to the 
role. 'Well, it's work, isn't it?' Eccleston says, instantly proving that he isn't nearly as intense as he looks. 'Nobody ever says that, but it's 
work. Plus it's somebody writing about big issues, which is rare, especially now. Somebody writing about love and faith and responsibility and the 
things that matter. And not a vet in sight!' Even so, he says he found it hard at first, getting into the character. ' 'Cos it does feel like a 
big responsibility. But then I just concentrated on the script, 'cos it's all therefor you. I discovered that the most important thing I had to do 
was convince people that I was Steven Baxter, ordinary fella - whatever that means. 'Cos whatever is divine about Steven is linked to his 
ordinariness, in a way. What's extraordinary about him is just how ordinary he is. There's a deep love for humanity in Russell, and that comes 
through in the writing.' 
  Still, he's conscious of the fact that some people might take offence. 'I'm not religious myself,' Eccleston admits. 'So I don't know what baggage 
I would bring to it if I were. But I would hope that people watch it with an open mind. I always remember as a kid, when "Life of Brian" came out, 
there was a discussion programme on and Palin and Cleese were on it. And they said, if you have real faith, something like this shouldn't shake 
it. That's a good answer, I think.' 
  Playing opposite Eccleston as Judith is Lesley Sharp, who worked with Davies on 'Bob & Rose' and clearly wasn't put off by the experience.'Not at 
all,' she says, laughing. 'Quite the reverse. I love working with Russell. He has a tremendous facility for telling stories that makes you lean 
forward, makes you want to turn the page, makes you want to find out what happens at the end But what's more important to me as an actress is that 
he's not afraid to go places with characters, or have characters who are completely three- dimensional. People are sly and greedy and lazy, as well 
as being warm and generous and funny .' 
  Like Eccleston, she's aware that pointing to the quality of the writing is no guarantee against criticism. 'There will be controversy about it,' she 
says. 'Some people will be very upset. Some people will be very dismissive and take offence. But at the end of the day, it's not real. It's just a 
story. It's a television drama.' 
  So far, it's a television drama where everything has gone incredibly smoothly. No wonder Davies looks so happy. By lunchtime, well over half of the 
day's scenes have been shot. 
Yesterday, the crew were all ready to wrap by llam. Rarely for a production on this scale, nota single scene has had to be cut. Some people might 
choose to see that as a sign.