A LANCASTER vicar's wife is to appear on television quizzing Stars in their Eyes host Matthew Kelly about his spiritual beliefs.

TV viewers will see Michelle Guinness, writer, broadcaster and wife of the Rev Peter Guinness, vicar of St Thomas' Lancaster, travel to Galilee with Matthew Kelly for the half-hour TV programme "Paradise Found."

The ITV series, which will be broadcast on February 4, involves well known arts and entertainment personalities exploring their spiritual identities.

"I took Matthew to the Galilee for a week to try and discover the real Jesus," said Michelle, who feels she was chosen to take part because of her Jewish background.

"We talked and we talked and we talked endlessly about the New Testament and the person of Jesus and the impact of his life on our lives today."

The fly on the wall programme mixes film of Michelle and Matthew exploring their ideas of faith in the places where Jesus taught and healed with a video diary of Matthew's reactions to what was happening.

"I thought it was a wonderful opportunity, I loved every minute," said Michelle. "I thought it could be tense and difficult getting someone to talk about their personal life but he was very honest, very charming and very easy to be with and I got a lot from it. I'm not a theologian in any sense and answering some of his questions about suffering and the existence of God made me think I ought to go and study a bit more."

Michelle was enchanted by the atmosphere and presence of Galilee but there were also plenty of tourism, roaring traffic and discos.

"It was a bit like Blackpool," said Michelle, "and there were also moments of wonderful tranquillity - but you had to look for them. Matthew had recently completed a degree in psychology so he felt it was quite a valuable time to explore where he was at."