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The first episode of The Moral Maze was broadcast live on Radio 4 on 20 August 1990. It was chaired by Michael Buerk and took a serious look at the moral questions behind the news. The programme was framed in the form of a parliamentary select committee, which made for a lively and combative debate.

The regular panellists for the first series were Professor Jennifer Temkin, Lord Brian Morris, Rabbi Hugo Gryn and Edward Pearce, who each week cross-examined a selection of expert witnesses. The success of the programme was such that after its initial six week run it was expanded to fill six months a year.

The panellists reflected view across the political spectrum, with Janet Daly, Roger Scruton and David Starkey among the regulars who could be relied on for forthright expressions of opinion. Buerk refereed, as he explained in a 1993 interview with the Evening Standard:

Too many programmes are predictable. They've got predictable people taking the party line… Our panellists are very full of themselves, and the great thing about radio is that I can make gestures I couldn't on TV, from the open palm, to a violent cutting motion of the throat.

Buerk still chairs The Moral Maze today, with David Aaronovitch standing in from time to time. The programme continues to provide provocative and entertaining talk which is valued by Radio 4 listeners.