‘I have always struggled with the religious side of Christianity and I think I still do to quite a large extent. I find church often quite daunting and people smiling too much. That has always put me off faith.

‘Alpha was a real relief to find that actually the baby is a hell of a lot better than the bath water and actually faith isn’t smiling and polite. It’s very raw and very painful sometimes but very forgiving. I think what I hungered after in my life was to be held and to be forgiven and to be understood and I think that is what I found on Alpha.

‘I found that you didn’t have to be together, you didn’t have to be sorted, you didn’t have to be perfect. It was OK if you swore or needed a cigarette suddenly.’

Of the advert, Bear said ‘I think they have done it in a really clever way. It says you can stuff as many things you like in to this gaping hole we all have but we all need something more…

‘That is a strong message when we live in this world that sees other stuff as everything.

Alpha is a way for people to explore what we really hunger after – which is meaning and intimacy and relationship.’