Over the next few days, television will do its duty and broadcast its annual tranche of religious programming to mark Easter weekend.

But what's surprising this year, considering how reluctant television has sometimes been to cover religious subjects, is how good some of the programmes are.

Take David Suchet's documentary about Saint Peter, which will be broadcast on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I've seen the first episode and it's a fine piece of detective work about Jesus' closest confidant; it's also great to see Suchet dig around for clues to Peter's life, like Poirot without the moustaches.

His first port of call is the village of Bethsaida, to the north of the Sea of Galilee, where all that remains of the place that Peter might have called home is a series of ruined walls and scrubby earth. Suchet meets an archaeologist who has uncovered clues, remnants, little pieces of the life that Peter and his contemporaries might have lived. Peter was a fisherman of course so what they've mostly found are little weights for the nets and needles to mend them. They've also found bones among the stones - this could be all that is left of the men and women who knew Peter.

It's a fascinating documentary, but what's even more interesting is what it signals. David Suchet uncovering the story of Jesus's right-hand man makes for a good programme, but it's further evidence of the beginnings of a revival in religious programming - a rebirth that no one expected.

The rebirth has been partly led by Tony Jordan, who used to write EastEnders but now concentrates on religious dramas. A few years ago, he did a version of the nativity for the BBC and earlier this week, his retelling of the story of Noah and the Ark was broadcast on BBC1. Jordan has also said he plans to pitch another six prime-time Biblical dramas to the BBC.

In Hollywood, the film industry has also been showing a revival of interest in the Bible and religion as a source of stories. Last year there was Noah starring Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott's Exodus, and Morgan Freeman is in Italy right now making a new version of Ben Hur, the famous story of a Jewish slave who meets Jesus.

You may not have much respect for the merits of those movies, and I would probably agree with you, but combined with more high-profile religious programming here and in the States, it does indicate a trend towards more films and TV programmes exploring religion or re-telling the stories of the Bible, usually with a modern aesthetic. As part of a broad range of programming, it is a healthy way to go.

It does not mean, however, that religion on television is in completely good shape. The BBC has just axed the post of commissioning editor for religious programmes and while they are not alone in taking this kind of attitude - there are now no dedicated religious correspondents on any major newspaper -it is a great pity when the headlines from magazine offices in Paris or museums in Tunisia prove how central religious belief still is in the world and in our lives.

The new religious dramas are a good sign that commissioning editors are being more open-minded about religious stories. But it is not enough. Factual programmes too need to see religion less as a ghetto and more as a place where all of us - religious, agnostic and atheist - live from time to time. David Suchet's documentary is a good start, but it is just that: a start.