MASS, holy water, and relics all played a central part - and, wonderfully, the presenter did not dismiss these aspects of Christian devotion as dangerous superstition. BBC4's Medieval Lives: Birth, marriage, death (Wednesdays) is one of that new wave of TV documentaries that treat our faith as something worthy of at least respect.

Helen Castor was an admirable guide to how pregnancy and childbirth were approached in the Middle Ages, and from the start she emphasised the centrality of the Church. She drew on contemporary, personal experience as well as academic experts. We heard from the midwife, now a parish priest in the Church in Wales, who had delivered her own children; the interview (as did much of the programme) took place in church.

As the programme developed, a fascinating split became apparent. All medicine, and all surviving medical literature, was in the hands of clerics. But men were debarred from the birthing chamber, in which a pregnant woman was confined for weeks before the expected birth, attended only by her own sex. The writings were theoretical and speculative - but much of their mistaken attitude was no doubt ignored by those who actually assisted at delivery.

The inextricable interlocking of theology and science, of faith and practice, and the sense that the next world mattered far more than this one, were presented with sensitivity and wit. It was a delightful programme.

Since the Enlightenment, we have been adept at separating different aspects of human life and endeavour, with success in the development of, for example, science and technology, but with unfortunate results in personal splitting and atomisation. Good examples of this were on display in Masters Of Sex (Channel 4, Tuesday of last week), a dramatisation of the story of the groundbreaking report by Dr William Masters and Virginia Johnson on human sexual response.

Masters was a brilliant gynaecologist, assisting women to conceive and yet unable to have a child with his wife. Courageous in his determination to discover how the mechanics of human sexual behaviour work, he was extraordinarily naïve about sexual matters.

Johnson was experienced in, and comfortable with sex - yet closed to the inextricable connection that most people discover between sex and relationships: it is not just a physical process, but has profound emotional consequences. This was a brilliantly presented drama that raised serious issues sensitively.

Combining a contemporary throwback to pre-medieval attitudes to women with a glorious vindication of how individual fe- males can overturn their characterisation as the weaker sex, Panorama presented Malala: Shot for going to school (BBC1, Monday of last week). A year since the Taliban sought to silence her campaign against their violent suppression of girls' education, this delightful young woman of faith gave a remarkable interview, expressing her longing for universal access to school for all women.

Let us hope that hers is the future voice of Pakistan, of Islam - indeed, of all religion.