A former performing arts student at the University of Bedfordshire is the star of BBC 1's four-part drama The Passion being broadcast over Easter.

Oxford-born Joseph Mawle studied a two-year HND course at the university, starting in 1995, and is now wowing critics with his performance as Jesus Christ in the big budget production which started on Sunday.

It retells the last week of Jesus's life, examining the viewpoints of the religious authorities, the Romans and Jesus himself, and culminating on Easter Sunday with the Resurrection.

After finishing his course, Mawle worked for a theatre company in London before winning a scholarship to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2002.

His big break came a year later when he got the starring role in Troilus and Cressida at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol.

Offers then started flooding in, and he has appeared in TV dramas Soundproof, Silent Witness, Dalziel And Pascoe, Persuasion, The Secret Life Of Mrs Beeton, Holby Blue, Foyle's War and Clapham Junction before taking on his latest role.

The 34-year-old is next set to appear in Italian film Lezione 21 about a student who takes a trip through the Italian Alps after being inspired by a professor's lecture on Beethoven's Ode to Joy from his Ninth Symphony. It also stars John Hurt and Noah Taylor.

Helen Bailey, co-acting head of the department of performing arts and English, said: "I am very proud of the way Joe's career has developed, and the staff within the department are all enjoying his latest performance.

"I taught Joe and remember him as an enthusiastic and talented young performer. I am very pleased the university gave him the foundations for a wonderful career."

The university now offers the HND Mawle studied as a foundation degree in performance and production (applied theatre) at Bedford College.

The university has also recently launched a pioneering new theatre course where students set up and run their own touring companies.

The BA (Hons) in contemporary theatre practice, which starts in September, allows students to perform in full-scale productions and gain work experience.

For further information about courses at the University of Bedfordshire visit www.beds.ac.uk/courses/ or call 01234 793279.