Great British Faith: across Cardiff's communities

Faith in the city: Hardeep Singh Kohli (right) meets Sheikh Said Hassan Ismail (centre) and Daoud Salaman (left), chairman of the South Wales Islamic Centre

Hardeep Singh Kohli visits Cardiff to see how people of different faiths and cultures shaped the city's identity in a new series for BBC Radio Two.

Butetown is his first port of call in the city's docklands, a melting pot of nationalities since the 19th Century.

"The impact faith groups had in Cardiff is there for all to see", said Hardeep, who found people celebrating each other's festivals.

The Great British Faith is on BBC Radio 2 on Monday 13 December at 2200 GMT.

"Cardiff was the perfect place to start my journey and it has left a lasting legacy that I carried with me," said Hardeep.

"The impact of faith communities was there in the very bricks and mortar of the city, the DNA of the place.

"And even though Cardiff has changed so much that influence is still very real."

While Cardiff Bay is now home to the Wales Millennium Centre, the National Assembly of Wales and new apartments, the local population still reflects the area's dockland history as the gateway for hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world.

Cardiff's docklands have attracted people of many cultures

To find out more about the faith make up of the city, Hardeep visits the Dock Mosque, home to Yemeni Muslims who have been part of the multicultural make up of Cardiff for decades.

He travels to St Mary the Virgin Anglican church, home to worshippers from miles around which includes Shirley Bassey on its baptismal register.

Congregations at both places of worship talk about how different races in Butetown would celebrate each other's holy days such as Christmas and Eid.

Hardeep ends his visit by attending a service at the City Temple evangelical Christian church, and wonders whether this vibrant form of Christianity is the future of worship.

"The impact faith groups had in Cardiff is there for all to see," he says.

"You can visit them, touch them and that's why Cardiff was such an exciting place to start searching for the Great British Faith."

In subsequent programmes Hardeep visits Glasgow and Leicester before reflecting on what he's learnt about culture and faith in the UK through the lens of these three cities.

The Great British Faith begins on BBC Radio 2 on Monday 13 December 2010 at 2200 GMT - more about the series