Touched By An Angel Inspiration Collection

The Touched By An Angel Inspiration Collection by Paramount Home Video; $14.99 each) brings sixteen of the shows episodes on four discs. For nine seasons fans of the drama series Touched by an Angel found messages of faith, love and belief in oneself and those around them.

“A decade of our lives was spent on the set,” said Ms. Roma Downey from her home. “It was a long time, particularly in a profession that does not allow one to park in long term parking. The show was not just a great professional experience, but it was something that touched our lives and the lives of the viewers.”

Created by John Masisum and produced by Martha Williamson, the CBS show ran from September 1994 through April of 2003 airing in countries around the world. The show featured Monica (Roma Downey), Tess (Della Reese) and Andrew (John Dye) as angels sent down from heaven tasked with helping people who have reached crossroads in their lives.

The show was particularly poignant to Ms. Romney as she has a deep spirituality that comes from her Irish Catholic roots, however she most appreciated the shows secular tone.

“I grew up in Northern Ireland,” Ms. Downey said. “And I was grateful that the show did not take a strongly religious point of view. As angels we worked for God, all Gods.”
What makes the show endearing to this day, almost seven years after it went off the air, is that the angels carried with them not answers, but messages of hope.

“The show is an enduring gift that touched the lives of people,” Ms. Downey said. “It says, in our bible, that we are to have Faith, Hope and Love, and who would I be to argue with that. I live a life of gratitude for the abundance of love that I have and that Touched by An Angel still has an impact that fans are still accessing.”

Paramount Home Video has just released a new series of Touched by an Angel DVDs. Four separate disks entitled Faith, Hope, Love and Holidays each feature four TBAA episodes that fit that title.

“Each show was special and the guest stars each brought their own energy,” said Ms. Downey. “We all said that there are no coincidences and that synchronicity can work. We found guest starts that lives were mirrored in those roles. You always knew that was grace in action. Some that I remember especially were Wynona Judd who was thrilling to work with (Psalm 151) and John Ritter, who was a beautiful spirits and we were all sad to see him go so soon.

“But working with him is a marvelous memory; He had us in fits of laughter in-between takes.”

The show created deep relationships amongst the ensemble cast and Ms. Downey and Ms. Reese maintain a close weekly relationship. Ms. Reese was also the officiate at Ms. Downey’s April 2007 marriage to television producer Mark Burnett.

When asked about her most memorable episode Ms. Downey referenced Netherlands, found on the “Hope” DVD.

“Netherlands was especially challenging and moving because it was about Monica’s temptation and inspired the atrocities of world terrorism,” said Ms. Downy. “As Andrew, the angel of death, is walking into the tall building, Monica realizes that the building is going down and she suffers this grief and confusion and questions why God would give her a human heart; How could God let this happen? Where was God when this happened? Eventually Monica is brought back to a place of amazing grace. But it was an emotionally challenging episode for me.”

The Paramount Home Video Touched By An Angel Inspirational DVDs include new episode introductions by Executive Producer by Martha Williamson.

Each DVD features four episodes: Love features Tough Love guest starring Phylicia Rashad, Reunion, guest starring Natalie Cole and Maya Angelou, Thief of Hearts starring Patti LuPone and At the End of the Aisle guest starring Wynona Judd.

The Hope DVD episodes include Psalm 151 starring Yonna Judd and Celine Dion, Netherlands, Black Like Monica starring John Ritter and My Dinner With Andrew.

The Faith episodes are Fighting The Good Fight with Muhammad Ali, For Such a Time As This starring Joe Spano, Famouse Last Words and The Good Earth with Valerie Bertinelli.

The final collection, Holiday features Fear Not with Randy Travis, The Feather, An Angel On The Roof and It Came Upon A Midnight Clear. The Holiday DVD includes inspirational special features accessed by inserting the disc into our computer’s DVD drive making it a special tradition for your families future holiday celebrations.