Jesus of Nazareth is a 6:16 hour British television miniseries of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus based on the accounts given in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The movie was produced by Lew Grade through his ITC Entertainment company, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, and written by Zeffirelli, Anthony Burgess and Suso Cecchi d'Amico, after Zeffirelli was approached by Pope Paul VI to make a film about Christ.

Jesus of Nazareth premiered in 1977 on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday and continues to be broadcast every Easter and Christmas on the History Channel.

For its fifth airing on US television at Easter 1987, TV Guide called it "the best miniseries of all time" and "unparalleled television.".

Newsweek writer Harry F. Waters remarked that:

Rev. Patrick Sullivan of the U.S. Catholic Conference ("New Look at Jesus," April 4, 1977) was quoted as saying:

A review in Variety read:

The miniseries received two Emmy nominations, neither of which it won. The big winner that year was the miniseries Holocaust.

Franco Zeffirelli considered both Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino for the part of Jesus and Robert Powell (I) to play Judas.

Yorgo Voyagis, who plays Joseph (Mary's husband), can be seen speaking in English, but his voice is dubbed by an uncredited actor. Voyagis' real voice can be heard in the Diane Keaton film Little Drummer Girl, The (1984). Franco Zeffirelli also used this technique with a few of the actors in his film version of Romeo and Juliet (1968/I).

Banned in Egypt after religious leaders objected to its content.

Rarely during the movie do any of the actors portraying Jesus blink their eyes. Director 'Franco Zeffirelli' decided on this as a means of creating a subconscious visual mystique about the character that not only differentiated him from all other characters, and is eerily effective. The boy Jesus in the Temple blinks twice in the Temple, and the adult Jesus blinks only once on film.

The eye makeup for 'Robert Powell (I)' consisted of a thin line of dark blue eyeliner on the upper lid of the eye, and a thin line of white eyeliner on the lower lid. This had the effect of highlighting the piercing blue of the actor's eyes, thus giving him a penetrating stare, when combined with very little blinking, made the character appear surreal and supernatural.

'Peter OToole (I) was cast as Judas, but had to back out of the project due to illness.