His documentaries for both the BBC and Channel 4 have caused debate among the religious community, instigated policy change and won national and international awards.
Beckford was born to Jamaican parents in Northampton, in the East Midlands of England, and was raised in an African-Caribbean diaspora church.
[2] He states that his "white, middle-class" religious education teacher "turned me on in a big way to RE and sowed the seeds to think critically about religion and culture", while his maths tutor introduced him to theo-politics and activism of Malcolm X.
[2] Professionally, Beckford is an activist scholar, working in both higher education and social justice campaigns in the UK and abroad.
He has spent his career in academia, beginning in 1999 as a research fellow at Birmingham University, then becoming a lecturer in African Diaspora Religions & Cultures.
In 2003, Beckford presented a BBC 4 television documentary on the Britain's first dedicated colonial museum in Bristol, UK.
In 2005, presented a Channel 4 documentary calculating the financial reparations owed to the English speaking Caribbean for its role in the trans-Atlantic chattel slave trade.
In his first film for Discovery USA, Beckford goes below the surface of modern Jerusalem in search of evidence of Biblical narratives (2008).
As part of this Channel 4 series in 2009, Beckford explores the hidden multicultural themes and issues in the Dark Ages.
In this 2014 BBC2 special, Beckford explores the diverse religious traditions of Brazil and how they are all represented in the famous Rio Carnival.
In this 2020 research film Beckford considers the Church's response to serious youth violence Britain and the impact of government austerity.
In this 2021 film about the church and slavery, Beckford explores how British Christians legitimated the slave trade, gained from it and how in the present they can atone for this crime.
Story of the Jamaican Maroons (colonial freedom fighters) and the implications for contemporary resistance in Britain and Jamaica.