| Rev. | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | Tom Hollander James Wood |
| Starring | Tom Hollander |
| Theme music composer | Jonathan Whitehead |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Matthew Justice and Simon Wilson (series one) Kenton Allen and Tom Hollander (series two) |
| Producer(s) | Kenton Allen (series one) Hannah Pescod (Series one and two) |
| Running time | 30 minutes approx |
| Production company(s) | Big Talk Productions |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC Two BBC HD |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Rev. is a British television sitcom produced by Big Talk Productions. The show premiered on BBC Two on 28 June 2010.[1] The show's working titles were The City Vicar and Handle With Prayer.[2] The series revolves around a Church of England priest who becomes the vicar of an inner-city London church after leaving a small rural Suffolk parish.
Tom Hollander said,"[w]e wanted to define ourselves in opposition to the cliché of a country vicar, partly because we wanted to depict England as it is now, rather than having a sort of bucolic-y, over the hills and far away, bird-tweeting England – we wanted the complications of the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic inner-city, where everything is much harder."[3]
Contents |
The Reverend Adam Smallbone is an Anglican priest who has recently moved from a small rural parish to the "socially disunited" St Saviour in the Marshes in East London. Unable to turn anyone away from his pastoral care, Smallbone is faced with a collection of moral challenges as he balances the needs of genuine believers, people on the streets, and drug addicts, as well as the demands of social climbers using the church to get their children into the best schools.[4]
Adam has an impossibly difficult job being a modern city vicar. His wife, Alex, who has her own career as a solicitor to worry about, provides fantastic support for him, seeing through his life as a priest, whilst not being involved with his work. He is also supported by lay reader Nigel, who believes he should be running the church. In supervision is Archdeacon Robert, who puts pressure on Adam to increase the congregation and church income.
Parishioners include Colin, a heavy drinking, unemployable lost soul who is Adam's most devoted parishioner, and Adoha, well known for her romantic intentions towards the clergy.
Six episodes were produced for the first series by Big Talk Productions for BBC Two. The show was created by Tom Hollander and James Wood. The church scenes were filmed at St Leonard's in Shoreditch, east London.[7] The BBC2 comedy was renewed by the British Broadcasting Corporation in September 2010 and filming began again in the middle months of 2011, with the second series premiering on 10 November 2011.[8]
| Episode # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "On Your Knees, Forget The Fees"[9] | Peter Cattaneo[9] | James Wood[9] | 28 June 2010[9] | 2.19 Million[10] |
| Adam is overwhelmed after his church sermons in London experience a large increase in attendance. The sudden flood of patrons, which includes the local MP Patrick Yam, is because of a rumoured great Ofsted report on the local church school, with local parents becoming desperate to have their children enrolled. Meanwhile, Adam becomes tempted to trade a place in the school for money to get a stained glass window in the church restored.[9] | |||||
| 2 | "Salvation"[11] | Peter Cattaneo[11] | James Wood[11] | 5 July 2010[11] | 1.59 Million[12] |
| The archdeacon tells Adam that the monetary offering from his church is too small. Needing more generous people, Adam loans priest Darren Betts the church for his sermons since Darren's is undergoing renovations. However, a problem erupts when Darren will not leave after the hard work he put in updating Adam's church. Meanwhile, Alex feels lonely and decides they need to reignite the flame of their love life.[11] | |||||
| 3 | "Revolting"[13] | Peter Cattaneo[13] | James Wood[13] | 12 July 2010[13] | 1.51 Million[14] |
| A Muslim children's prayer group is lent the church by Adam; however, the church's congregation is not supportive. Meanwhile, Adam decides to fight the opening of a lap-dancing club across from the school. He and headmistress Ellie Pattman attend another club for research which leads to an embarrassing meeting with one of Ellie's former pupils. Colin is arrested for assault of a thief stealing lead from the church roof.[13] | |||||
| 4 | "The One Show"[15] | Peter Cattaneo[15] | James Wood[15] | 19 July 2010[15] | 1.32 Million[16] |
| Adam is envious after hearing an old rival of his, who is also a priest, on radio's Thought for the Day. Adam decides to speak on the television programme The One Show. However, after a controversial comment about homosexuality in the Church, the Archdeacon steps in and demands Adam take 'media lessons' from his rival. Meanwhile, Colin decides to seek God in the Rastafari religion.[15] | |||||
| 5 | "Society"[17] | Peter Cattaneo[17] | Jonathan Harvey[17] | 26 July 2010[17] | 1.48 Million[18] |
| Following Adam's recent moments of feeling excluded by people, he is excited to meet Leon, a young man who wants to marry at his church. The two soon become friends and start to do a range of activities together. However, the friendship turns sour after an dinner party where Adam discovers his wife Alex and Leon attended the same college and shared a one night stand together, much to Adam's disgust.[17] | |||||
| 6 | "Is The Answer Jesus, Sir"[20] | Peter Cattaneo[19] | James Wood[19] | 2 August 2010[19] | 1.69 Million[21] |
| Adam's mind is in crisis mode after an online Christian website review of his recent sermon gives it a poor rating, which leads to Adam doubting his faith. A housebound Adam soon succumbs to the pleasures of daytime television and online gambling. Whilst Adam is away, an imposter vicar tries to take over Adam's role to avoid the consequences of paying a parking ticket and buying a beer. Adam's meltdown hits a turn for the worse when he drunkenly flirts with Ellie.[19] | |||||
| Episode # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Judgement Day" | Peter Cattaneo[22] | James Wood[22] | 10 November 2011 | 2.29 Million |
| When Adam inadvertly foils the mugging of Adoha's handbag by a teenager he becomes a hero as the "Kung Fu kicker vicar" and he is pleased with the attention from his wife, the arch deacon and his congregation. Adam decides the children from Ellie's school need a trip to the seaside. When Adoha gets Adam shortlisted for a "Pride of Britain" award guilt crosses his mind as the award ceremony approaches and a talk with the Bishop of London makes up his mind to turn down the award and there is still the planned seaside trip. Stars Ralph Fiennes. | |||||
| 2 | Peter Cattaneo[23] | James Wood[23] | 17 November 2011 | 1.63 Million | |
| Alex feels threatened by Abi Johnston, a talented young curate, who comes to train under Adam at St Saviour's until she realises that she and Adam can spend the weekend together. Spying on Abi taking a service Adam begins to doubt his own abilities as a priest until Colin who has been shooting ecstasy eating squirrels in the churchyard decides to cheer Adam up with his own special home brew. | |||||
| 3 | Peter Cattaneo[24] | James Wood[24] | 24 November 2011 | 1.37 Million | |
| Adam is plagued with nightmares, compounded by his difficult seven year old goddaughter, Enid, whom he and Alex are looking after. Enid's bad behaviour lead both to have misgivings about having a child of their own. A house blessing for an elderly resident of a care home is mistaken for an exorcism. A toilet for the church is thwarted by English Heritage. Stars Sylvia Syms. | |||||
| 4 | Peter Cattaneo | James Wood | 1 December 2011 | 1.24 Million | |
| Adam is worried that the church school will fail its religious inspection and this puts him into conflict with Ellie, whose new teacher Mr Feld, is an atheist whom Adam frets is undermining the school's Christian ethos. He has gone so far as to give a school assembly on Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene. The same teacher is a good footballer who turns out for the Catholics in an inter-denominational five-a-side tournament that the Archdeacon has arranged. Adam is struggling to find players for his Anglican side that includes Alex, Nigel, and Mick - but not Colin, who has become a Buddhist. | |||||
| 5 | Peter Cattaneo | Fintan Ryan | 8 December 2011 | 1.24 Million | |
| Mick has given up crack cocaine and to help him Adam allows him to stay at the vicarage much to Alex's dismay and her plans to conceive a child involving sex with Adam at all times of the day. Nigel is concerned about balancing the church's finances before the Archdeacon's audit and a desperate Adam steals £150 from an investment banker who is another drug addict. Stars Richard E. Grant | |||||
| 6 | Peter Cattaneo | James Wood | 15 December 2011 | 1.62 Million | |
| Advancement in the Church of England is a devious business for Nigel who wants to be a priest and Archdeacon Robert a Bishop. Adam's marriage to Alex is in doubt when she takes a weekend walking holiday in Shropshire with friends because church business is taking all of Adam's time. Stars James Purefoy and Sylvia Syms. | |||||
| 7 | "Christmas Special" | Peter Cattaneo | James Wood and Sam Bain | 20 December 2011 | 1.53 Million |
| Alex's father staying, the pressures of Advent, cooking breakfast for the homeless, playing Father Christmas for Ellie's schoolchildren, the extra services, and dealing with a drunken violent Colin take their toll on Adam culminating in a disastrous Midnight Mass with a church congregation boosted by revellers from the local pubs and clubs. Christmas Day and Alex tells Adam she is pregnant and lunch at the church, a pastiche of The Last Supper, is a focal point for reconcilliation. Stars Geoffrey Palmer. | |||||
The series was commended by The Independent as intelligent comedy, with Hollander "as good as ever" and a strong support cast.[25]
In 2011, Rev. won the South Bank Award for best comedy[26] and was nominated for the Royal Television Society Programme Awards for best scripted comedy and best comedy performance (Hollander).[27] The series also won best sitcom at the 2011 British Academy Television Awards.[28]