Rev: Series 1 (2010)

I’ve optimistically titled this post ‘series 1’ because I hope this delightful series does get a second run! If I was a religious man I’d have a voice-over monologue asking God for a second series, á la Tom Hollander’s titular Rev. Adam Smallbone. Rev is one of those sitcoms that has gives you as many thoughtful moments as it does laughs. There’s a top notch cast, including one of my favourites, Olivia Colman, and some great cast stars including Alexander Armstrong and Colin Salmon.

Adam Smallbone is a typically flawed sitcom protagonist: he often suffers crises of faith and conscience; he has an inappropriate crush on his head teacher friend; and he’s battling his London parish’s apathy for religion. He also has an over-amorous congregant, Adoha, an unhelpful ‘deputy’ in Nigel, and the series best supporting characters, Colin and the Archdeacon. Colin treats the vicarage like a café, the church as a hotel and Adam as his best mate, and unfortunately for Adam, Colin is one of his only friends in the parish. The Archdeacon is a sarcastic figure, whose appearances usually cause Adam grief and the audience mirth. He’ll not consume any food and drink prepared for him, always looking distastefully into his coffee cup before swilling the contents down the sink in a small running gag.

The comedy is sometimes quite gentle, but at other times it’s clear why this show is on post-watershed! One episode was written by Beautiful People’s Jonathan Harvey, and naturally this was one of the racier shows. Tom Hollander gives Adam a vulnerable side that makes for quite touching moments. I’m an atheist but even I am touched by Adam’s often futile attempts to get people interested in the church. In his quiet moments, when he speaks to God in voice-over, Hollander really articulates the struggle that he, and presumably the majority of inner-city vicars, faces in reconciling his vocation with 21^st century apathy and entertainment.