''Rev.'' is a British television

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

produced by

Big Talk Productions Big Talk Studios Limited is a British film and television production company founded by Nira Park in 1994. Big Talk was acquired by ITV Studios in 2013. Film Filmography Released Upcoming Critical reception Commercial performance TV ...

. Written by actor

Tom Hollander Thomas Anthony Hollander (; born 25 August 1967) is a British actor. He trained with National Youth Theatre and won the Ian Charleson Award in 1992 for his performance as Witwoud in ''The Way of the World''. He made his Broadway debut in the ...

and James Wood, the show premiered on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

on 28 June 2010 and ended on 28 April 2014. The show's working titles were ''The City Vicar'' and ''Handle with Prayer''. The series revolves around a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

priest, played by Hollander, who becomes the

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of an inner-city London church after leaving a small rural

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

parish. Hollander said: "We 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."

Plot

Reverend The Reverend (abbreviated as The Revd, The Rev'd or The Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. There are sometimes differen ...

Adam Smallbone is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest who has moved from a small rural parish to the "socially disunited" St Saviour in the Marshes in Hackney,

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. Unwilling to turn anyone away from his pastoral care, he is faced with a series 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. Adam has a difficult job as a modern city vicar. His wife Alex, who has her own career as a solicitor to worry about, supports him through his life as a priest, while not being engaged with his work. He is also supported by

lay reader In Anglicanism, a licensed lay minister (LLM) or lay reader (in some jurisdictions simply reader) is a person authorised by a bishop to lead certain Church service, services of worship (or parts of the service), to preach and to carry out pastoral ...

Nigel, who believes he should be running the church. In supervision is

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

Robert, who puts pressure on Adam to increase the congregation, and church's income. Parishioners include Colin, a heavy drinking, unemployable lost soul who is Adam's most devoted parishioner; Adoha, known for her romantic intentions towards the clergy; Mick, who is homeless and appears on Adam's doorstep in different situations asking for money; and Ellie, the head teacher of the church's associated school.

Future

Interviewed in April 2014, Tom Hollander said that he did not know whether there would be a fourth series, and that after the third series "we all want to just pause". He added that "The idea of not doing it any more is sad but also quite attractive, because you wouldn't want for it to ever get worse."

Cast and characters

Main

as Adam Smallbone *

Olivia Colman Sarah Caroline Sinclair ( Colman; born 30 January 1974), known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Award ...

as Alexandra (Alex) Smallbone *

Steve Evets Steve Evets (born Steven Murphy; 26 July 1959) is an English actor and musician, who found fame for his leading role in the 2009 film ''Looking for Eric''. Personal life Born in Salford, Lancashire, Evets joined the Merchant Navy after leavin ...

as Colin Lambert *

Miles Jupp Miles Hugh Barrett Jupp (born 8 September 1979) is an English actor and comedian. He began his career as a stand-up comedian before playing the role of the inventor Archie in the children's television series ''Balamory''. He also played John Dugg ...

as Nigel McCall *

Ellen Thomas Ellen Thomas (born January 24, 1947) is an American peace activist. She first became involved with the White House Peace Vigil on April 13, 1984. The daughter of a US Marine, Thomas was born in Brooklyn and grew up in California. She became oppo ...

as Adoha Onyeka * Lucy Liemann as Ellie Pattman *

Simon McBurney Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatre and opera director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Complicité, Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films ''The Manch ...

as Archdeacon Robert

Recurring

Hugh Bonneville Hugh Richard Bonniwell Williams (born 10 November 1963), known professionally as Hugh Bonneville, is an English actor. He is best known for portraying Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the ITV historical drama series ''Downton Abbey'' from ...

as Roland Wise (Series 1-3) *

Jimmy Akingbola James Olatokunbo Akingbola () (born 7 April 1978) is a Nigerian-British television, theatre and film actor. He rose to fame playing PC Neil Parker in '' Holby Blue'', and subsequently Antoine Malick in its parent series ''Holby City''. He has su ...

as Mick (Series 1–3) *

Ben Willbond Benjamin Thomas Willbond (born 18 January 1973) is an English actor and screenwriter best known as a member of the British Them There collective, for which he has written and starred in productions including ''Horrible Histories'', '' Yonderland ...

as Steve Warwick (Series 1–3) *

Sylvia Syms Sylvia May Laura Syms (6 January 1934 – 27 January 2023) was an English stage and screen actress. Her best-known film roles include '' My Teenage Daughter'' (1956), '' Woman in a Dressing Gown'' (1957), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA ...

as Joan (Series 2) *

Ralph Fiennes Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ralph Fiennes, various accolades, including a British Academy Film ...

as Bishop of London (Series 2-3) *

Vicki Pepperdine Vicki Pepperdine (born 24 July 1961) is an English comedy actress and writer. She was nominated for two BAFTA TV Awards for co-writing the BBC sitcom '' Getting On'' (2009–12), and was also nominated for a British Comedy Award for her portra ...

as Geri Tennison (Series 3) *

Joanna Scanlan Joanna Marion Scanlan (born 27 October 1961) is a British actress and writer. On television, she is known for her roles in ''The Thick of It'' (2005–2012), ''Big School'' (2013–2014), ''Puppy Love'' (2014), '' No Offence'' (2015–2018), ...

as Jill Mallory (Series 3)

Production

Six episodes were produced for the first series by

for BBC Two. The show was created by Tom Hollander and James Wood. The church scenes were filmed at St Leonard's in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north ...

east London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. The BBC Two comedy was renewed by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in September 2010 and filming began again in the middle of 2011, with the second series of seven episodes premiering in November 2011. In August 2012, the show was renewed for a third series of six episodes, which aired in 2014.

Richard Coles Richard Keith Robert Coles (born 26 March 1962) is an English writer, radio presenter and Church of England priest. He first came to prominence as the multi-instrumentalist who partnered Jimmy Somerville in the 1980s band the Communards. They ...

, a Church of England priest and former member of the pop group

the Communards The Communards were a British synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985. They consisted of Scottish singer Jimmy Somerville and English musician Richard Coles. They are best known for their cover versions of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes fe ...

, was one of several priests, including Rev'ds Kevin Sculley, Matthew Catterick, Philip North, Melanie Toogood and Andrew Wickens who advised the show's writers. Coles has been cited as an inspiration for the Adam Smallbone character.

Episodes

Series overview

Series 1 (2010)

Series 2 (2011)

Series 3 (2014)

The six episodes of Series 3 commenced filming on 31 October 2013 and premiered on 24 March 2014.

Reception

The series was commended by ''The Independent'' as intelligent comedy, with Hollander "as good as ever" and a strong support cast. In 2011, ''Rev.'' won the

South Bank Award The Sky Arts Awards (formerly The South Bank Show Awards and The South Bank Sky Arts Awards) are an accolade recognising British and Irish achievements in the arts. The awards have been given annually since 1997. They originated with the long- ...

for Best Comedy and was nominated for the

Royal Television Society Programme Awards The Royal Television Society Programme Awards, (often referred to as the RTS Awards) seek to recognise programmes or individuals who have made a positive and material contribution to their genre: either because their content or originality in for ...

for Best Scripted Comedy and Best Comedy Performance (Hollander). At the

2011 British Academy Television Awards The 2011 British Academy Television Awards were held on 22 May 2011. The nominations were announced on 26 April. Graham Norton hosted the ceremony. Nominations Winners are listed first and emboldened. Programmes with multiple nominat ...

, the series won Best Sitcom, with Hollander also nominated for Best Male Comedy Performance. Both were nominated again in the same categories the following year, without winning. At the

2015 British Academy Television Awards The 61st British Academy Television Awards nominations were announced on 8 April 2015. Winners and nominees Winners are listed first and emboldened. Programmes with multiple nominations Most major wins In Memoriam *Dona ...

, Hollander and Colman were nominated for Best Male Comedy Performance and Best Female Comedy Performance respectively.

Home releases

The complete first series was released on DVD by

2 Entertain 2 Entertain Video Limited, trading as BBC Studios Home Entertainment, is a British video and music publisher founded in 2004 following the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International by BBC Worldwide and the Woolworths Group respe ...

on 21 November 2011. The second series was released on 19 November 2012. A boxset containing the first two series was also released. The third series was released on 5 May 2014, a week after transmission of the final episode. A boxset containing the first three series was also released.

References

External links

* * * * {{BAFTA TV Award for Best Situation Comedy 2000–2019 2010 British television series debuts 2014 British television series endings 2010s British sitcoms BAFTA winners (television series) BBC television sitcoms British English-language television shows Religious comedy television series Television shows set in London Television series by Big Talk Productions Television series about Christian religious leaders