Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Rev.-- a Good TV Comedy About Religion

Yesterday evening I bought the second series of Rev., a BBC comedy series about a Church of England vicar in the inner city of London. It's very different from Father Ted and from the Vicar of Dibley (I haven't actually watched more than a scene here and there of the latter show, but I think I know all I need to know from having seen those). This is a comedy that actually takes faith seriously-- although the Christianity of the central character is about as modernized and liberalized as it could possibly be. Still, we do hear him praying, see him struggling with his faith, and watch him striving to live by the Gospels, in his own way.

The show is carefully researched and it takes a sympathetic but honest look at the state of the Church of England, and of the English attitude to religion in general. Of course, this can be pretty depressing. The inner city church around which it is set usually has a congregation of less than ten.

It's also consistently funny and well-crafted, with strong characters and storylines and dialogue. I definitely recommend it and I might write more about it in the near future.

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