Rev (BBC2 Comedy Series) - Mondays - 10:00PM

Missed the first half. Some laugh out loud moments. It feels like the Vicar of Dibly with the tweeness and obvious jokes removed. Instead there's some satire and bite. It's not Father Ted, but it could be one of the better comedies from the BBC in recent years.

The writer is James Woods. No not THAT James Woods!
Directed by Peter Cattaneo (also directed the Full Monty).
The producers have impressive cv's too, see here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/06_june/17/rev10.shtml
 
I caught up with all three shows on iplayer and by the end of it all I just wanted to watch them all again. It's got a bit of the vibe of Outnumbered being really well observed with believable characters, with some low key but brilliant scenes. The bit where the Rev persuades Nigel to do a test run of questions to weed out the hypocrite parents angling for school places was so funny... , when he takes off his dogcollar to shout at the rude workmen. And seeing the way he stood up to the creepy charismatics made me cheer.
 
Well, I have a friend who is a CofE vicar (long story why, I'm more on the Dawkins wing myself) and he thinks it's the funniest thing he has ever seen.

Personally, I think it's a grower. Not rolling on the floor comedy but it's quirky and well observed. Hopefully it will get another series.
 
I thought it listed Tom Hollander as a co-writer at the start? Having checked IMDB this may have been Associate Producer instead.

I didn't expect a great deal at first but it certainly grew on me by the end and certainly made the wife and I laugh several times.

Fantastic cast on the whole, the Bishop is an actor who my wife says "Always gives me the creeps" so that's a good start. Olivia Coleman and Alexander Armstrong are always good value (though AA is a little overused) and I enjoyed seeing Miles Jupp get a bigger part than he did in The Thick of It (I'd thoroughly recommend his Radio 7 show).

I'll certainly tune in again.


(PS - The culprit behind the broken window was bloody obvious though, certainly we had narrowed it down to either the Rev or Colin within minutes and had the right man before it was revealed)
 
Second episode was an improvement on the first. Still nothing great, but a reasonable lightweight comedy. Not going to win anyone any awards though.
 
Whilst I am enjoying this show the final gag reveal is still blindingly obvious, just as in the first episode when you knew that he had broken the window.

When they walked out of the church talking about the club and there was a double decker bus in front of them it was obsolutely clear what was about to happen.
 
It just might. It's funny and not afraid to mention subjects that comedies about vicars tend to steer clear of. Not the just the vicar's wife enjoying role-playing sex games, but the happy-clappy vicar's attitude towards homosexuality.

The weak link is the alcoholic tramp. I'm sure he's straight out of an old Ronnie Barker sketch; he's too lazy a stereotype for modern comedy.
 
Agree. He's really come to attention, with this, his cameo in TTOI and a remarkable performance in 'Gracie' where he was unrecognisable.
 
If we remember that Church Life is a vicious game of malice, with winners and losers, where the Faith is used as a weapon against your opponents, then Rev makes a lot of sense.

Good comedy -- Hollander is excellent (so are all the actors).

Another series? I wonder if it really has potential.
 
Excellent from start to end - even got a bit emotional.

Can anyone tell me the name of the song that the Rev was dancing along to during the Vicars and Tarts party?
 
I love that it doesn't try too hard. It is what it is. The characters are great and really well played; I find it's in a similar vein to Miranda, in that it's not too showy or aiming to be something ground breaking, it's just a nice, jolly, half hour.
 
From memory it had Tom Hollander credited along with someone else as having devised the series, with that same other person (whose name I don't remember) credited as the sole writer. But my memory might be playing tricks on me.

I saw the start and was a little underwhelmed; it seemed very low key. Then I got called away to answer the phone; and ended up coming back only in time to see the last scene where the two of them were sitting on the bench talking about the window and also Richard Dawkins. But I thought that scene was well done, so I'm looking forward to going back and watching it properly now.
 
I think it might be a bit of a slow developer.

Anyone who has much to do with churches would recognise most of the characters. It was a bit less caricatured than the Vicar of Dibley, and the bit where he shouted 'f*** off' at the builders was inspired!
 
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