Rev’d up

MORE tea vicar? You can bet that it will be another beer and a fag, and not holy water for the Reverend Adam Smallbone.

Since Tom Hollander hit our screens last year as the morally-challenged vicar in Rev, he has won fans over with his praiseworthy performance. And he’s certainly put paid to those rumours that the sitcom would be too similar to The Vicar of Dibley for it to be a hit when it attracted over two million viewers to its freshman episode.

Hollander created the show with James Wood, but where exactly does an idea like this come from? Hollander says it began when he went to the christening of a godchild.

“As we stood at the fount, I remembered the child’s father at university celebrating the fact that he had reduced his mother to tears by proving the non-existence of God. I thought, ‘Here we are 20 years later, and your very sensible wife has realised that the best way of getting a really good free education is a church primary school. This would make a good subject for a sitcom’.”

And so here we are, one and half very successful series and a Bafta award later.

Hollander needs no other proof that he’s on to a good thing.

So what does he think is the success behind the plot? “We all struggle to behave well, but it’s more extreme for vicars because they look sillier when things go wrong,” he says. “Stories about vicars are always being told because they’re at the heart of our society. Vicars touch all parts of the community and see life in all its extremity.

“They meet everyone from people grieving for loved ones to those approaching imminent death to the homeless to youngsters eager to learn about life. They cover all the bases. As a vicar, you’re the one person who can’t say no – your door is always open. So, writing a comedy about a vicar, you can go down pretty much any route. It’s a terrific narrative spur.”

The series has only added to Hollander’s popularity. The actor has appeared in all kinds of telly and film favourites, including Absolutely Fabulous, Cambridge Spies, Gosford Park and Pirates Of The Caribbean, “Your relationships within the business are very important. I read what Jerry Hall said to her daughter about becoming a model: ‘Turn up on time and be nice’.

That’s pretty good advice.”

So, as the second series of Rev continues, Adam’s nose is put out of joint when a new curate comes to train at St Saviour’s.

Abi Johnston (Amanda Hale) is nothing short of brilliant and her arrival soon has the Rev doubting his own abilities as a priest.

CONSIDERING it has been going 30 years it’s a wonder nobody thought to put on a charity gig before Gary Barlow took the plunge last year at the Royal Albert Hall. That was such a big hit he decided to do it all again with Children in Need Rocks Manchester.

Fearne Cotton, Chris Moyles and David Tennant host this year’s bash from the Manchester Evening News Arena, while the concert features performances from Coldplay, Michael Buble, Elbow, JLS, Lady Gaga, Hugh Laurie, James Morrison, Snow Patrol and Ed Sheeran.

Barlow might describe this gig as the “warm up” for Terry’s annual telethon tomorrow, but there’s no doubt this show will pull in plenty of punters who might normally give CIN a wide berth.

DESPITE advances in technology, kids and teens still flock to carnivals.

Yet the people who make the magic happen remain enigmatic and unseen.

The new series, Fairground Attractions, looks at the ancient world of showmen – travelling communities that appear as if by magic on Britain’s doorsteps.

There are more than 4,000 showmen and 200 fairs that set up every week across the UK, but beyond the curtain of bright lights and candyfloss is a hidden world with its own rites, traditions and feuds.

The series follows families who have been in the fairground business for generations and who are fighting for a nomadic lifestyle that is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

In this first episode, we meet the Carter family who run a restored Victorian steam fair. The family matriarch is Anna Carter – a funfair force to be reckoned with.