Tom Hollander

Fans of Father Ted and The Vicar of Dibley might recoil from the relatively gritty realism of this new six-part ecclesiastical sitcom. Tom Hollander stars as the Reverend Adam Smallbone, a country vicar who takes over an inner-city parish and finds himself tested by a very modern set of moral dilemmas. In episode one, it's the miracle of a good Ofsted report that fills his church with parents of little faith but a genuine fervour to get their children into the church school. When someone throws a bottle through the stained glass window causing £30,000 worth of damage, the Rev has a range of fund-raising ideas from a bring-and-buy sale to sitting on the church roof until someone pays for him to come down. "I think you might be up there for some considerable time," opines Simon McBurney's iPhone-equipped archdeacon. The Rev's best bet is a spot of horse trading with the local MP (Alexander Armstrong), which could bring in the cash in return for a school place for the politician's son. But ought a vicar to be a little more high-minded in how he goes about God's restoration work? Hollander previously donned clergyman's robes in 2005 to play Jane Austen's obsequious Mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice, but he's much more of a baffled everyman here. The script could use a little of Austen's light touch, though. Do vicar's wives really talk about "bashing the bishop"?

A new sitcom about an inner-city London vicar may not sound promising, but Rev is laugh-out-loud funny. At its heart lies Adam Smallbone (Tom Hollander), whose congregation is suddenly swelled by the "on your knees, avoid the fees" brigade when rumours spread that the church school is about to get a glowing Ofsted report. Both an exploration of British hypocrisy and a warmly played character piece with some terrific lines. With Olivia Colman and Alexander Armstrong.

Rev: a realistic and very funny new comedy from BBC Two

Olly Grant talks to Tom Hollander, who stars as a vicar in Rev - a new BBC comedy that is the antidote to The Vicar of Dibley.

Olivia Colman: Vicar's wife in Tom Hollander's Rev

Olivia Colman explains was like on the set of Rev, how she hopes the show will be received and why comparisons to the Vicar Of Dibley are wide of the mark.

Interview with the stars of Rev

Interviews with Tom Hollander, Olivia Colman, Steve Evets and Ellen Thomas.

Interview: Tom Hollander

Tom Hollander sings the praises of new 'priest-com' Rev and explains why playing a vicar was the answer to his prayers.

Anyone who watched the first two episodes of this three-part comedy may well be hooked by now, not least because it contains the funniest comic performances in years. Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern are perfectly cast as the decent couple struggling to cope in a media world gone mad. Tom Hollander's turn as their friend the agent has a childlike innocence and vulnerability that make him immensely likeable, even as the obscene petulance spews out of his mouth.

The problem I have is that I don't really feel anything for these characters - and I certainly don't feel sorry for them. I just can't empathise with people who bump into Richard E. Grant and Alan Yentob - both of whom cameo here - in their daily lives, and have, as I said before, the most utterly beautiful house.

I also can't believe that they couldn't just pull a few strings with their numerous contacts and get a job instantly, if they really tried.

And then there's the problem that it's not really very funny - I didn't laugh out loud once. I know you're less inclined to do that when watching on your own, as I was, but I didn't even come out of it desperate to see the next episode. The only spark, I'm afraid, came from Elizabeth's agent and Matthew's best friend, Leon. Played by Tom Hollander, he's the archetypal media monster - strutting around the office wearing a headset and ridiculous braces - and yet somehow he's hugely likable. I think this is probably because, in a rather dull and bland world, at least he brings something different. There's nothing terrible about this comedy, I'll admit, but the problem is that there's nothing particularly special about it, either.

Freezing is directed by Simon Curtis, who in real life is married to the American actress Elizabeth McGovern. In Freezing, she plays an American actress called Elizabeth, who is married instead to Matt, a publisher who has recently been let go by the publishing house he works for. And, despite being fictional, Matt, played by Hugh Bonneville, is on speaking terms with various of Elizabeth's celebrity colleagues.

Wood's script is mostly built around career disappointment, with Matt haplessly trying to crank up some alternative career and McGovern falling prey to the lethally short life-span of the female screen career. Her agent, played by Tom Hollander as a caricature of vulgar rapacity, wanted her to fill in a quiet patch with a cameo on Holby City, where she had a chance to play a woman allergic to horsehair. But McGovern was holding out for a part in Vincent Gallo's next movie, a sexual road trip, which triggered a certain anxiety in Matt about the director's notorious commitment to authenticity in performance. At which point, it struck me that Elizabeth McGovern would never get cast in a Vincent Gallo movie, and would probably run a mile if approached. He was only the director in question because he made Chloë Sevigny give him a blow job in The Brown Bunny and Matt's jealousy needed to be tweaked. And when Alan Yentob turned up - doing a bit of 'I'll have my people call your people' schmooze in another popular Notting Hill restaurant - it occurred to me that the target audience for this series consists of around 1,000 people, almost all of whom have a W11 postcode. It might be more cost-effective just to run off some DVDs and bike it round Curtis and Wood's Christmas-card list.

There can rarely have been a more monstrously-hilarious sitcom character than bullying, amoral and oddly vulnerable Leon, shoutily declaimed by Tom Hollander. Leon is a showbiz agent who loathes his clients as heartily as he hypes their meagre talents.

Best of all, Freezing creates a witty commentary on the plusses and minuses of marriage from knowing gags about the cliched bathos of Holby City and sly digs at cultural philistinism. Freezing: in its own coolly understated way, it's a hot ticket.