Tom Hollander

The three days before Christmas are fraught for poor Adam Smallbone (Tom Hollander), who has charities to support and services to arrange. So it's no surprise he has an 'episode' during a midnight mass packed with drunks after pub closing ('We're the religious equivalent of a kebab,' grumbles Nigel). The last ten minutes are quietly triumphant for our hero though - a fittingly lovely bow topping a package that's been sublimely scripted and acted.

It's Christmas at St Saviour's and someone has stolen the Three Wise Men's camels from the Nativity display. Vicar Adam Smallbone refuses to be downhearted -maybe the missing beasts can be replaced by cows? "A Wise Man crossing the desert on a cow?" blusters outraged parishioner Adoha.

That's Adam, a man for whom there are never problems, there are only solutions. But even his legendary compassion and good nature are stretched by a truly testing Christmas. He loses a friend, he is head-butted by another, supposed, mate and his father-in-law (a magnificently austere Geoffrey Palmer) arrives unexpectedly. Worse, Midnight Mass is disrupted by drunks and Adam (Tom Hollander) melts down in a spectacular, funny/sad, Adam-type way.

Christmas specials of television comedies are so rarely special, or even Christmassy, but Rev is a fount of goodness and kindness all year round and especially at Christmas. You'll have a few tears and a heart as warmed as a plum pudding by the end.

Spare a thought for men of the cloth this Christmas. Judging by this superb series finale, it's the most stressful time of year for a vicar. As Reverend Adam Smallbone (Tom Hollander) enters his first Advent in the London parish of St Saviour's, festive nerves are fraying. Camels keep being stolen from the church Nativity, he's up at the crack of dawn every day to cook breakfast for the homeless, and resident wino Colin (the show's cult figure, played with pitch-perfect pathos by Steve Evets) plans on being drunk until Twelfth Night. Adam is out of pocket, permanently hungover and under pressure for the seasonal collection plate to hit its financial targets.

The last thing he needs is a surprise house guest in the form of his grumpy "social hand grenade" father-in-law (the hilariously hangdog Geoffrey Palmer). Midnight Mass is a shambles thanks to a congregation fresh from the pub. As lay reader Nigel (Miles Jupp) notes: "We're the religious equivalent of a kebab." There's still time for subtle pastiches of Groundhog Day and Da Vinci's Last Supper. A gently witty, fittingly heart-warming conclusion to this second excellent run of the Bafta-winning sitcom.

No one should miss the Christmas Rev, a brilliant end to the series, with ever-embattled Adam (the great Tom Hollander) having to conduct Midnight Mass with a black eye and trying to persuade uptight God pedant Nigel (Miles Jupp) that the season of goodwill is big enough to embrace Jesus and giant Toblerones. Alex's lugubrious father (who else but Geoffrey Palmer?) turns up to add woe and mischief. It takes a stony heart not to cheer at the TV when Adam finally gets the present he deserves. Joyful and (as the song goes) triumphant.

The 7th best programme of 2011 according to the Radio Times.

An intelligent sitcom that didn't panic about gag quotas, Rev was funny and likeable without trying, and concealed nuggets of social commentary and real emotional resonance. A comedy of clerical errors is an insanely unfashionable thing to attempt, but then Tom Hollander's conflicted inner-city minister Adam was a world away from those buck-toothed twits of yore. Not that Rev was a one-man show. All the characters made their mark, from feral Colin and druggie Mick to slinky headmistress Ellie and edged-out wife Alex. In series two, Rev still seemed like a delicious secret. A divinely inspired one.

Aw, I want to pull Rev into a warm embrace; it's such a kind, sweet, life-affirming programme and this final episode in the series (a Christmas special is on its way) is just fuzzy with goodness.

You'll even end up feeling sympathy for the something-of-the-night-about-him Archdeacon (Simon McBurney) when he admits to a big secret about his personal life. Hint: Adam and Nigel spot him choosing a bed with a handsome friend called Richard (guest star James Purefoy). Which could put an end to the Archdeacon's dreams of becoming Bishop of Stevenage.

There is a rare moment of accord between the Archdeacon and Adam (Tom Hollander), who has much to contemplate. His unhappy wife Alex (luminous Olivia Colman) has gone on a walking holiday to think about their future. Such is our emotional connection with these people, you'll be willing their marriage not to fail.

There are further un-Christian goings-on in the east London parish tonight in this gentle comedy that never fails to hit the spot. Lay reader Nigel (Miles Jupp) grabs an opportunity to prove he'd be a better priest than Reverend Adam Smallbone (Tom Hollander) while Archdeacon Robert (Simon McBurney) tries to climb further up the greasy pole. The mild-mannered Adam, meanwhile, ponders his future.

With the possible exception of Tom Hollander and his Rev cohorts, there isn't a better comic performer on TV right now than Rafe Spall. He makes magic with fairly ordinary scripts, adding his own tics, double- takes and whimpers (I LOVE Pete's whimpers) and his very own brand of appealing hopelessness.

So it's a pity this is the last in the current series, though it goes out on a great final two minutes as Pete implodes when witnessing a marriage proposal. This is after he goes out with a half-witted UFO believer called Tilly. And after he goads then picks a fight with a street performer who pretends to be a robot. I'm going to miss you, Pete. You prize berk.

A more prominent role for the brilliant Simon McBurney as the fabulously disdainful Archdeacon Robert has helped to make the second series of this sitcom about an inner city parish a real treat. He's here from the start in this episode, circling gleefully as Reverend Adam Smallbone (Tom Hollander) discovers a hole in the church accounts. Salvation arrives in the form of a wealthy city banker, played by guest star Richard E Grant, who fetches up at St Saviours to join the church's Alcoholics Anonymous class. However Adam soon finds himself morally compromised once again.

Genial inner-city vicar Adam is nervous about the forthcoming religious inspection at the C of E school run by the comely Ellie. He's particularly disturbed by Matthew, a cool new teacher whose credentials are in doubt after he gave a school assembly on Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene.

So jealous Adam gets all pompous and defensive when he agrees to put together a team to take part in the archdeacon's beloved interdenominational football tournament. But Adam has problems raising enthusiasm. His fey curate Nigel (Miles Jupp) is appalled and wonders aloud: "Can we do bowls instead?"

As ever, gentle Adam (Tom Hollander) is at his funniest when his less-than-godly side starts to show, this time when he behaves disgracefully during the match. But we are all brought up short by a tragedy, and a final, genuinely moving few minutes when Adam is called upon to bring solace.