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.

Tom Hollander makes a bid here to join Derek Nimmo and Dawn French in the small but cosy pantheon of sitcom vicars. He plays the Reverend Adam Smallbone, a well-meaning, unshaven, east London clergyman who smokes, drinks enthusiastically and does the splits at parties, but is sweetly ineffectual in the face of the problems he faces. They include a domineering archdeacon and a rash of pushy parents hoping to get their children into "his" C of E school, whose headmistress Smallbone clearly fancies. It's a gentle, ragged sort of comedy, short on belly laughs but with enough character-led jokes to offer hope for good things to come. Alexander Armstrong brings his expert comic timing to the role of a bluff MP who is one of the "On your knees, avoid the fees" crowd. The wonderful Olivia Colman seems (so far) slightly wasted in the role of the vicar's wife, but given time, and given Hollander's rumpled charm in the lead, it could be a quiet winner.

Tom Hollander stars in this new BBC sitcom about a C of E Vicar struggling with an under-funded inner-city parish. Think In The Loop meets The Vicar of Dibley.

Hollander's Reverand Adam Smallbone isn't your average clergyman. He likes a smoke, he loves a drink and has ambivalent feelings towards his parishioners - particularly the devoted lost soul Colin, who's christian beliefs don't quite extend to "them asians".

But despite his foibles the Rev is well meaning and continues to open his door to the lost, the homeless, the poor, the insane, and to local crackhead Mick, who's constantly in need of 20 quid to visit his dying mother - who's died three times in the last 12 months.

Featuring guest appearances from Olivia Coleman as the Rev's long-suffering solicitor wife, Alexander Armstrong as a local MP and Lucy Liemann as prim primary school headmistress Ellie, this is a slow burner of a sitcom, low on belly laughs but with enough potential to keep us tuning in.

When Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews created Father Ted in 1995, they breathed new life into the stereotype of the comedy vicar, a character that for too long had been suffocated by the tyrannical stranglehold of Derek Nimmo. Unfortunately Richard Curtis simultaneously came up with The Vicar of Dibley, a programme as twee and mediocre as any number of Nimmo's cassock-based comedies.

Perhaps realising that the realm of the ecclesiastical sitcom hasn't been successfully exploited in a while, acclaimed comic actor Tom Hollander has co-created Rev, in which he plays a harassed vicar at a struggling inner city London church.

Sadly, despite the talent involved - the cast also includes Alexander Armstrong, Finding Eric's Steve Evets, Peep Show's Olivia Colman and comedian Miles Jupp - this low-key comedy is a disappointment. The blame must lie with writer James Wood, who also wrote the similarly underwhelming media satire Freezing, in which Hollander's ferocious comic performance was the sole highlight.

The jokes in Rev are sparse, weak and principally based around the supposedly amusing conceit of a vicar acting in ways you wouldn't expect. So, the Reverend Adam Smallbone, played with amiable anxiety by the always watchable Hollander, smokes, drinks, swears and enjoys sex with his wife.

So, I imagine, do a lot of modern priests - indeed, a group of them are credited as technical advisors - but that doesn't mean the concept is funny in itself. Father Ted admittedly employed similar material, albeit far more inventively than Wood does.

The opening episode takes underpowered swipes at middle-class pretentions and hypocrisies when Smallbone faces a moral dilemma over the sudden rise in church attendance due to a glowing Ofsted report on a local church school. But the episode just dawdles along and not even Hollander's bumbling charm can save it. Rev, like many sitcoms before, may improve as it goes on, but there's precious little here to encourage you to find out.

I've got a friend who's a vicar. Nice chap, pretty cool, not the sort whose job you'd necessarily guess if you spotted him in civvies.

So I thought perhaps I'd show him my preview DVD of this new sitcom, just to get his thoughts, seeing as the main character is a man of the cloth. Then I decided against it, because there's quite a bit of swearing and a fair few sexual references - and, in all honesty, not that many belly laughs.

Tom Hollander plays Reverend Adam Smallbone, preaching to a dwindling congregation at his London church - but surprised to discover, in this opening episode, that a lot of new faces are suddenly showing up. Surprised, that is, until he realises they have an ulterior motive. Olivia Colman and Alexander Armstrong also star.

This intelligent new sitcom offers a much more gentle take on clerical comedy than Father Ted. Actor and co-creator Tom Hollander, who stars as the Reverend Adam Smallbone, was intrigued by the idea of a classic Church of England vicar being thrust into a parish in the unforgiving urban jungle of London.

The cast clearly had faith in Hollander's vision, because he's got the wonderful Olivia Colman (Green Wing, Peep Show) as his wife Alex and Lucy Liemann (Moving Wallpaper, Reggie Perrin) as the local headmistress, alongside Alexander Armstrong guesting hilariously this week as an MP.

With the London landmark of St Leonard's church in Shoreditch standing in for the fictional St Saviours in the Marshes, tonight the Rev is delighted to see the meagre ranks of his congregation swelling - until he discovers the parents are just trying to boost their religious credentials to get their kids into the good C of E school round the corner. And Adam faces a moral conundrum about whether he should award places in return for money.

The Archdeacon (a brilliant turn by Simon McBurney), who holds very unsentimental views about a vicar's role in the inner city, would undoubtedly think so. He seems to be constantly circling the capital in a black cab and there's a lot of mileage in this character, in every sense.

Rev's mission isn't to make you roll on the floor laughing. It's subtle and thoughtful, with heart and soul as well as a funny bone. I'll say Amen to that.

In the Golden Age Of British Sitcom, vicars were responsible for much laughter. Why, a middle class family couldn't arrange to have tea with one without some kind of mix-up involving a pair of bloomers, a good-looking young woman and a cucumber sandwich.

Then hard-hitting political charity appeal The Vicar Of Dibley came along and everything changed. Our image of vicars became more jaded and somehow we lost something. Now, Tom Hollander wants to take us back to those halcyon days of dog-collar-based comedy. Actually, that's not really true. If Rev does feel retro, it's because it's got a touch of class. The excellent Hollander plays Reverend Adam Smallbone, an ineffectual clergyman who smokes and drinks. Comedy arises 'cause he can't deal with the challenges of being a London vicar. It's far from hysterically funny, but as the jokes seem character-based, it may need time to settle. While it does, you will find yourself smiling and enjoying an excellent supporting cast (including Olivia Coleman) and a cameo from Alexander Armstrong.

Alexander Armstrong in baby dash

Alexander Armstrong made a quick dash out of the This Morning studio today - when he found out his wife was in labour.

Incredibly, this is the 20th anniversary and the 39th series of the BBC's flagship entertainment programme - the only entertainment programme that is consistently and genuinely entertaining. Paul Merton's unstoppable flow of surreal invention never seems to dry up, while Ian Hislop must be one of the few people on the planet who can appear on television suffering from a burst appendix and still manage to be funny. With an election looming, the big challenge of the new series - according to Richard Wilson, head of comedy at the production company Hat Trick - will be "to take the spectacularly dull things that politicians say and get laughs out of them". The host tonight is Lee Mack, with Alexander Armstrong and Jo Brand booked to appear later in the run.