This is a new program on Channel 4 here in the UK. A failing parish in the north of England, under the urging of their archdeacon, calls a priest from the United States to serve as vicar. They use the services of an ad agency and the priest’s industriousness to try to reverse the fortunes of the parish.
It’s an interesting program, made more interesting to me since I know the archdeacon. The Ven. Jonathan Greener was curate at St. Matthew’s at the Elephant, before becoming, in succession, Chaplain to the Bishop of Truro, Vicar of Church of the Good Shepherd in Brighton, and now Archdeacon of Pontefract in Wakefield diocese. He’s apt to have a mitre on his head before long.
The Grauniad says that the show includes a “faintly silly archdeacon”. Well, he may seem silly to some, but it’s probably because of the editing of the show.
We shall see what the parish and the priest get up to next week.