Details

Release year: 1982

Storyline

In the early 20th century, devout Reverend Charles Fortescue returns to England from his missionary work in Africa and, despite plans to marry his childhood sweetheart, receives a most unusual assignment: minister to the local prostitutes.

Top credits

Directors

Richard Loncraine

Writers

Michael Palin

Cast

Michael Palin — Fortescue
Maggie Smith — Lady Ames
Trevor Howard — Lord Ames
Denholm Elliott — The Bishop

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Did you know

• Actor, Writer, and Producer Sir Michael Palin and Director Richard Loncraine said that they didn't succeed in achieving everything they wanted to with this movie, but though not perfect, it turned out very well nonetheless.

• The character of the Reverend Charles Fortescue is very loosely based on a real person, the Reverend Harold Francis Davidson, Dean of Stiffkey in early-20th-century Norfolk. Like Fortescue, Davidson was embroiled in a scandal after working with "fallen women", and was eventually defrocked after complaints by some parishioners despite a lack of concrete proof of any impropriety. Davidson tried for years to get reinstated, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

• Director Richard Loncraine has said of this movie that it was "one of the happiest films I've ever made."