Episode 1

It is a tough time to be a vicar. Congregations are down, money is tight and churches are battling to survive. This episode introduces three vicars - Matthew, in a small Shropshire market town, Ruth, in the cathedral city of Hereford, and Nicholas, in the scattered hill farming communities of the Black Mountains.

These vicars have to take every opportunity they can to bring people into church, and they don't get better than a good summer wedding. Matthew has twisted the arm of local hairdresser Mel and her fiance Stu, a fireman, to get married in church. Now he has to pull out all the stops to impress them. Ruth has a very different challenge - caring for her terminally ill churchwarden as she faces the end of life. Nicholas has to face up to the fact that churches are not sacred spaces to everyone as he deals with a break-in and theft of priceless church records.