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★ 8.1 4K votes 2017–present 1 season · 6 episodes Ended BBC One
Faith & religionBelief, doubt and religious institutions.This show: 9/10Working classOrdinary people, ordinary money, real stakes.This show: 8/10BleakGrim and heavy, with little easy relief. These shows sit with suffering instead of softening it.This show: 8/10GrittyRaw, unglamorous realism in both look and subject matter.This show: 8/10Emotionally heavyDemands real emotional stamina from the viewer.This show: 8/10Character studyInterior life matters more than plot.This show: 8/10British TVThe British television sensibility: tone, restraint and format traditions.This show: 8/10Mental healthPsychological struggle treated with real seriousness.This show: 7/10
Rate this series
Starring
Sean BeanFin CampbellAdrian DunbarSam RintoulMuna OtaruMark Stanley
Starring
Sean BeanFin CampbellAdrian DunbarSam RintoulMuna OtaruMark Stanley
Ratings per Episode
246810
Votes per Episode
075150225300

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AvgE1E2E3E4E5E6
S18.47.98.28.48.68.58.8

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About

"Quiet devastation dressed as a priest drama"

A weary Catholic priest in a struggling English parish tries to hold his community together while wrestling with guilt from his own past. Each episode follows a different parishioner through poverty, addiction, or grief, with the priest as the fixed point trying to offer comfort he's not sure he deserves. It's slow, heavy, and unflinching, more interested in moral weight than plot momentum. The tone stays somber throughout, carried almost entirely by its lead performance and a script that treats faith and despair with real seriousness rather than sentiment.

Watch it for

a towering, restrained lead performance anchoring stories of real working-class hardship.

Maybe skip if

you want plot momentum or relief from sustained emotional bleakness.

Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.

All Seasons

▼
Season 12017
8.41K65h 46m
EpTitleRatingYoursVotesRuntime
▶1Christina7.9
25856 min
▶2Helen8.2
21657 min
▶3Andrew8.4
20758 min
▶4Roz8.6
21559 min
▶5Carl8.5
19658 min
▶6Father Michael8.8
20158 min

Full Cast & Crew

Cast

Sean Bean Father Michael Kerrigan
Fin Campbell Young Father Michael, Father Michael (Age 10)
Adrian Dunbar Father Peter Flaherty
Sam Rintoul Young Michael Kerrigan, Father Michael (Age 18), Father Michael Age 18
Muna Otaru Helen Oyenusi
Mark Stanley PC Andrew Powell
Áine Ní Mhuirí Michael's Mother Present Day, Michael's Mother (Present Day), Michael's Mother Present
Vanessa Earl Beth Kerrigan
Aoife McMahon Young Michael's Mother
Steve Garti Eddie Kerrigan

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