Story :A naive but caring prison chaplain, who happens to have the same last name as an upper class cleric, is by mistake appointed as vicar to a small and prosperous country town. His belief in charity and forgiveness sets him at odds with the conservative and narrow-minded locals, and he soon creates social ructions by appointing a black dustman as his churchwarden, taking in a gypsy family, and persuading the local landowner to provide free food for the church to distribute free to the people of the town. When the congregation leaders realise the mistake and call for the Church of England to remove him, this turns out to be a very, very difficult issue - until one clergyman realises that a British project to send a man into space is in need of an astronaut...
Cast
Peter SellersThe Rev. John Smallwood
Cecil ParkerArchdeacon Aspinall
Isabel JeansLady Despard
Ian CarmichaelThe Other Smallwood
Bernard MilesSimpson
Brock PetersMatthew Robinson
Eric SykesHarry Smith
Irene HandlRene Smith
Miriam KarlinWinnie Smith
Joan MillerMrs Smith-Gould
William HartnellMajor Fowler
Roy KinnearFred Smith
John HarveyWilson, Prison Officer
Joan HicksonHousewife
Eric BarkerBank Manager
John ComerButcher
Kenneth GriffithRev. Owen Thomas
Mark EdenSir Geoffrey Despard
Basil DignamPrison Governor
Colin GordonPrime Minister
Geoffrey HibbertCouncil Official
Ludovic KennedyHimself
Malcolm MuggeridgeCleric
Harry LockeShop Steward
Derek NimmoDG Assistant
Conrad PhillipsDeaf Man
Miles MallesonBishop Rockeby
Nicholas PhippsDG
Thorley WaltersTranquilax Executive
Marianne StoneMiss Palmer
Cardew RobinsonTramp
Gerald SimStore Manager
Anna WingHousewife (uncredited)
John JunkinReporter at Space Launch Site (uncredited)