Smash hit

“I represent Christ in this community and am his ambassador. I have to ask myself, ‘What would Jesus have done in this situation?’ Would he have blessed hounds before the hunt? And, um, he would have been doing something, um, something . . . he would probably have been doing something else at the time.”

That line almost has me bent double. This is hopeless and Allen knows it, so he confesses. He was dead-set anti-hunting before coming here, then listened to the arguments, realised how integral it was to country life and how persecuted by urban politicians his parishioners felt. “Now I don’t know my own mind on this, I am neutral.”

Even so, he is a vegetarian and couldn’t bring himself to bless the hunt where the atmosphere was dreadfully tense. “It is is not my place to dish out blessings around very delicate issues.”

More controversy followed when the new vicar introduced family services where children were welcome; the resulting din was frowned upon by stalwarts of the congregation. He changed the times of services, then the readings, moving from using the 17th-century King James Bible to a more modern translation.

“We don’t think you’ve done the right thing, vicar,” one parishioner wrote. Another stopped going to services in protest. There were phone calls and letters of complaint; nobody said anything to his face, he says, but he was criticised for “what I do with my time, the way I conduct services, preach sermons.

“When a new guy arrives, people always say ‘the old bloke did it this way’. My predecessor had been here for ten years. I was seen as inexperienced, young, from a town, pretty threatening.

“I found the animosity tough and thought I’d made a mistake. ‘I’m not up to this’. I pondered, ‘Should I stay?’ But I felt very deeply that this was the place I wanted to be.”

This is surprising: apart from one parishioner, all the ones I spoke to adored him. “A wonderful young man who has really livened things up round here,” said one, speaking for the majority. Another, Daniel Baber, revealed that Allen had been responsible for a reconciliation between himself and his twin brother — the two had not spoken for 30 years.

The one dissenter, Estelle Holloway, seen on screen in the second episode of Country Parish complaining about Allen’s lack of experience and understanding, was circumspect: “I have always supported the Church and will continue to go to church,” she said.

Having decided to stay, Allen is getting tougher. “I could court popularity but I need to think ‘Where will this Church be in 20 years’ time? I could so make myself popular, but part of my job is to be a prophet, and that will be unpopular. I am not like the Rev Timms from Postman Pat. I do not have a platitude for every occasion.”

A recent sermon touched on “the inevitability and shame” of imminent global conflict. At one funeral, he included a polemic against the NHS for failing the deceased who had needed a hip replacement.

Next week the church will hold its first youth service, complete with Christian rock music. “The Church is a fantastic product but we don’t always put that message across,” he says. If this upsets older parishioners, you sense that Radical Jamie thinks “who cares?” although Public Jamie says lots about “enabling change on joint terms”.

Allen reads the Bible three times a day and agonises over whether he has understood it. And he is still coming to terms with his role. “At a service recently, a child said, ‘Dad, look, there’s the vicar’. And I thought, ‘Gosh, am I?’ It’s like when you become a parent and your kids start calling you Dad and you think, ‘Am I?’ ”

But then Allen is full of contradictions: the enthusiast learning the slippery art of village politics; the go-ahead rector haunted by feelings of inadequacy; the vicar puzzled to find himself called a vicar; and, most intriguingly, the pragmatist whose life turned on a moment of dazzling spiritual epiphany.

My guess is, for his parishioners, the fun is only just beginning.

Kate Hunloke, 57: “My husband Nicky and I have been going to church for 20 years and we were very nervous about him because young men straight out of theological college are full of new ideas. We also heard he had a ponytail and wore earrings but he has been very sensitive and introduced new ideas while leaving certain things — like Matins, Evensong and the Eucharist service — well alone. He does magic tricks during the sermon, which the children love. You can tell when he’s angry — last Sunday he disagreed with my plan to move the fête. He doesn’t shout, just goes very quiet. But most of the time he has the biggest smile on his face.”

Estelle Holloway, seen on screen accusing the vicar of not knowing what he was doing: “He is a young man in his first rectory in his first parish and I don’t want to sour relations. I have always supported the Church and I shall continue to go to church. Any disagreements will be kept between Jamie and myself.”

Daniel Baber, who was locked in a lifelong feud with his twin brother which is eventually resolved thanks to Allen’s intervention: “It’s very refreshing to have a young man with a young family. If you have a problem you can go and talk to him about it. It’s very unlike the attitudes of Church in the olden days. He talks to you as an equal.”