From The Vicar of Dibley to Father Ted, the calling of the cloth has produced comedy gold. But will the Rev Andrew Smallbone, the BBC’s harassed new post-watershed minister, join the hallowed ranks of clerical screen stars?

With Dawn French hanging up her cassock as Dibley’s sex-obsessed vicar, the BBC has sought advice from senior church figures over a new faith-based “Godcom”. BBC Two has commissioned Handle with Prayer, a series about a frustrated Anglican priest in an inner-city parish, whose faith is tested by his venal, amoral flock. Although the series is intended to provoke laughter, the BBC said it would be an authentic portrayal of modern church life, based on research with senior church insiders.

Tom Hollander, star of In the Loop and Desperate Romantics, helped to create the series and plays Mr Smallbone, newly promoted from a sleepy rural parish to the “socially divided” St Botolph’s in Kennington, South London.

In familiar Father Ted-style, Mr Smallbone is an unworldly figure who struggles to cope with the enormous daily frustrations and moral conflicts of his new role. Unable to turn anyone away, his church is sought out by the lowest elements of society, from scheming, hypocritical MPs to local criminals. He must tend to urban sophisticates, the chronically lonely, the homeless, drug addicts, the lost, the poor and, occasionally, the insane.

The series will feature some ungodly language but could provide an image boost for an Anglican Church facing schisms over gays and women bishops. Brought to the screen by Peter Cattaneo, the acclaimed director of The Full Monty, it will demonstrate what an “impossibly difficult job it is being a good, modern, urban priest”. It is written by James Wood, who wrote the BBC Two comedy series Freezing, starring Hugh Bonneville.

The BBC promises a “21st-century version of the TV vicar never seen before”. Yet the series is being made under the shadow of tighter corporation rules about offence in comedy, drawn up after public anger over radio phone calls made by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand to Andrew Sachs, the actor.

The rules include the “potentially contentious portrayal of religious groups”. It is a common complaint from viewers that satirical television programmes mock Christianity in a way that broadcasters would never countenance with Islam. Kenton Allen, chief executive of Big Talk, the company producing the show for the BBC, said: “Lifting the lid on the modern Church has revealed a world full of comic possibilities. Although the UK is supposedly an increasing secular place, when it comes to major events in our lives many of us still turn to the Church ... Handle with Prayer is the antithesis of any religious comedy you have ever seen.”

The series, due to be aired next year, is part of a fresh commitment by the BBC to place Christianity on screen. A History of Christianity, a series presented by Diarmaid MacCulloch, began on BBC Four this week. Fern Britton will interview Tony Blair, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dolly Parton and Sheila Hancock in a BBC One series before Christmas in which famous people discuss how their faith has shaped their lives.

The Rev Peter Ould, a curate at Ware, Hertfordshire, said that while it was right for the BBC to provide “popular religious programming” at Christmas, there was also a need to “provide more spiritually nurturing content at this special time of year”.

Editor's choice

• The super cool Vampire Weekend
• Streep and Baldwin get complicated
• Guy Ritchie on Sherlock Holmes