A DOCUMENTARY that followed the lives and work of vicars in Hereford has won a national award, beating Chris Evans and Patrick Kielty.

A Vicar’s Life, shown on BBC Two, took the Radio Times Readers’ Award at the annual Sandford St Martin Trust ceremony celebrating the best TV and radio programmes touching on faith, belief and ethics.

The programmes follow a number of priests in Hereford as they face the challenges of maintaining their place at the heart of the community in the most rural diocese of the Church of England.

Tom Loxley, Executive Editor of the Radio Times, said: “Radio Times readers know a good thing when they see it. These programmes skilfully explore the role of rural vicars, caring for the spiritual and pastoral needs of communities facing as much change and turmoil as our largest cities”.

Readers of the Radio Times magazine choose A Vicar’s Life in an open vote against Canvey: the Promised Island, Pilgrimage: The Road to Santiago, My Dad the Peace Deal and Me, Heart and Soul: Faith in Freedom, and Chris Evans interviews with Rev Ruth Scott.

The awards were announced at a ceremony at Lambeth Palace in London.