Heavens Above!

Released in the same year as The Pink Panther, the characters played by Peter Sellers in the crime caper and in social satire Heavens Above! come from opposite ends of the performance spectrum. While Clouseau was a larger than life comic creation, cut from full colour Hollywood cloth, Sellers’ man of the considerably more earthy cloth, The Reverend John Smallwood in the Boulting Brothers’ film is of much subtler design.

Although it was made only three years after the Ealing-comedy leaning Two Way Stretch – and features many of the same supporting cast – Heaven’ Above! is also much more rooted in the real world of smalltown England and feels bracingly modern by comparison, though some of the attitudes within it, inevitably reflect the times. The satire employed by John Boulting and Frank Harvey’s screenplay – based on an idea by journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, who also appears briefly in a cameo – is sharp and merciless in its judgement of all the characters. Given that this is a comedy, its view of mankind is shockingly bleak.

The plot hinges on a literal and figurative “clerical error” that sees Sellers’ Smallwood – a low-key Brummie working class preacher who has been working as a prison chaplain – accidentally sent to the small town of Orbiston Parva instead of his intended posher namesake (Ian Carmichael, complete with comedy buck teeth). Orbiston Parva has lost little of its feudal trappings, essentially run in Lord of the Manor style by the Despard family. In addition to having the last word on most things, they also own the local pharmaceutical factory making the fabulously named Tranquilax, which a hoarding declares is: “a sedative! A stimulant! A laxative!”.

The driving force of the film is that Smallwood is a genuine believer of the New Testament sort, who practises what he preaches in stark contrast not only to the townsfolk but also the local Archdeacon (Cecil Parker) and Bishop (George Woodbridge). Soon, Smallwood has appointed a Black church warden (Brock Peters, the most sympathetic character in the film) and taken in the local extended family of ne’er do wells, the Smiths, led by workshy patriarch Harry (Eric Sykes) and his wife Rene (Irene Handl) and begins to win over the widowed Lady Despard (Isabel Jeans).

Considering its church-based theme there is precious little redemption on show. The Smiths are not about to see the error of their ways and Lady Despard’s Damascene conversion may be less permanent than it first appears. The townsfolk – featuring a cast including future Miss Marple Joan Hickson and soon-to-be Doctor Who William Hartnell – are also shown to be greedy, self-centred and more than ready to bite the hand that feeds off at the arm.

This a film that is peppered with perfect moments, yet the embarrassment of riches in terms of its targets means it also feels quite scattergun at times, with the ending suggesting that, not unlike the Church hierarchy, the scriptwriters were also unsure as to quite what to do with Smallwood. Standout jokes include a boy reading Lolita (an adaptation of which Sellers had appeared in the previous year), the lovely detail that Harry’s son-in-law (Rory Kinnear) is Prisoner 181 in the jail, and as he arrives in Smallwood’s church the hymn being sung is the same number, and a laugh out loud moment when the Archdeacon tells Smallwood: “I don’t think there’s any need to keep bringing God into this”. The Richard Rodney Bennett score also makes short work of satirising various hymns.

Smallwood proves a surprisingly nuanced character for a comedy, nowhere near as naive as he might first appear or as stupid as everyone around him thinks, and Sellers brings steely determination to him that carries a surprising amount of emotional heft in the face of the venality elsewhere. It may not be the British star’s most famous role but it is a reminder of how well he could finely hone characters with more intricate personalities as well as those who were larger than life.

Two Way Stretch & Heavens Above! come to Blu-Ray on 4 August. In Character: The Films of Peter Sellers runs from 2-30 August at the BFI Southbank. A Box Set of Peter Sellers films will be available in November.

Reviewed on: 01 Aug 2025